I'm feeling a bit more optimistic after Detroit......

[Starlifter]

I'll be honest, after the way the Steelers collapsed last year and the early off season losses in players - my estimate was this was going to be an 8-9 season (weird with 17 games).

What a difference 6 months makes.

I don't put much stock in pre-season records, I try to evaluate performance. That being said and after only two games - here are a few things that stand out to me.

Ben - has total command of the offense and his arm looks pretty strong to me.
Mason and DH both looks strong as well and I expect the Steelers to keep them both. Look for Josh Dobbs to be released this week so he can try to catch on somewhere else.

The O-line is a work in progress and will likely take some time to gel. I think the real question mark will be center and if chuks can keep Ben upright.

Najee has certainly flashed already. Could be a really strong year for the rookie.

Our WR corp should be a nightmare for most teams. If Diontae can hold on to the ball, it's quite the triple threat with JuJu and Chase.

Friermuth looks terrific. Ebron still drives me crazy.

Bottom line for the offense to me - if we just get average production from the O-line, I think it could be very explosive.

As for Defense:

I still have some question marks on the D-line and if they can be dominant.

Highsmith looks strong and could be a solid replacement for Bud. Shobert and Ingram were exceptional pickups.

Is the secondary our weakest link? Jury is still out for me there.

But if you want to give props for performance - In my amateur opinion, I think Colbert has turned in his finest off season yet. The Steelers don't trade much and rarely dabble in free agency - yet somehow he's not only picked up, traded for and drafted quality talent, he's reworked contracts, made some moves to free up money and after being in cap hell a few short months ago, Colbert has a pretty loaded roster and I think the Steelers are #11 in the league with cap space available. That's amazing.

Who knows how the season will play out? But I'm feeling much better and 8-9 now. Gonna be a tough division no matter how you slice it however......

[Iron City Inc.]

Bush ran around some blocks last night. Took himself out of position a few times. Perhaps doesn't trust that knee yet enough to stack n shed.
Moore I believe is a better run blocker then Chucks. He may start somewhere in his rookie year.
Ballage I believe has made the team. Not sure where Snell fits in.
Green was up n down. Saw him finish a few blocks nicely getting to the 2nd level. However there were plays where he was just out leveraged because of those shorter arms. That is going to be a issue.
Our rookie TE earned more playing time.
Highsmith reminds me of Joey Porter. Lots of upside there.

[BURGH86STEEL]

I am just glad there didn't appear to be any major injuries outside of Juju. Anyone here anything on Juju's injury status?

[NorthCoast]

Told yinz not to get too excited over this game. Detroit is very possibly a league bottom dweller this season. But it was fun watching them hit a stone wall vs the 1st team PIT defense. I don't think they cracked a hundred yds until the second half...?

[feltdizz]

I am just glad there didn't appear to be any major injuries outside of Juju. Anyone here anything on Juju's injury status?

Yes, getting out without major injuries is the goal. I liked seeing Ben and Pat connect on those TD’s.

Also liked seeing Najee being used in the passing game. Dude showed what he can do once he gets to the second level. He is sneaky fast and sets up blocks nicely.

OL still has work to do in the running game but I also think we may be tipping our hand on some of these plays. The jet sweep is being sniffed out this preseason. Don’t think I have seen one create positive yards yet.

JuJu was on the sideline after leaving the tent so hopefully it wasn’t serious.

[Joel Buchsbaum]

Bush ran around some blocks last night. Took himself out of position a few times. Perhaps doesn't trust that knee yet enough to stack n shed.
Moore I believe is a better run blocker then Chucks. He may start somewhere in his rookie year.
Ballage I believe has made the team. Not sure where Snell fits in.
Green was up n down. Saw him finish a few blocks nicely getting to the 2nd level. However there were plays where he was just out leveraged because of those shorter arms. That is going to be a issue.
Our rookie TE earned more playing time.
Highsmith reminds me of Joey Porter. Lots of upside there.

+1. stock up rookie TE. Ben looked great.

[Flasteel]

I'll be honest, after the way the Steelers collapsed last year and the early off season losses in players - my estimate was this was going to be an 8-9 season (weird with 17 games).

What a difference 6 months makes.

I don't put much stock in pre-season records, I try to evaluate performance. That being said and after only two games - here are a few things that stand out to me.

Ben - has total command of the offense and his arm looks pretty strong to me.
Mason and DH both looks strong as well and I expect the Steelers to keep them both. Look for Josh Dobbs to be released this week so he can try to catch on somewhere else.

The O-line is a work in progress and will likely take some time to gel. I think the real question mark will be center and if chuks can keep Ben upright.

Najee has certainly flashed already. Could be a really strong year for the rookie.

Our WR corp should be a nightmare for most teams. If Diontae can hold on to the ball, it's quite the triple threat with JuJu and Chase.

Friermuth looks terrific. Ebron still drives me crazy.

Bottom line for the offense to me - if we just get average production from the O-line, I think it could be very explosive.

As for Defense:

I still have some question marks on the D-line and if they can be dominant.

Highsmith looks strong and could be a solid replacement for Bud. Shobert and Ingram were exceptional pickups.

Is the secondary our weakest link? Jury is still out for me there.

But if you want to give props for performance - In my amateur opinion, I think Colbert has turned in his finest off season yet. The Steelers don't trade much and rarely dabble in free agency - yet somehow he's not only picked up, traded for and drafted quality talent, he's reworked contracts, made some moves to free up money and after being in cap hell a few short months ago, Colbert has a pretty loaded roster and I think the Steelers are #11 in the league with cap space available. That's amazing.

Who knows how the season will play out? But I'm feeling much better and 8-9 now. Gonna be a tough division no matter how you slice it however......

I agree with everything you stated Starlifter. But despite the collapse last year and the lingering questions surrounding the offensive line and secondary, my expectations for this season never hovered around that .500 mark. I believed all along that the issues which led to our downfall last year were directly attributed to our wretched offensive line play, the equally wretched attempt to address it with the short passing game, and the injuries to both Bush and Dupree on defense. However, I've felt all along that those issues would be addressed and the Steelers were going to prove all of the doubters, haters, and Browns believers wrong. That was before the masterful off-season turned in by Colbert and Co.

I'll admit the loss of VW and especially DeCastro threw some water on my expectations. But between the rookies we drafted, the free agent pick-ups of Ingram and Turner, and the trade for Schoebert, I'm feeling like this team will be in the hunt for the big ticket. After seeing the way Ben played last night, and the continued excellent performances from the likes of Highsmith, Harris, Freiermuth, and the rest of the rookies, it only serves to bolster those expectations. I fully admit to always rocking my black and gold goggles and I also realize you can't get too excited or down based on preseason games. But I really like what I see so far - off-season and preseason. Good luck to the Browns and Ravens (not really) in trying to knock the reigning division champs from their roost. They're going to need all the luck they can get.

[Northern_Blitz]

Told yinz not to get too excited over this game. Detroit is very possibly a league bottom dweller this season. But it was fun watching them hit a stone wall vs the 1st team PIT defense. I don't think they cracked a hundred yds until the second half...?

I think you're right.

But nice that the 1st team seemed to have them well in hand. Even though it goes against the plays down to opponents narrative.

I was eager to see Ben play after not hearing much in the off season. Much happier to have an encouraging few series than disappointing ones.

[Sword]

+1. stock up rookie TE. Ben looked great.

+100…Ben to Pat hope this is a preview for all season long…glad I grabbed him fantasy yesterday before game…

[Northern_Blitz]

Told yinz not to get too excited over this game. Detroit is very possibly a league bottom dweller this season. But it was fun watching them hit a stone wall vs the 1st team PIT defense. I don't think they cracked a hundred yds until the second half...?

Also...including "this season" seems unnecessary when discussing the Lions.

Thank God we're Steelers fans

[Starlifter]

[QUOTE=Flasteel;842613I believed all along that the issues which led to our downfall last year were directly attributed to our wretched offensive line play, the equally wretched attempt to address it with the short passing game, and the injuries to both Bush and Dupree on defense.[/QUOTE]

good points. I also want to address Fichtner. I generally give quite a bit of deference to the coordinators. I figure if you've been around football long enough to earn that job, you have to have some basic qualifications. But when I read last year how Ben was improvising and playing street ball, I began to think that (injuries aside) Fichtner was simply outmatched at this level calling the plays and had no answers. As someone from the outside looking in, i'll never know for sure - but if Canada unleashes the potential of this offense, it's going to be hard not to pin a lot of the reasons for our collapse last year on RF.

[NorthCoast]

good points. I also want to address Fichtner. I generally give quite a bit of deference to the coordinators. I figure if you've been around football long enough to earn that job, you have to have some basic qualifications. But when I read last year how Ben was improvising and playing street ball, I began to think that (injuries aside) Fichtner was simply outmatched at this level calling the plays and had no answers. As someone from the outside looking in, i'll never know for sure - but if Canada unleashes the potential of this offense, it's going to be hard not to pin a lot of the reasons for our collapse last year on RF.

I think Fichnter's ineptness was very clear as time went on since his first days as coordinator. Multiple writeups talked of his inability to gameplan properly, make ingame adjustments, and general command of an offense. To me it's clear he was promoted as a puppet to allow Roethlisberger to run the offense. The big problem with that is that it's way too easy to fall into predictable tendencies that the defense can exploit. (a QB is gonna do what he does... there's no self-policing). We can blame the OL last season but there was a great video by an 'outside' analyst that showed how bad the offensive design was last season. Terrible.
So I hope anything Canada trots out should at least make the defense think a little, which should slow them down some.

[Northern_Blitz]

I think Fichnter's ineptness was very clear as time went on since his first days as coordinator. Multiple writeups talked of his inability to gameplan properly, make ingame adjustments, and general command of an offense. To me it's clear he was promoted as a puppet to allow Roethlisberger to run the offense. The big problem with that is that it's way too easy to fall into predictable tendencies that the defense can exploit. (a QB is gonna do what he does... there's no self-policing). We can blame the OL last season but there was a great video by an 'outside' analyst that showed how bad the offensive design was last season. Terrible.
So I hope anything Canada trots out should at least make the defense think a little, which should slow them down some.

This is how I feel about Fitch too.

Hope that Canada is allowed to push us into less comfortable territory. My guess is that collapse last season gives us some good motivation for that.

[papillon]

I think the Steelers will surprise some people this year but I'm still apprehensive about the offense. Detroit looked terrible, they are going to struggle to win a game. Ben did look mobile, accurate and had good arm strength. The running game didn't look very good and I fear once thew season starts and teams start actual game planning they make the Steelers one dimensional and we see a repeat of the late season offense. I hope I'm wrong and the oline and Harris gel and get on the same page. They have players that like to move people so hopefully, its only a matter of time.

Pappy

[NorthCoast]

I think the Steelers will surprise some people this year but I'm still apprehensive about the offense. Detroit looked terrible, they are going to struggle to win a game. Ben did look mobile, accurate and had good arm strength. The running game didn't look very good and I fear once thew season starts and teams start actual game planning they make the Steelers one dimensional and we see a repeat of the late season offense. I hope I'm wrong and the oline and Harris gel and get on the same page. They have players that like to move people so hopefully, its only a matter of time.

Pappy

I wouldn't panic just yet, though I think the OL will look like garbage for the first month of the season... i.e. poor run game, bad blitz pickups, etc. By the second half of the season though I expect we'll see sparks of the run game coming alive and better pass blocking. But yea, get ready for some tough offensive production early on. Those predicting 1000+ yds rushing for Harris I think will be disappointed (although I expect he will easily make that mark with scrimmage yards....too bad his 46 yarder doesn't count).