Thoughts on First Game

[Flasteel]

I went into the game looking primarily at special teams and the battle for the 3rd receiver spot and there was some good stuff. Sepulveda lived up to the training camp love being tossed in his direction and I think this alone will be a huge edge for our team this year.

No returns in the first half by Burnett or Wallace and I missed the apparent fumble by the former on his first punt return attempt of the second half. While both players didn't have much of an opportunity to shine on special teams, they made the plays at their respective positions...they both look like keepers.

Speaking of Wallace, I don't see him overtaking Sweed for the 3rd receiver spot and both players looked solid tonight. Great to see Sweed come out and make two big, tough catches against the first team defense of the Cards.

Isaac Redmon ran friggin' hard.

All three quartebacks looked good.

Hood got a sack as did both Woodley and Harrison.

I saw Starks get beat a little off the edge in one of the first two drives (although he kept Ben clean), but the O-line looked pretty decent in pass pro...not a lot of push by the starters however.

We won 20-10.

And most importantly, nobody got hurt...great opening game.

[SteelBucks]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

And most importantly, nobody got hurt...great opening game.

I hate the preseason. I just hope everyone is healthy come September 10th.

[steelsnis]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

Thought it was a PERFECT preseason game. No injuries!!!

Aside from that tho, I really thought it was a great showcase for rookies and some other oung players.

Rookies:
Ziggy Hood: Not a ton of PT but had a sack and looked good

Mike Wallace: I thought he looked awesome out there, caught it in traffic, ran after the catch and looked good doing it.

Joe Burnett: Bad fumble on the punt return but the pick and long return made up for it. Showed some great eyes on the pick to read the play and break on the ball.

Keenan Lewis: Had a couple of really nice hits in the defensive backfield and forced a fumble in the first half that AZ recovered.

Isaac Redman: Two TD's!! Ran hard

Young veterans:
Limas Sweed: Great catch in traffic, plus a 40+ yard reception. 1 dropped ball but it would have been a tough one to haul in. Good for his confidence to make those catches and get the crowd behind him early.

Rashard Mendenhall: Ran hard, didn't get a ton of minutes. NO FUMBLES! Looks like there are no residual effects from shoulder injury.

Dennis Dixon: Looked awesome aside from a near pick on his first pass attempt. Showed poise and toughness in the pocket. Never looked to run at all.

Dan Sepulveda: Boomed a bunch of long ones and pinned them in the corner on the short ones. A+ for Sep.

Will Gay: Played well, had at least one pass defended and was in on some tackles.

Shaun McDonald: I loved what I saw from McDonald tonight. Looks like a perfect extra receiver for this team. Not sure if he'll be 3rd, 4th or 5th, but he'll contribute. Reminds me of the Mewelde signing from last season.

Anyway, the games don't count but it's great to see the young'ns playing well.

[Iron Shiek]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

Echo all of your thoughts for sure. Was very pleased with the game. No injuries is always the best outcome (win or lose) in these fake games.

I was wanting to see improvement on our short yardage/goalline rushing and wasn't let down. Mendenhall had a nice conversion early on as did Redman near the end zone later. Glad to see that push.

I'm really liking our young guys. Hood got in easily on that sack...he's gonna be tough once groomed properly. Get him in the rotation and get him some reps...should be solid contributor towards end of season.

[DkBlue]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

This team is much deeper than last year.

Particularly impressive was the pocket formed by the reserve O'line, and their performance on the goal line.

Dixon set up well and distributed the ball around. He was impressive.

Wallace had a really good K.O return and he really got loose on the long throw that DIxon misjudged. DIxon did not expect him to be that far downfield.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

I was at the game, way up in 539, so it was tough to tell. How did Legursky & Shipley play? I tried to focus on Legursky a bit and he seemed to get some push in run blocking. Not tons but didn't see him getting dogged at all. Could you guys see on TV how they did?

[NKySteeler]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

Personally I agree with all the comments above except for Dixon.... I thought his passes early on were weak and not on target, but he did come on strong later in the game.... 10 of 19 for 112 yds was a decent showing IMO. ... But that's just me, and I know most don't agree.

.... Question is:

"Is it good enough to seriously consider him for the #2 position at this point?"..... I really like Batch, and he's done a ton for the city and the team.... But sooner than later the question/dilema is gonna come... I think Batch has at least one more good season as a backup in him, but how are you gonna protect Dixon if this is the case? .... Carry 3 qbs on the roster? .... I don't see it, but I don't want to lose Dixon. ... Good thing there are three more preseason games for evaluation.

[Flasteel]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

Personally I agree with all the comments above except for Dixon.... I thought his passes early on were weak and not on target, but he did come on strong later in the game.... 10 of 19 for 112 yds was a decent showing IMO. ... But that's just me, and I know most don't agree.

.... Question is:

"Is it good enough to seriously consider him for the #2 position at this point?"..... I really like Batch, and he's done a ton for the city and the team.... But sooner than later the question/dilema is gonna come... I think Batch has at least one more good season as a backup in him, but how are you gonna protect Dixon if this is the case? .... Carry 3 qbs on the roster? .... I don't see it, but I don't want to lose Dixon. ... Good thing there are three more preseason games for evaluation.

Dude, we always carry 3 QBs. I agree that Batch has another season in him as the #2 guy and if God forbid, anything were to happen to Roethlisberger, you probably don't want someone as green as Dixon to lead the team.

[Lonbull]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

R. Mendenhall - I got from Mendenhall what I kind of expected which ended up being a 2.7 yards per carry with a front line that continues to play sub-par football. I realize we were starting our 3rd string Center - however as I watched the game unfold it appeared to me that this offensive line has done little to improve in the running game - I'm still hopeful but I forsee another frustrating season in regards to our running game.

Limas Sweed - Huge first half for the second year player - he showed me a lot of toughness and a desire to make a real impact this season. Sure it was only a pre-season game but he was playing against 1st stringers and making catches in heavy traffic. His Second Half however was not so great as he dropped an easy pass that would have been a first down. I'll give him a pass because it seems sometimes when a WR has to change QB's it can throw them off slightly. Solid first half though.

Joe Burnett - May I be the first to call him Joe Bustett? Okay I'm just kidding however his main role this year is to help the Punt / Kick-off Return game and his fumble was the acme of carelessness. While I certainly appreciated his INT late in the game, that's an aspect of his game that we're looking to develop for years down the road - his Punt Return abillity we need now! This kid has three more pre-season games to put it together or else we've got to come up with yet another answer for the punt return game. An answer we haven't had since Antwaan Randle El.

Mike Wallace - From what I saw the kid is not only a speedster he's got a bit of a "tough" streak in him as well - I was waiting for them to toss the deep ball to him, and I got exactly what I was looking for but the ball went incomplete. I know this may sound a bit crazy but I'm not sure Dennis Dixon "under threw" the pass to him. Mike Tomlin knows that if Wallace gets a step on his man it's over --- what Tomlin may not know is if the rookie (Wallace) will go up and fight for the ball. Pre-season is to find out the things you need to know before the season starts - I'm just throwing it out there that Dixon may have thrown the ball exactly when the coach wanted him to throw the ball.

Dennis Dixon - The good news was that Dixon never relied on his speed to make a play. He just kept throwing the ball. The bad news is that he only threw for 52% against scrubs. I'd like to see what he could do with the second team and also given the green light to run the ball when he thinks he can make a play --- however I hate to increase the chance of an injury one of our back-up QB's.

Dan Sepulveda - 6 punts - 49.5 average - 2 inside the 20. - I like what I saw.

Greg Warren - I seriously may be the only guy who cheers for Warren - but I love this guy's hustle. I believe it was Warren who almost picked up the fumble on the Arizona Punt Return and if Warren makes the team again, he's one of those players that really hustles everytime out. That's a working man's Steeler right there folks.

Isaac Redman - I wrote in another thread that I just love it when a rookie (who probably won't make the team) makes a play and then celebrates like it's a playoff game. Redman gave us a little Jerome Bettis-esque celebration by just staring at the Pittsburgh Faithful with a glare of "I'm wearing your colors with PRIDE!".

Carey Davis - I'm pretty sure this guy continues to make the team because he stays healthy and he's "capable" of playing both FB and RB.

Anthony Madison - That was a great INT by Madison and a ticky tack call by the Ref. Yes I'm a Steelers fan by the way I saw it was Offensive Pass Interference! Oddly enough I believe the WR was Sean Morey on that play.

Speaking of crap penalties I guarentee that if Hines Ward makes that same block that the Cardinals WR made tonight he's going to get flagged for it.

When Ben was scrambling around near the goal line I had a flashback to the Super Bowl - oddly enough it wasn't a good one.

I'll close by saying that the WR battle and the CB battle is going to make things very difficult for the coaching staff. They most likely will have to put someone on either on waivers or the practice squad that will most definitely be swooped up by another team. Here's hoping they choose wisely.

L.B.

[jj28west]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

You guys pretty much thoroughly covered everything that I was reflecting on. Although it was second string competition Tony Hills (sp) was not mentioned which could be a good thing for an offensive lineman.

I tried to key on Davis as much as the TV camera angle allowed and IMO he still has some work to do based on the little that I saw. I am not a coach or an expert on talent but against 1st string comp. I see him getting pushed around. I thought he would bulk up more a year later.
Anyone else agree or disagree based on the little they saw of him last night?

[flippy]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

Shaun McDonald: I loved what I saw from McDonald tonight. Looks like a perfect extra receiver for this team. Not sure if he'll be 3rd, 4th or 5th, but he'll contribute. Reminds me of the Mewelde signing from last season.

Good call. He was consistently open and should be a good reliable WR to have on the roster.

[MeetJoeGreene]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

I was definitely impressed with the receivers vying for 3rd -- Sweed, McDonald, and Wallace. I wish Dixon had put that long pass to Wallace on the money.

After Dixon started slow, he did look pretty good.

I wasn't overwhelmed by Mendenhall. They jury is still out in my mind.

Redman looked better than the tank.

Suzy Kolber actually looked pretty good...

I liked Gruden in the booth.

[feltdizz]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

Menedhall ran hard but didn't impress me....

I like Redman...

Gay made a nice play and should have about 5 INT's this year...

sweed looks to be a solid #3....and wallace was also impressive... I want to see McDonald against the 2nd teams...

Dixon started off slow but looked good, he needs to throw the ball before WR's get open..a few were short.

our LB's may kill a QB this year....

Sep is back... Burnett fumbled but so did Holmes....even Randle El fumbled too...I want to see more...

and our OL is ehhhhh again this year...

AZ may rep the NFC again... they looked good.

[DkBlue]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

Mendenhall took what he was given and hit the almost holes with good timing. Get him a block and he will be fine. The run blocking looked off last night.

[Ghost]

Re: Thoughts on First Game

Great posts. It’s so awesome knowing I was going to come into work and waste some time reading about the start of the football season!

QB’s:

I’d love to see Dixon get some time against better competition. He seemed to get better as he got in the groove. Last night they mentioned Tomlin wanting him to get “X” number of snaps (was it 200 or 400). I think the Steelers are taking a long look at the possibility of him being the number 2 guy.

Line:

I tried to watch the line and Legursky. It didn’t appear as if he was getting overwhelmed at all. He certainly didn’t stick out as a weak spot. Love you hear what some of the line guys here think. Overall I can’t say I was impressed with the first team. Just the first game so lets see what happens. When is Hartwig coming back? Anyone notice how Hills did late in the game?

Rookies:

Hood looked good and Wallace is a lock to make the team. Would like to not see Burnett run full speed into his own guy and then fumble. D’oh…

Backs:

Mendenhall ran hard and showed no signs if being tentative with the shoulder. I thought he actually did pretty good considering there was no room for him to run. I don’t think anyone would have done any better than he did.

Davis/Summers/Redman are all the exact same player (all within an inch in height and 5 pounds in weight). I’ve never been all that impressed with Davis but he’s got the advantage of last season and special teams play. Summers dropped a catch early and didn’t do a lot running the ball. He made a nice ST tackle and seemed to be around the ball all the time on ST’s. Like to see Redman playing against much better competition before we see how he does but he certainly took advantage of his opportunity and moved the pile.

Any thoughts on Vincent? Was he a PS player last season?

Refs - it's their pre-season too but that PI call was ludicrous. You can't call what you "think" you saw and there's no way he saw defensive PI. Just b/c there's some jostling doesn't mean you throw the flag. I'm guessing he looks at that in review and knows he blew it badly.

Watched to the end and it was great to have Steerlers football back!