Meow Mix: Steelers Win

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10

This game was all about people playing for their jobs; not just their jobs with the Steelers, but with other teams that were probably scouting the game last night too. The Steelers delivered touchdowns in all 3 phases of the game, with rookies Stefan Logan and Isaac Redman delivering scores in the first half and second-year man Ryan Mundy sealing the deal. The Steelers now have the difficult decision of deciding upon their 53-man roster. They can also keep 5 players on the practice squad, but those 5 have to clear waivers, which means other teams have a shot to pick them up. Given what some young players, like Isaac Redman for example, have shown this preseason, it's unlikely they would clear waivers.

This recap is a little rushed because we wanted to try to get it up before the cuts were announced (which obviously didn't happen).

Game Recap

Carolina won the toss. Houghs has fantastic burgers, particularly if you like spicy food. The Cowboy Mike burger (named after their excellent chef) has jalapenos, pepperjack cheese, and cajun spices. If you're not that adventureous, the Benko Burger has bananna peppers.

DeAngelo Williams charged up the middle to get things rolling. Carolina is a solid running team, but we knew this coming in. Delhomme goes deep on 2nd and short but Moose can't hang on. Fox Trot shuts the door on Williams on 3rd down.

Stefan Logan fields the punt with 5 guys bearing down on him. Like a dude shot out of a cannon, Logan explodes through a seam, makes one move, blows past the punter and is in the end zone before you can blink.

7-0

I dominate my Cowboy Mike burger during the commercial break.

Second team defense comes out before the offense even touches the field.

Fox Trot comes through with another big play as he sacks Delhomme. Carolina's 1st team offense can't do anything against our second team defense. The coaching staff has seen enough from Logan, and sends Joe Burnett out for the punt return. Fair catch.

First team offense comes out for their only series, runs the motif offense, and punts.

Carolina's 3rd string back, Mike Goodson, a rookie out of Texas A&M who had a very impressive performance, came out with a few solid runs. The defense holds and forces the Cats into 3rd and long, when Arnold Harrison bull-rushes through a runningback, swats the ball out of the QBs hand and falls on the fumble for a huge turnover.

Homestead Charlie came in for his series, and has an easy job of it as the runningbacks carry him into field goal range. Frank the Tank makes a solid run on 3rd and short to keep things going. Batch finds McDonald to get down to the 15. Then Isaac Redman takes over. Redman reels off 5 yards to get down to the 10 and a first down. Then he plows through the Panthers defense and just refuses to be denied of the end zone and leaves the Carolina defense battered, scarred, and in a 14-0 hole.

14-0

We really want to make the easy jump from "Isaac" to "Ike", but we think that might be because of our fond memories of former Pirates centerfielder Tike Redman.

Isaac Redman > Tike Redman

Goodson takes over and churns out some solid carries to move Carolina across the 50 as the quarter expires.

Carolina had 9 1/2 minutes of possession in the quarter and went out of it down 14-0. Great performance by the Steelers.

Second Quarter

With the ball at the Steelers 32, Carolina gets stuck in another 3rd and long, and come up 1 yard shy. Rather than putting points on the board, John Fox elects to go for it, and Goodson doesn't even come close to the sticks as Arnold Harrison and Ryan Mundy stick him for a loss.

Mike Reilly comes out to run the show for the rest of the game. The only excitement on this series came on an end-around to Stefan Logan for 14 yards. Superman kills his average by having to kick from near midfield after he boomed the first one for 52 yards.

Goodson comes in and literally carries the team on his back down the field. Carolina puts together an 8-minute drive that takes the clock inside of the two-minute warning as they drive 0ver 70 yards down the field. With second and goal from the 2 after the 2-minute warning, Carolina goes play-action, but pressure from Bruce Davis forces an incompletion. On 3rd down, Goodson gets drilled in the backfield by Steve McLendon and coughs up the ball. Donovan Woods scoops it up and scampers upfield then for some unknown reason slides to the ground across the 30. He had plenty of blockers in front of him. Maybe he ran out of air, maybe he pulled a muscle, maybe the coaches were telling him to get down so Reilly could practice the 2-minute offense. Either way, a scoring opportunity was missed.

Isaac Redman gets a few carries, and the Steelers seem poised to go 3-and-out, but a personal foul penalty on Carolina gives us new life across midfield. After a sack on first down, Redman gets some yards back. The Steelers call timeout with 10 seconds left to give Reilly a hail mary shot. It falls to the ground with 1 second on the clock. Rather than throwing it deep, they call a draw and Redman scampers for 27 meaningless yards as the clock expires.

Halftime

Jalapeno Poppers

$1 off appetizers at Hough's on Thursdays.
Karaoke guy shows up and starts setting up.

Third Quarter

Logan rips off another good return to get things going. Isaac, not to be called Ike, Redman has a few nice runs before a 3rd and long sack forces the Steelers to punt. 49-yarder for Superman.

Matt Moore, who actually started a few games for Carolina a few years ago when they were worse than Dane Cook's standup, led the team down the field against our 3rd string defense. The drive was capped off by Dwayne Jarrett's leaping catch down the sidelines at the 3. Two plays later, some schmuck jumps over the pile into the end zone.

14-7

Flashes of last year's game against Carolina go through your head when John Fox tried to play for overtime, only to have Dennis Dixon lead the team down the field for the game-winning field goal. Overtime in the preseason is worse than the Power Rangers movie. Don't even pretend it was good. Ivan Ooze was a joke.

After a touchback, Mike Reilly comes out ready to prevent overtime. He connects with Tyler Grisham and Shaun McDonald for 20 and 27-yarders to move the troops into Carolina territory. Stefan Logan gets the call on a reverse and scampers for 13 yards to get close to field goal range. Justin Vincent gets the call and plunges for 8 and 5 to get down to the 12. On first down, Vincent tries to go over the left side but coughs up the ball and the Panthers recover. If this was the regular-season, that would be vomit-inducing. But it's the preseason, so it wasn't.

On the second play from scrimage, Matt Moore throws up a terrible pass and Ryan Mundy strafes across and snags it. With all green in front of him, Mundy is able to do the Cha Cha Slide into the end zone. Big play for Ryan, out of Woodland Hills High School and WVU...we hope to see him on the roster tomorrow.

21-7

The demoralized Panthers come out with their tail between their legs, but not going down without a fight. Moore throws the ball all around the field as they start to pick their way down the field.

Fourth Quarter

The Panthers eventually get as far as the Steelers 13, but a sack by Ra'Shon "Sonny" Harris forces them back, and a great tackle by Patrick Bailey on 3rd down forces the Cats into a field goal.

21-10

The rest of the game was about as exciting as All That after Jamie Lynn Spears joined the cast. But since we're a Steelers blog, it's our obligation to cover it.

Vincent and Redman tag-teamed to move the ball, but a 3rd down incompletion forced a punt. Superman for 53.

He's just killing the ball. Huge difference between him and Lob Wedge.

Carolina went 3-and-out capped off by Andy Schantz's sack on second down.

He's probably not making the team, but gotta give him a shout out for the solid play.

The Steelers respond, in what seems like a perfect situation for the motif offense, with run-run-RUN-punt. Shocker.

People start singing Karaoke during the commercial break, so not much attention was paid to Carolina's drive. They moved the ball a little bit, then the Steelers defense held. Mundy picked up a sack to go with his pick-6 somewhere in there, leaving him a fumble recovery short of the defensive hat trick. McLendon picked up a sack on 4th down to seal the deal.

Your team sucks.

Victory formation.

Preseason over.

Players of the Game
Offensive Game Ball: Isaac Redman
Defensive Game Ball: Ryan Mundy

Honorable Mentions:
Stefan Logan
Daniel Sepulveda
Steve McLendon
Keenan Lewis
Shaun McDonald
Arnold Harrison

Mr. Yuck Sticker of the Game

Pale Ales
I know they're "hip" and "cool" right now, but I'm sorry, they taste like ass in a bottle. Dark beers are where it's at. Give me a Yuengling Black and Tan any day.

Highlights:


Final Thoughts:

• If you live in Pittsburgh, and haven't been to Hough's, you need to go. It's a beer-drinker's paradise. They have over 200 beers in house. Score.
• Bring on the Titans
• Roster cuts come tomorrow, there are rumors floating around today, but nothing concrete
• Stefan Logan makes the team. We're excited about what he can bring in the regular season.
• Some jagoff from NBC asked Coach in his press conference if it was a big game because it was at night and on NBC. Coach responded: "I like to think they're all big games because we're in them." That's why he's a top 3 coach in the league right now (Top 1 in our book).
• No, Hough's is not sponsoring our blog, we just really like the place.
• Our second team defense was better than Carolina's first-team offense.
• Goodson looked good for Carolina, he might be a sleeper if Williams or Stewart gets hurt this year.
• Preseason is over. Get your mind in regular season mode.
• 7 days to Tennessee.
  

Updates on the Steelers

In the midst of our team-by-team season previews, we have obviously talked a lot about other teams in the league. But obviously, we're a Steelers blog, so we've got to give you some Steelers talk every now and then as well.

The biggest news today comes to us via Jim Wexell on Twitter. Darnell Stapelton told reporters that he expects to go on IR before the season begins.

Update: Post-Gazette

This means two things: One, Trai Essex will be your starting right guard. Essex has played well there in the preseason. It's good to see Essex get his shot in the starting lineup after his long wait amongst the backups. Secondly, this means that another roster spot will be "open" (we'll get to this shortly).

The second big item of the day was the Diesel signing a 5-year contract extension. We love the Diesel and the energy he brings to the team, but we have to wonder a bit about the 5-year deal. With Keisel and Aaron Smith anchoring down the DE positions, where is first round pick Ziggy Hood going to fit in? Surely the Steelers aren't going to wait 5 years to get Ziggy into the starting lineup. That being said, Keisel turns 31 next month and Aaron Smith is 33, so drafting Ziggy was a great way to add depth to the line.

Next up in the news is the newly redesigned Steelers.com, which now features a message board. This is still in the works, so it doesn't always load right, but you can sign up for an account (fan accounts are free) which gives you access to the message board.

Finally, the Steelers must make their first round of cuts (down to a 75-man roster) by tomorrow afternoon. The second round of cuts (from 75 down to 53, which will be very difficult given the depth of this team) will come after the Carolina game.

In lieu of this, here's my (Ian's) projection for the 53-man roster. I'll probably update it one more time right after the Carolina game before the final cuts are made.

Offense (25)
QB (3) - Ben Roethlisberger, Charlie Batch, Dennis Dixon
RB (5) - Willie Parker, Rashard Mendenhall, Mewelde Moore, Carey Davis, Isaac Redman
WR (5) - Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Limas Sweed, Mike Wallace, Shaun McDonald
TE (3) - Heath Miller, Matt Spaeth, David Johnson
T (4) - Max Starks, Willie Colon, Jason Capizzi, Jeremy Parquet
G (3) - Chris Kemoeatu, Trai Essex, Kraig Urbik
C (2) - Justin Hartwig, Doug Legursky

Defense (24)
DE (4) - Aaron Smith, Brett Keisel, Ziggy Hood, Nick Eason
NT (2) - Casey Hampton, Chris Hoke
OLB (5) - James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley, Arnold Harrison, Andre Frazier, Patrick Bailey
ILB (4) - James Farrior, Lawrence Timmons, Keyaron Fox, Donovan Woods
CB (6) - Ike Taylor, William Gay, Deshea Townsend, Keenan Lewis, Anthony Madison, Joe Burnett
S (3) - Troy Polamalu, Ryan Clark, Tyrone Carter

Specialists (4)
K- Jeff Reed
P- Superman
LS- Greg Warren
KR- Stefan Logan

Practice Squad: Frank Summers (RB), Ramon Foster (OG), Ra'Shon Harris (DE), A.Q. Shipley (C), Ryan Mundy (S)

Why the Steelers Preseason Record Matters

Every year coming into the preseason we get preached to that "the preseason doesn't matter" and "winning in the preseason doesn't mean anything." In some cases, for instance the Detroit Lions who went 4-0 last year in the preseason, this might be true. But the Pittsburgh Steelers are a bit of a different animal. In fact, over the last 10 years, preseason records are a direct indicator of how they will finish the season.

	Pre	Reg	Div	Result
2008	3-1	12-4	Champs	SB XLIII Champs
2007	4-1	10-6	Champs	Lost Wild Card
2006	0-4	8-8		missed playoffs
2005	3-1	11-5		SB XL Champs
2004	2-2	15-1	Champs	Lost AFC Championship
2003	1-3	6-10		missed playoffs
2002	2-2	10-5-1	Champs	Lost Divisional
2001	3-1	13-3	Champs	Lost AFC Championship
2000	3-2	9-7		missed playoffs
1999	1-3	6-10		missed playoffs

As you can see, every preseason in which the Steelers had at least a .500 record (won 2 games) they went on to have a winning record in the regular season. The 3 years where we had losing records in the preseason (1999, 2003, 2006) we went on to not have winning records (either 6-10 or 8-8) in the regular season.

Only in 2000 did we have a winning preseason record and fail to make the playoffs. Since the NFL went to the 8-division format in 2002, only once have the Steelers won 2 or more preseason games and not won the AFC North. That was in 2005. And they won the Super Bowl that year.

Obviously, from year-to-year, the team changes...so why the prevailing trend? Our best explanation is that in the preseason, the bulk of the playing time is taken up by reserves, generally second and 3rd stringers. While this might not mean much, as they're playing against other backups, the fact that one team's reserves can have more success would indicate that their reserves are "better." Since no NFL team makes it through the season without injuries to their starting units, having capable, talented reserves that can step in and play at a similar level means you will be able to continue the success you were having in the regular season. In addition, since many teams now run "rotations" at certain positions, particularly D-line, having talented reserves also means that the production does not decrease when a starter is taken out of the game for a rest. In conclusion, Steelers teams that have been deep have had more success in the preseason (and regular season), and Steelers teams with depth issues have struggled both in the preseason, and in the regular season.

With the Steelers crushing defeat of the Bills on Saturday night, they are now 2-1 in the preseason with only one game to go. We're not getting ahead of ourselves here, but based on history, this is a very good sign.

Saturday Night Special: Steelers Win

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17

The Steelers came out in this game with the "defend every blade of grass" attitude that Tomlin has been preaching all preseason. Obviously, for the starters, it's difficult to get psyched up for a preseason game where you know you're only going to play a few drives. But the third preseason game is different. you know you're going to get a half of football in against their best guys, and you want to go toe-to-toe with them and knock them out. And that's exactly what the Steelers did tonight. James Farrior had a Pro Bowl worthy night, and it was only the preseason.

The game started off with a great omen, as I saw a dude wearing a Greg Goldberg Mighty Ducks t-shirt jersey walking across the Clemente Bridge.

North Hills High School band got some field time before the game. Solid performance.

The offense got the nod for pre-game introductions. There was a much better vibe in the crowd for this game than the last game. Additionally, there were a few more season-ticket holders there, rather than just random people we haven't seen before. Always nice to see some friendly faces.

Recap

The Steelers won the toss, and Mike Wallace got to turn on the jets for a nice return out to the 30.

The Steelers were determined to get the running game going tonight, and Mendenhall got the first two touches. Moore converted the 3rd and short with a catch on a dump-down, then Ben found Hines in the seam to get into Buffalo territory. Mendenhall ripped off a 12-yard run on 2nd down and the offense seemed poised to put points on the board. However, Mendenhall got a bad grip on a handoff from Ben, and never had control of the ball when he ran into the backside of Chris Kemoeatu. The ball came out and Buffalo recovered.

Coming into the game, we all knew about Buffalo's no-huddle offense. HOF nominee LeBeau counters by sending out the nickel package to start the game. Buffalo responds by going 3-and-out.

The coaches show their faith in Rashard by going right back to him, but he can't catch a break on first or second down, and despite a great one-handed diving catch by Heath on 3rd down, the Steelers have to punt. Superman hits a solid punt and with penalty yardage added on, the Bills are stuck inside their 20.

The Steelers come out with their base defense, and Buffalo goes to the ground attack. Marshawn Lynch finds a seam and rockets into the open field on 2nd down before Farrior catches him from behind. Scary moment there where Lynch had a lot of open field in front of him, but Farrior (whose name you just might see again) makes the play. After Buffalo got 6 on a quick pass on first down, it looked like their offense might start moving. The Steelers would have none of that. Troy stuffs Lynch in the hole on 2nd down then Edwards air-mails a pass to the sidelines on 3rd down and it's punt city again for Buffalo.

Rising sensation Stefan Logan flashes some skills on the return, darting up to the 30 for a 17-yard return.

After a bad snap on first down and a Mendenhall charge on 2nd, Moore keeps things rolling with another reception over the middle to move across midfield. Mike Wallace flashes speed and agility on an end-around, but it gets nullified by offsetting penalties. Save that one for the season. Limas Sweed bails us out on another 3rd and long, making a fantastic leaping catch in front of Paul Posluszny. The Steelers tread water as the first quarter runs out.

Second Quarter

After a dominating first quarter where the Steelers held the ball for 11 1/2 minutes, we were hungry for some points. We started the second quarter with a 3rd and 10 from the 34, on the very outer reaches of field goal range.

Ben responds by going to the mainstay Hines Ward for the first down. Posluszny is all over the field making tackles on first and second down, then first-round pick Aaron Maybin (another former Nittany Lion) comes up with his first NFL sack. With Reed on the bench with an ankle injury, Piotr Czech comes out and knocks it home.

3-0

Buffalo comes back out looking to answer back. Edwards rushes a pass with Harrison bearing down on him and the ball hits Farrior right in the hands. With no one in front of him, Potsie scoots into the end zone for the score.

10-0

If anyone's counting, that's Defense 7, Offense 3, Bills 0.

Buffalo's offense hurries-up their way off the field, and Logan makes another good effort on the punt return. When your offense doesn't move the ball, the No Huddle kills your defense.

With the ball near midfield, Ben takes a shot deep for Mike Wallace. Wallace has McKelvin beat to the inside, but Ben throws it to the outside and it falls incomplete. If Ben throws that inside Wallace is gone. After a false start on Essex, Ben hits Hines and Sweed (another spectacular catch), but we come up just short. Ben waves the punt team off and tries to draw the Bills offsides. It appeared a d-lineman jumped, but Hartwig didn't pull the trigger. Timeout. Superman.

With the help of a Steelers penalty, Buffalo is able to get not only one, but two first downs on their next drive. Edwards is going to be having nightmares about Farrior tonight, as Potsie forced an incompletion and dragged Edwards down for a 3rd down sack after Buffalo had crossed their 40.

Pinned back inside the 15, Mendenhall went to work. He made a great openfield cut to get open for a short pass that he took for 13 and a big first down to get out of the shadow of our end zone. Sweed pulls in another solid catch to keep things moving. On first down near midfield, Ben goes for Sweed on the sidelines. Limas makes a great jumping catch, but gets hit in the air and never gets his second foot down. Since the NFL got rid of the "force-out" rule, it's incomplete. Ben comes back by firing one to Hines down the middle for 20 yards, moving us well into Bills territory.

The next play was all Ben being Ben. There's maybe 2 other quarterbacks in the league that make that play. He shrugs off a tackle, eludes a defender, makes a move to scramble, then lobs a pass over an oncoming defender to a wide open Heath Miller for 18 yards.

Two-minute warning

Hines reels one in on the sidelines to set up 3rd and short, and Mendenhall is able to pick it up with a good push from the O-line. Ben looks for Hines on a quick-in across the middle, but the pass is called incomplete. Hines does a great job trying to pretend he made the catch (and in real-time it looked like he did) but the replays showed the ball came out when he hit the ground and the call on the field was right. Ben hands to Mendenhall on a stretch play and the line makes a hole big enough to drive a big rig through, allowing Mendenhall to merenge into the end zone.

17-0

Buffalo gets a meaningless play before the half to round out their 4 1/2 minutes in time of possesion. Don't know if they showed the stat on TV or not (probably not since it's KDKA) but Buffalo had a grand total of 3 first downs, 50 yards, and 8:14 in time of possession in the first half.

Halftime

Patrick Bailey presented with the Joe Greene Great Performance Award, which is annually given to the Steelers Rookie of the Year from the prior season. Patrick had a great year last year and we're really pulling for him to make the team. He was 3rd on the team in Special Teams tackles last season and he's an all-around great guy.

Some jokers try to kick field goals. Wimps only tried from the 5 and 10 yard lines. None from the 15? What kind of joke is this?

Third Quarter

After their terrible first half, Buffalo's first-team offense comes back to get smacked in the mouth some more by the Steelers defense. No surprise, it's another 3-and-out.

Homestead Charlie comes in to lead the 2nd team offense. Justin Vincent sees some extended work on this drive, but looks a lot shakier than he did in the first game. He was moving side-to-side and not hitting the hole hard. Charlie spreads the ball around to 4 different receivers over the drive (Brandon Williams, Dezmond Sherrod, Martin Nance, and Shaun McDonald), moving the Steelers into field goal range. With the ball in the red zone, Arians goes back to the motif offense, which loses yardage and results in a field goal try. Piotr misses from 40, and the offense comes away empty.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, who we lovingly nicknamed Erin last season when he played for the Bungles because of his incredibly Irish name, came in at quarterback. By virtue of a 17-yard pass, a longer play than the Bills had at all in the first half, Erin moved the Bills across the 50 for the first time in the game. Keyaron Fox made the receiver pay for that one, dishing out a bone-crushing hit that the guy next to me described as "that hurt him again when he watched the replay."

Erin gets them to 3rd and 1, but the Bills can't convert against the Steelers D, then commit a false start when they try to line up to go for it on 4th down.

Isaac Redman came into the game at running back and got a lion's share of the work, including a check-down pass after a hold on Jeremy Parquet that he turned upfield, cut back across the middle, and almost took back to the sticks for 19 yards.

Fourth Quarter

The Steelers continued to dominate in ball control, holding it for almost 11 minutes in the third quarter, further keeping Buffalo's offense on the bench.

A false start penalty on Capizzi sets the Steelers back and Batch goes deep down the middle for Williams, but he tries to make a diving catch (when he could have caught it in stride) and can't hang on to the ball. Batch threw some really nice passes out there tonight. Good looking accuracy from our #2. Superman.

The Bills go 3-and-out again, this defensive stand highlighted by Arnold Harrison and Donovan Woods splitting a sack.

Logan rips off a great return, getting across midfield. Mike Reilly comes in to take the reigns, which at this point pretty much means handing the ball off. Redman picks up a first down to move closer to field goal range, but can't pick up a 4th and 1 at the 27, giving the ball back to the Bills.

With 8 minutes to go and the Steelers running in 3rd stringers, Buffalo put together their only legitimate drive of the game. Erin uses the no-huddle to move the team up the field, capped off by a scramble to get the Bills inside the 20 for the first time all game with 4 1/2 to go. Joe Burnett almost jumps a route on first down, and Keenan Lewis makes a good open-field tackle on 3rd down to hold the Bills to a field goal. But Joe Burnett comes out of nowhere and blocks the kick, preserving the shutout for the defense.

Reilly makes a good pass to David Johnson on the sideline after the two-minute warning to pick up a first down and seal the deal.

Players of the Game:

Offensive Game Ball: Rashard Mendenhall
Defensive Game Ball: James Farrior

Honorable Mentions:
Ben Roethlisberger
Hines Ward
Limas Sweed
Joe Burnett
Stefan Logan
Willie Colon
Keyaron Fox

Mr. Yuck Sticker of the Game:

Pre-snap Penalties

Honestly, there wasn't a whole lot not to like about this game, so we have to agree with Coach here. The Steelers had 6 penalties on the night, 3 of which were pre-snap. Those can be easily avoided.

Final Thoughts

• Dominating performance by the defense. Buffalo was 0-8 on third downs, and only had 135 net yards.
• Time of possession: PIT 41:15, BUF 18:45
• Stefan Logan might take someone's roster spot.
• Keyaron Fox is playing great. He'll be an excellent addition to the ILB rotation. It's going to be hard to get him on the field, but he's an asset when he's there.
  
• Sweed catches anything that isn't thrown right at his numbers.
• Posluszny is a beast. Maybin has some skills and will grow into a solid player. Good to see the PSU guys having success in the NFL.
  
• Farrior makes the Pro Bowl again.
• The Steelers have never had a losing season in the last 10 years when they won at least 2 preseason games. All 3 non-winning seasons were after preseasons where they were 1-3 or 0-4. More details on this tomorrow.
• We are going to cut guys that could be starters on other NFL rosters.
  

Preseason Gameday 3: Buffalo Bills

Heinz Field
7:30


Better off listening to the radio.

Steelers.com has an all-new, redesigned look.
They are updating their multimedia section, so photos will be hard to come by until they get that up.

Worthwhile information from Jim Wexell on twitter:
For out-of-towners, tonight's game is listed here: www.channelsurfing.net
1 p.m. Sunday replay on NFLNetwork

What we're looking for tonight:

1. No injuries

It's the preseason, so this should be obvious.
2. Approaching cut dates

The first roster cut comes on September 1, so this will be the last game where we will see some players. The first roster cut is only from 80 to 75, so some of the names you've heard often locked into battles won't be cut just yet. The last cut date, where the roster is trimmed from 75 to 53, comes after the Panthers game.

3. More time for the first team

The 3rd preseason game is the time when first team offenses and defenses usually play close to a half, as a "tune-up" for the regular season. The Steelers will likely show a little more than their vanilla defense tonight, and the offense should actually have a chance to get a rythym going.

4. Buffalo's no-huddle offense

The Bills have installed a no-huddle offense that they will work out of for the whole game, and it will be interesting to see how the Steelers combat this and how our defensive players hold up. Reports are that T.O. is likely out, which will give Trent Edwards some time to work on chemistry with his other receivers (Lee Evans, Roscoe Parrish, James Hardy).
5. Ben's ankle/heel

Ben's once again brought Steeler nation to a halt a few weeks ago when he went down with an injury to his Achilles. Tonight is his chance to show he's back at full strength and ready to lead us to another championship.

Where we'll be

Ian will be at the game, and will be posting some periodic updates on Twitter. John just moved away to go to grad school, so he's still unpacking.

Time to get pumped!!

GO STEELERS!!

Defeated in the Primary: Steelers Lose

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17

Last season, as we mentioned in our recent season preview for the Redskins, the Steelers went into Washington on the eve of the general election and thoroughly handled coach Jim Zorn's squad. Saturday night was a different story, however, as the 'Skins were able to defeat the Steelers in a sloppy game from both sides. Fortunately for Mike Tomlin's crew, just like the primary election doesn't mean much compared to November's vote, the pre-season is mostly insignificant when talking about meaningful games.

That doesn't change the fact that the Steelers need to improve in all aspects of their game. In fact, Pittsburgh's special teams may have been the best area for them in this second game of the pre-season - when was the last time the Steelers could boast that fact? The men from the Steel City faced an uphill battle, especially on offense, right from the start. Not only was Big Ben held out of the game following his achilles/heel injury suffered Thursday in practice, but regular starters Willie Parker and Justin Hartwig were both facing their first live snaps in actual game action, and Doug Legursky started at left guard.

Both "first-team" offenses had shaky first drives which extended longer than they should have - Washington had three consecutive incomplete passes before a fake punt landed them 15 yards, a first down, and eventually resulted in a field goal; the Steelers were also facing a "3-and-out" until they were aided by an unnecessary roughness penaly. Dick Lebeau's first-string defense finished off their night by forcing a couple quick punts, while Charlie Batch and "Fast" Willie led the starting offense to the game's first TD (capped off by Parker's 3 yard score) before heading to the sidelines for the remainder of the night.

While Batch may have led a solid scoring drive, he was mediocre at best for most of his time under center. His play, coupled with the performance of Dennis Dixon, whose stats are extremely misleading, should revamp the race for the #2 QB spot, which Batch had taken a strong hold of early in camp. The best players from the first units were Willie Parker (by default) and Lawerence Timmons, who had 3.5 tackles and deflected a pass in limited playing time. Once again, the new L.T. was all over the field, and showed why he should be a candidate for a pro-bowl selection for years to come.

I'm not going to lie to you - as I've already said, this game was really sloppy, and got really boring extremely fast. Some key reserves and other potential practice squad players made good impressions, but the overall team performances were a let down. With less than 3 weeks until the season opener, I expected a little more refinement from both teams. Dennis Dixon showed why he was considered a potential 1st round pick his senior year (before his knee injury), flashing his athleticism and ability to escape the pocket; meanwhile, Rashard Mendenhall, who averaged 5.2 yards on 5 carries, began to show why the Steelers took him in the first round last season. He had a much better burst toward the hole than he showed against the Cardinals last week, but he still didn't resemble the form he had last pre-season. He is getting to that point, and it seems to mostly be a mental hurdle at this point.

We're really excited about the group of receivers the Steelers have this year, as the depth will give Bruce Arians one of the deepest units in the NFL. Limas Sweed dropped another easy one, but made an exceptional catch to make up for it (get used to it folks - it's what he did all through college). Shaun McDonald led Steelers' receivers with 3 receptions - he's not fast, tall, or flashy, but he does everything right and hardly makes mistakes. Detroit made a mistake letting him go. Finally, Mike Wallace is F-A-S-T. He only caught a couple balls, but his speed is clearly evident. There were a couple replays that showed Wallace had blown past the defender and was open. He's definitely going to be exciting to watch. The only guy possibly faster than Wallace is Stefan Logan. He probably has about a 10% chance to make the team, but averaging nearly 40 yards on 4 kick returns will certainly help. He's shifty, quick, and sees the hole very well. If he has one more game like in Washington, the Steelers may have to carry one less RB or CB to accomodate him.

If the Steelers have good depth on offense, they have great depth on D. Additionally, a good handful of the backups could probably start on most teams. 2009 first round pick Ziggy Hood had 2 sacks, giving him 3 so far this pre-season. LB Keyaron Fox and CB/S Roy Lewis each had 4 tackles each to pace the defense. A few others stood out on defense for the wrong reasons. CB Joe Burnett, a fifth round pick this year, was beaten a couple times, including looking really bad on a jump ball in the endzone against a taller receiver. Also, this may be the end of the road for Bruce Davis as a Steeler. How a player so productive in college could do so little in the NFL is beyond me. He simply looked lazy, unmotivated, and unconditioned Saturday night. Finally, if you're looking for a surprise (yet unlikely) cut come the time to trim down the roster, look no further than Travis Kirschke. The veteran end looked unbelievably slow and unable to keep up with the rest of the defense most of the night against second and third string players.

The Steelers stand to see some major improvement, some of which will happen naturally once various players return from injury and see more snaps. The defense wasn't at its best, and still looked better than half the teams in the NFL when those teams bring their "A" game. The return units were a major plus, and the coverage teams were just as good. Overall, the Steelers will be in good shape, barring any significant injury, come September 10th against Tennessee.

Red Zone Redman

Per this article in the Post-Gazette, undrafted rookie free agent Isaac Redman is creating quite a stir.

As you will recall, Redman was 2/2 in Goal Line drills against the second-team defense last week in camp.

He followed that up by finding the end zone twice against Arizona's backup defense in the preseason opener on Thursday.

But the question lingered: could he do it against a first-team NFL defense?

Coach decided to put him to the test today.

Redman ran 3 times against the #1 run defense in the NFL and scored on all 3 tries.

Coach kept pounding the kid in there, giving him 7 chances in total against the first and second team defense. Redman won 5.

Now, before we jump to conclusions and start calling him the next Jerome Bettis, let's remember that it's still very early in the season. That being said, Redman has excellent vision inside and does a very good job of seeing the hole and hitting it in stride. Beyond that, you will notice on both of the TDs he scored against Arizona, they had a chance to get him, but he kept churning his legs and pushing forward and broke through the arm tackles.

Redman is still locked in a battle with Frank "The Tank" Summers, Carey Davis, and Justin Vincent to make the team, but you have to like what the kid has shown thus far.

To be honest, from what I've seen so far, I'd rather keep Redman and Summers than Carey Davis. Davis has had some trouble locking guys up when he's in there as a blocking back, and (unless he's improved in this area over last season) lacks the leg power to drive through tackles and get those extra yards. Remember how many times Davis was stopped 1 yard short on a 3rd down play last year? Yes, he is a good receiver out of the backfield, but Sean McHugh can fill that "H-back" role. Summers showed he has some great blocking ability, and Redman has been tried out at fullback as well in camp. The one other area where Carey Davis has made contributions is on special teams. However, Summers was running with the special teams against Arizona, so it just might be that Carey Davis is on his way out.

The Song Remains The Same: Steelers Win

10

20

For starters, the biggest victory tonight was that no one got injured. Don't worry about Arizona's offense moving the ball on our defense. We ran the most basic defensive schemes tonight. The X blitz that is a signature of the Steelers defense was not used once. So don't worry, the defense will be just fine. The most impressive players tonight were obviously the rookies. They all showed some flashes of their potential, from Ziggy's sack, to Burnett's INT, Wallace's big catch over the middle, Lewis making plays on special teams, Urbik and Shipley mixing it up in the trenches, and Frank the Tank making some great blocks.

For pregame entertainment, the Steelers had some frisbee-catching dogs. This turned out to be extra-entertaining when one of the dogs caught a frisbee, then took a squat and crapped on the field. A highly embarrassed field worker had to come out with a shovel and scrape it up before the players came out.

Parker, Hartwig and the Diesel were held out of the game because of minor injuries. Stapleton was out as well, as he is still recovering from knee surgery.

Recap

The Steelers started things off strong by winning the toss and electing to receive.

The highly anticipated Mike Wallace is forced to take a knee on the opening kickoff after Rackers booms it into the end zone.

Ben takes a wack and hits Hines on the second play from scrimage. An offsides penalty sets up 3rd and short. Mendenhall gets the first short-yardage carry and comes through with a good run to move the chains. Mendenhall gets a few and Heath snags one to set up a 3rd and 3. On the 6th play from scrimage, Willie Colon gets a penalty.

Out of the Fortress of Solitude, Superman flies in and pounds a punt, pinning Arizona inside the 20.

Willie Gay makes a great play on his first down as a starting CB, reaching around Boldin to break up a pass. After a Hightower run, Breaston the Steelers Killer reels one in for a 3rd down conversion. Warner goes play action and finds his tight end open down the seam for 17 yards to get close to Steelers territory. BSK picks up another 3rd and long, moving the ball across the 50. The Steelers defense holds again on first and second, setting up another 3rd and long. LaMarr Woodley makes a killer move to get pressure, forcing Warner to step up, then keeps up pursuit and slams Warner to the turf, forcing the punt.

Pinned back at the 8, the offense comes out passing. Ben does his Ben thing and shakes off two defensive linemen, then totally schools Clark Haggans, scrambling out of a safety and turning it into a 3-yard gain. Hines reels in his 2nd grab of the game for 13 yards and a first down. Arians breaks out the cliche offense, getting us into a 3rd and long, but Limas Sweed does his impression of the Steel Building and goes waaay up to snag a pass over the middle for the first down.

Justin Vincent comes in and slashes for a nice run, but a delay of game penalty sets the Steelers back, and Ben throws behind Sweed on a hot read on 3rd down. Superman comes in and booms another one.

Fitz makes his only catch of the game to set up 2nd and short. Warner goes play-action and whips one downfield for Breaston who has Gay beat. Polamalu gets on his horse and makes a dive for BSK as the ball comes in. Whether Troy slowed him up, or the ball was out of his reach, the ball falls out of BSK's fingertips.

Second Quarter

Arizona shows diversity in their offense and runs a draw play to Hightower for the first down. The Cards start to march down the field, mixing up runs and passes, moving into Steelers territory. Hightower gets slammed by Harrison and the ball comes out. The refs ruled him down, and Tomlin challenges. It was a close play, but the call on the field was upheld. Leinart comes in after the review, and looks a little shaky. Harrison gets pressure on 3rd down, forcing n incompletion and another punt.

Homestead Charlie comes in and Mendenhall makes his best run of the game for 5 yards. In his first pass attempt since the first preseason game last year, Batch goes downfield for Sweed streaking down the sidelines.

Sweed turns into the Highmark building and skies over 5'8" 180 cornerback Michael Adams for 45 yards to finally move into Arizona territory. Mendenhall carves up a few nice runs, setting up a 3rd and 3. Batch makes a very bad throw, and it luckily falls incomplete after nearly being picked off.

Jeff Reed comes in for his first kick of the season, and blasts it through all the way from Squirrel Hill.

3-0

Arizona's second-team offense matched up against our second-team defense. Former Steeler Sean Morey converts a 3rd and long, then BSK comes through with a few catches to move the ball into Steelers territory. Mixing up runs and passes, the Cards work there way deep into Steelers territory. They come up short on 3rd and long from the 15. With the ball on the 7, Whiz opts to go for it rather than tie the game. Leinart goes play action and gets serious pressure from Arnold Harrision the backfield and throws a terrible pass for the end zone, which gets batted around by a few Steelers and falls to the turf.

With 1:02 to go, the general sentiment in the crowd is to throw one deep for Wallace, then run the clock out if it's incomplete. Instead of throwing a fly route, Wallace runs a flag and Dixon underthrows him on the sidelines, almost getting it picked. The Cards use their last timeout after a running play with 53 seconds left. Rather than running the ball and punting with 15 seconds left, Arians decides to throw. Dixon goes downfield for Sweed, but it's incomplete stopping the clock and bringing Superman back in. Superman whacks a 49-yarder, and BSK calls a fair catch on the sideline.

Leinart gets the reigns back with 38 seconds, rather than the 10 he would have had if we had run on 3rd down. After a 7-yard pass on 2nd down, Arizona is forced to go no-huddle with no timeouts left. Leinart whips one down the field as time expires in the half. Anthony Madison makes a great defensive play inside of Sean Morey and snags an interception. Laundry from the backjudge signals the first terrible call of the season, and Madison is flagged for pass interference. After the replay, the crowd is quite unhappy as Madison had inside position and was fighting for the ball as much as Morey was. Rackers comes in and converts on an untimed down as the crowd boos the refs off the field and Tomlin gives them a piece of his mind.

3-3

Halftime

More frisbee dogs.

Third Quarter

Brian St. Pierre came into the game, along with RB LaRod Stephens-Howling from Pitt. The defense forced a 3-and-out, capped off by Bruce Davis blowing up a screen play in the backfield.

Dennis Dixon came on and looked a lot calmer than he had in his first series out. Aided by some solid running from Justin Vincent, Dixon was able to convert a 3rd and 6 and 3rd and 4 with passes to Shaun McDonald and Mike Wallace to get across midfield. On first down Dixon takes a look downfield but waits a tad too long to throw the ball, and Mike Wallace, who had beat the corner, has to come back for the ball. Wallace gets his hands on it, but isn't able to come down with it in the end zone. On 3rd and 11, Dixon threw a beautiful pass and hit Wallace in stride on a deep post route for 22 yards to get into field goal range. Dixon throws a great pass to Sweed on an out-route on the sideline, but Sweed can't hang on. Piotr Czech, who was brought in basically to give Reed's leg some rest in the preseason, misses a 36-yard field goal, keeping the game tied at 3.

The teams trade 3-and-outs, with booming punts from Graham and Superman.

As Arizona's next drive started, I turned to my dad and said, "LeBeau better tell the defense they need to score if we want to win this game, because the offense certainly isn't going to do it."

Right on cue, the defense delivers. Arizona gets set back on the first play by a holding call, pushing them to a 1st and 20 with only a few ticks left in the 3rd quarter. BSP drops back and eyes Urban the whole way. Joe Burnett makes a great jump on the ball and rips the interception from Urban hands with a lot of green in front of him. Burnett blows by BSP, but in making the move, gets caught from behind and pulled down at the 3.

Fourth Quarter

Isaac Redman, who scored twice in the goal line drill at camp last week, gets the first call.

Frank the Tank lines up as the blocking back and David Johnson is at tight end. Johnson starts by blocking down on the linemen, leaving the outside guy to Tank. As the backers read the play, Johnson peels off and blocks the first one (red circle), leaving the middle one (white circle) to have to come all the way across the field to make the play.

Redman keeps his legs moving and beats the linebacker to the corner for the first touchdown of the year.

10-3

Ziggy Stardust Hood makes some noise on the next series, recording his first sack of his career on 3rd down, forcing another punt.

Dennis Dixon runs the offense through Isaac Redman and Shaun McDonald. McDonald reels in 3 big 3rd down catches to move the Steelers into the red zone. Redman gets the call from the 9 and takes it down to the 5.

Redman gets the call again, and on a very similar play, finds paydirt once more.

Unlike the previous goal line play where Arizona had the line stacked, they only have 4 "down" linemen here with 5 backers stacked across the goal line. Tank is once again responsible for blocking the outside guy. With only 4 down linemen, this frees up Jeremy Parquet (#77) and David Johnson to get a run at the linebackers protecting the goal line.

Tank does a great job sealing up the outside. Johnson engages the backer closest to the sideline, while Parquet goes after the middle backer. The two on the nearside are too far away to make a difference in the play, leaving one unaccounted for. Johnson moves off his block and takes the free backer, giving Redman a path to the end zone behind Parquet and Johnson.



If you're a little confused with the play breakdowns, watch the video.
17-3

Former Pitt QB Tyler Palko comes in and leads Arizona down the field with some decent passes. What was more impressive, was Palko's escapability in the pocket. He moved around well and found some receivers on broken plays. He looked much better than BSP. Palko drove the Cards down the field in 5 plays, finishing it off with a 20-yard strike to a scrub receiver on a post pattern for the score.

17-10

With 3 1/2 to go, the Tank gets his chance to tote the rock and run out the clock. Arizona uses their first timeout after second down, forcing Arians (who doesn't understand situational football) into a passing situation. In a normal game at this juncture, you run the ball and make them burn another timeout. But Arians calls a pass, which inevitably is incomplete and stops the clock. Superman booms a 49-yarder.

On the first play from scrimage, Palko has one tipped and it falls right into the waiting arms of Bruce Davis for the interception. Redman comes back in and gets stopped 3 times, using up Arizona's last two timeouts. Czech is able to convert on a 44-yard field goal to prevent Overtime.

20-10

Palko moves the Cards down the field once again, using his legs and through the air, all the way to the Pittsburgh 13. Palko, running the no-huddle with no timeouts spikes the ball and the Booth calls down for a review. Pittsburgh gets tagged for a 12-men on the field penalty and Arizona moves even closer. Luckily, time was on our side and Palko wasn't able to find the end zone in 3 tries from the 8.

Game.

Players of the Game:
Offensive Game Ball: Isaac Redman
He had 2 TDs in his first NFL game. He kept his legs churning at the goal line and showed some good things.
Defensive Game Ball: Joe Burnett
In addition to his interception that set up the first score, Burnett played some good pass defense and made some nice hits.

Honorable Mentions:
Limas Sweed
Frank Summers
Bruce Davis
Ziggy Hood
Shaun McDonald
Dennis Dixon


Mr. Yuck Sticker of the Game
Negative Fans

Really people? This is the preseason. If you're going to go to a game where you know the backups are going to play most of the game, don't spend the whole time complaining. We all know that Sweed had some trouble hanging on to the ball last year. That being said, just because he dropped one ball doesn't mean you should write him off for the whole season. Additionally, because Burnett fumbled once on a kick return, comments like "Oh great, another returner that can't hold onto the ball" are completely out of line. Really? It's the kid's first return opportunity in the NFL, you know he's going to be nervous. Give him a break. And honestly, we won the Super Bowl, do you really have anything to complain about?

Final Thoughts

• Can't complain about winning...ever.
• No one got injured either, that was the biggest victory.
• Saw some impressive things out of the rookies. I like the idea of using Tank as a fullback. We haven't had a legit one since Kreider left. McHugh is good, but it would be great if Tank could play there too.
• William Gay is the real deal. So is Lawrence Timmons.
• 2nd string O-line was dominant.
• I'd like to see a little more from the first-string in the running game, but it's early, they have time to get up to par.
• Dennis Dixon started slow, but showed some really good things as the game went on. We'll be seeing a lot of him this preseason.

Game Highlights

Preseason Gameday 1: Arizona Cardinals

Pittsburgh West

Heinz Field

8:00

As great as it was, the 2008 season is over.

Stairway to Seven begins tonight.

It's the preseason, so the starters won't see much time. But the starters aren't what the preseason is about. The preseason is about falling in love with a player you may have never heard of before, and watching him come out of obscurity to make the team.

Nate Washington made the team that way. So did Gary Russell and Carey Davis.

We're quite excited about the group of young guys that we'll be seeing tonight. Here's a what we're looking for:

1. No injuries.

As Gene Collier pointed out today in the Post-Gazette, the biggest victory in a preseason game is having your players escape without injury. A few starters (Willie Parker, Casey Hampton, Troy Polamalu, LaMarr Woodley) have had a few dings in camp, and might not see the field tonight. If they do, it won't be for more than 2 series.

2. Mike Wallace

Everything we've heard so far is that this dude can fly. We're still looking for a nickname for him, so if anyone comes up with anything good, we're all ears. Wallace will be the #1 KR tonight.

3. Wide Receiver Depth

Coming into camp, the #3 spot was slated to be the biggest battle of camp, between Limas Sweed, Mike Wallace, Shaun McDonald, and others. Practice is one thing, gameplay is another. Sweed has been snagging everything thrown his way in camp so far, and we're pulling for him to have a big game tonight. McDonald is a veteran with good hands and solid experience who would provide stability. Wallace? He's fast.

4. Running backs

With Fast Willie suffering from a sore back, Rashard Mendenhall might get the start tonight. Expect Mendenhall to see a lot of carries. Hopefully he can return to his strong running style he showed last year before he got injured. Frank "The Tank" Summers had a rough start to camp, but he's been making solid improvements and we're excited to see what he can bring to the table in short yardage situations. Isaac Redman (Bowie State) scored twice in goal line drills, and it will be interesting to see if he can play into the mix. CFL standout Stefan Logan has been used all over the field by the Steelers in practice, and he has one of the quickest bursts some people have ever seen. Some say he's 0-to-60 in 3 steps.

5. O-Line

The starting O-line may see a little more time tonight, as Trai Essex steps in at guard due to Stapleton's injury. If Justin Hartwig sits (toe), Doug Legursky will get the start at center and we will get to see plenty of hometown star AQ Shipley. The Steelers also signed former Ohio State center Alex Stepanovich for depth on the line. At tackle, Starks and Colon are the obvious starters, but it's going to be interesting to see what the guys behind him bring. Tony Hills was drafted last season and the Steelers are looking for improvement from him this season. Jason Capizzi from IUP is a mammoth man and has spent time on the team before. Third round pick Kraig Urbik can play both guard and tackle, and may see time at both tonight.

6. Ziggy Hood

We all know what the D-line brings. Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, Brett Keisel, Chris Hoke, Travis Kirschke, and Nick Eason are all seasoned vets. Hood, this year's first round draft pick, has been working closely with Aaron Smith and even spending time after practice hitting the blocking sleds. Gotta love that type of effort from your first-round draft pick and it will be exciting to see what he can do tonight.

7. Linebacker Depth

Harrison, Woodley, Timmons and Farrior might be the best 3-4 linebacking unit in the league. If they're not the best, they're in the top 3. Special teams standout from last year Keyaron Fox is the #1 backup inside. Last year's 3rd round pick Bruce Davis has something to prove on the outside, and he should be out for blood. Reigning Rookie of the Year (and one of our favorites) Patrick Bailey is in the mix at outside linebacker, his natural position after playing as a 4-3 end at Duke. Bailey was stellar on kick coverage last year, and one has to wonder, with his intelligence and abilities, if he might be able to play ILB as well (we think he can). Andre Frazier and Arnold Harrison have both had injury issues over the past few years, but are talented special teams players, and are capable backups at OLB. Another exciting guy is Donovan Woods, who made the team last year as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State. Woods can also play inside or outside linebacker and showed some great ability on Special Teams. Woods went down with an injury early in the year, which opened the door for Patrick Bailey's outstanding Rookie of the Year campaign.

8. Dime Back

Ike Taylor and William Gay are the starters. Deshea will be the nickel back. Who is the #4? Keenan Lewis, a lanky corner who the Steelers drafted in the 3rd round could fill the gap. Joe Burnett, the teams 5th round draft pick, is a little undersized but has some good return abilities and will return the first punt tonight. Burnett could find his way onto the team by showing some special teams skill. That's how James Harrison made the team. Speaking of special teams, Anthony Madison led the team in Special Teams tackles last season, and he might be in play for the #4 corner spot as well. The Steelers brought in veteran Keiwan Ratliff for depth at corner, and last year's "Training Camp Phenom" Roy Lewis is still lurking in the mix. Lewis is a big hitter and has a great nose for the ball, so keep an eye out for him in the big play department.

9. Hitting Someone Different

Tunch and Wolf have been talking about this all week. The players have been hitting each other in practice for 2 weeks now. It'll be refreshing for them to go out and hit someone wearing a different color jersey. Special teams, due to their violence, are one of the hardest things to practice, and with the rule changes to make wedge blocking illegal, the return game will be even more of a mystery tonight. A lot of these guys see Special Teams as their gateway onto the 53-man roster, so there will be a lot of guys out there trying to grab the coaches eyes with big plays on Special Teams.

10. Superman Returns

If you're looking to get extra-pumped before the game, the DVE pregame show starts at 6.

Kickoff at 8.

Get out your jersey. Get out your towel. Get some beer. The Steelers are back.