Dixon Shows Growth in First Preseason Outing

You have to be happy with what Steelers second-year QB Dennis Dixon showed on Thursday night getting quite a bit of playing time vs the Cardinals at Heinz Field. The QB was 10-for-19 for 112 yards, and showed quite a bit of maturity in the Steelers eventual 20-10 win over Arizona.

“I was looking to stay in the pocket more,” said Dixon. “As a quarterback, your initial reaction is to throw the ball first. I look at myself as a quarterback; if the pocket breaks down, I’ll use my God-given talent, but I’ll throw the ball first.”

Dixon is looking to eventually be the backup to Ben Roethlisberger, taking the spot away from Charlie Batch at somepoint in the 2009 season. There’s also talk about using Dixon in a variety of ways in some type of gimmicky “wildcat” offense, but so far, there’s been none of that in camp.

If Dixon can keep up what he showed on Thursday throughout the rest of the preseason, there has got to be consideration to playing him more in some way once the season starts in September. Mike Tomlin liked the start for Dixon as well.

“He had some good moments and he had some moments where you would like to see him make a few more plays,” Tomlin said. “I thought we had a couple guys deep down the field on some play actions that you would like to see one or two connected on. I liked his presence and I thought he handled the group very well.”

We’ll see if we see more of his presence on the field as the season gets near.