Thursday night in front of 55,189, the Steelers played like a team ticked off after their rather ugly outing a week ago against the Washington Redskins. They were hitting on all cylinders all night, as the self-proclaimed “dream team” of the Philadelphia Eagles were no match for the defending AFC Champs as the Steelers won with ease 24-14 to even their preseason mark at 1-1.
There was so much good about the game it was almost hard to count, but here’s most of the important stuff in a tidy little nutshell:
* The offense was on fire, going for 181 yards on 28 plays in their first two possessions with the starters in going up 14-0 with 11:06 to play in the first half.
* Ben Roethlisberger looked to be in mid-season form, going 8-for-12 for 129 yards and two touchdowns.
* The defense made Mike Vick and the Eagles look like a high school team, as they picked off Vick three times, forcing him to go 5 of 12 passes for 47 yards.
* The picks were good to see, as was the play of last seasons Defensive MPV Troy Polamalu, who was all over the place and had a 36-yard return of a pick late in the half that set up another touchdown.
* The three Steelers QB’s were 20-for-30 (Antonio Brown threw a long incomplete on a trick play) for 282 yards with three scores and no turnovers.
* The four Philly possessions in the first half – punt, interception, interception, interception, end of half. Wow.
Bottom line, this was the type of outing the Steelers needed to put last week behind them, and Mike Tomlin knew it. “That’s the desired response we were looking for,” Tomlin said in the postgame.
There wasn’t much bad to talk about, and while you’d like everyone to keep it in perspective as it is just the preseason, here’s hoping that the team will look as good Thursday on September 11th in Baltimore. If they do, the Ravens don’t stand a chance.
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DrGeorge
August 20, 2011 at 10:57 am
Matt, I thought you would pick up on the improved play in the secondary. It was much more than Troy P’s return to the lineup. Daniel Warren (#30) got a lot of playing time and exhibited solid technique; Cromartie-Smith (#42) has been effective all preseason; and William Gay and Keenan Lewis played well too. Tomlin and LeBeau obviously agreed with our assessment last year and drafted speed. The coverage was much improved, even without Ike Taylor or the newly signed Dockery and Macho Harris.
With Aaron Smith and Keisel healthy once again, we are putting more pressure on the QB too, which aids the secondary immensely. I keep waiting for Heyward and Hood to distinguish themselves in that regard, if only to give the veterans a little rest.
Over all, the hustle and enthusiasm of the younger players has been coupled this year with real honest-to-goodness talent on both sides of the ball. The team has several promising rookie receivers, but sadly, we have few available slots for them. The same is true of our young linebackers, who bring much needed speed. The roster cut-downs this year will be more difficult than in year’s past and painful, especially after the initial round of cuts; whoever we cut after that is very likely to come back and oppose us in a different uniform. Given a year of seasoning, our back ups are probably good enough to make a very respectable team in themselves.
The O-line injuries required a lot of shuffling of personnel in the Eagles game, and even the rookies performed reasonably well under the stress of live action. S. Kugler deserves a lot of credit for that. The only weakness I saw was at left OT, where injuries eliminated J. Scott and Gilbert before they had a chance to show much. The backup Tony Hill, who was adequate at OG, failed to distinguish himself at OT (as usual). Chris Scott showed a lot of heart and brute strength, but weak technique in pass protection. Hopefully, when Kemo returns and if Gilbert is healthy, Kugler can put together a unit that can dominate for a change. The running game behind Pouncey, Legursky, and Colon was much improved. If we can get that same consistency on the left side of the line, we will be able to run effectively against anybody in both directions.