Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

The Steelers now have one preseason game under their belts.  They also have one win, as they defeated the Detroit Lions 23-7.

The question that most fans were asking going into the game was “who will play quarterback?”  The answer was a bit of a surprise.  Ben Roethlisberger didn’t play at all.  He was dressed for the game, but the coaches decided not to play him.  Byron Leftwich started the game.  And just like he has in training camp, he looked a bit rusty and inaccurate.  Dennis Dixon came in to replace Leftwich, and it is fair to say that it was Dixon who led the Steelers to victory.  And just like in training camp, Charlie Batch was left with a handful of meaningless snaps.

There were high points and low points in the game.  One of the low points was the running game.  This was particularly disturbing because it was obvious that the Steelers were trying to emphasize the run.  There’s nothing more frustrating than making a concerted effort to do something, and failing at it.

The Steelers running backs seemed to be stuffed each time they tried to run the ball.  Rashard Mendenhall rushed 5 times for 2 yards.  Mewelde Moore rushed 1 time for 3 yards.  Justin Vincent rushed 1 time for 5 yards.  Jonathan Dwyer rushed 6 times for 8 yards.  The lone bright spot seemed to be Isaac Redman, who rushed 15 times for 60 yards and a touchdown.

Isaac Redman runs hard

But before you get too excited about Redman’s performance, just remember that Redman was the rushing star of last year’s preseason too.  He earned the nickname “Red Zone” because of his ability to get the ball in the endzone.  Yet, despite his effectiveness in the preseason, Frank Summers made the Steelers’ final 53-man roster, and Redman was placed on the practice squad.  So I’ve learned to temper my excitement about players who perform well in the preseason.  Apparently, the Steelers coaches see things that we don’t.  Or perhaps it’s actually the other way around.  Perhaps they don’t see what we do. 

The game was marred by a 1 hour and 13 minute delay due to rain and lightning.

But when the rain let up, it was Dennis Dixon who shined the brightest.  Dixon completed long passes to Arnaz Battle (51 yards) and Antonio Brown (68 yards).  The pass to Brown resulted in a Brown’s first NFL touchdown.  Perhaps the connection to Brown was to be expected, since anyone who has been at Steelers Training Camp has probably noticed that Brown has emerged as Dennis Dixon’s favorite target.

One disappointment was Flozell Adams.  Flozell has looked very good at training camp.  However, he looked a bit slow during last night’s game.  He gave up an obvious sack on Byron Leftwich.  Adams was looking right at the rushing defender, and he even got his hands on him, but he still ran right past Adams as though he weren’t even there.  Adams is going to have to do a lot better than that.  But overall, the Steelers quarterbacks were only sacked twice, so that’s not so bad for a first outing.

Byron Leftwich gets sacked.

Other bright spots included Rookie linebacker Stevenson Sylvester and Ryan Clark.  Sylvester seemed to be all over the field.  He led the team with 4 tackles and 3 assists.  Clark picked up an interception, something that the Steelers seemed unable to do last season.

Based on this game, I can already hear some Steelers fans calling for Dennis Dixon to be named the starter when the regular season starts.  I would caution them to temper their excitement.  There are still 3 more preseason games remaining.  Just as he played well this game, he could play terribly next game.  It is probably best to judge every player based on their body of work over all 4 preseason games, rather than rushing to judgment after only one game.

It’s obvious that there are still things that the Steelers need to work on.  Despite the interception by Ryan Clark, the secondary got sliced to pieces by Matthew Stafford.  None of the cornerbacks looked like playmakers.  That is exactly what we saw last season.  So fans are going to want to see that change before the regular season starts.

The bottom line is that the Steelers got the win, and that is what really counts.  But the coaches are going to have some things to work on once they look at the film of the game.  But of course, that’s exactly what the preseason is for.  Personally, I’m just ecstatic to see the Steelers on the field again.

Here we go Steelers, here we go!

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Mike Tomlin shared his thoughts on Saturday’s pre-season game.  Click on the video below to view Coach Tomlin’s press conference.

Steelers Training Camp continues to move forward, and not a lot is happening.  I’m still waiting for one of the rookies to get a little testy and get into a fight with a veteran.  But it hasn’t happened so far.

The biggest news out of camp over the last couple of days has been the weather.  It’s HOT.  Very hot.  Temperatures have been hovering around 90 degrees, and there is very little shade at St. Vincent College.  So both players and fans have to suffer through the heat.

After watching a week and a half of training camp, I thought it would be a good time to start reporting on a few of the positions of interest.  Probably the most difficult position to evaluate is offensive line.  So I thought I’d start there first.

Everyone knows that the offensive line has been a problem for the Steelers since the last 2 years of the Bill Cowher regime.  The Steelers never seemed to believe that the position was important enough to invest high draft picks on.  That is, until this year, when they used their 1st round draft pick to select Maurkice Pouncey.

Most fans probably believe that the offensive line is going to be a weakness for the Steelers this season.  I don’t agree with that assessment.  I believe that we actually have the potential to have a very solid offensive line.

Let’s take a look at the Steelers’ offensive linemen.  I’ll give you my thoughts on each of them, and let you know if they’ve done anything significant in training camp so far.

Max Starks – Big Max looks great.  He still can’t block James Harrison without holding him, but then again, neither can anyone else.

Max is never going to be quick-footed, so he is always going to be susceptible to speed rushers.  But Max is big and strong enough to hold off anyone’s bull rush.

Chris Kemoeatu – “Kemo” is slowly becoming one of my favorite Steelers offensive linemen.  Kemo used to be a penalty waiting to happen.  He seemed to jump off-sides or hold on every other play.  But those days are behind him.  Kemo now plays with discipline.  Some fans still long to have Alan Faneca back, but I don’t understand why.  Kemoeatu is bigger and stronger than Alan Faneca ever was, and he can pull just as well as Faneca did.  Faneca made the Pro Bowl last year.  But anyone who has watched him realizes that he has been living off of reputation for the past 3 years.  I’d rather have Chris Kemoeatu over Alan Faneca any day.  And obviously, the Steelers would too.

Justin Hartwig – Most people were happy when the Steelers drafted Maurkice Pouncey.  They felt that the Steelers needed an upgrade at center.  That doesn’t say a lot about fans’ confidence in Justin Hartwig.

To be fair, Hartwig has been solid in his time with the Steelers.  However, Steelers fans are used to stellar play from the center position.  Other than the brief Sean Mahan experiment, Steelers fans have been spoiled by Mike Webster, Dermonti Dawson, and Jeff Hartings.  Justin Hartwig will never be in the same category as that bunch.  But I think he’ll man the position for one more season until Maurkice Pouncey takes over in 2011.

Trai Essex – Surprisingly, Essex has been taking most of the snaps with the first unit.  I can’t tell you how upset this makes me.

In his 6 years with the Steelers, Essex has only managed to get on the field due to injuries to others.  When are the Steelers going to accept that he’s a career backup who can’t win a starting position in a pure competition?  In my opinion, Essex is the 3rd best option that we have to start at right guard this season.  Hopefully, the Steelers will realize that before the season starts.

Flozell Adams – This is going to go down as one of the best signings the Steelers made this year.  Adams is a perennial Pro Bowler who has logged more snaps than all of the other Steelers offensive linemen combined.  Adams’ career was spent at the much more difficult left tackle position.  The move to right tackle appears to be exactly what Adams needed to revitalize his career.

Flozell Adams meets Aaron Smith

Adams is still learning the Steelers’ system.  But thus far, I am very happy with what I’ve seen from Flozell.

Maurkice Poucey – The Steelers 1st round draft pick has looked good thus far in training camp.  Most thought that he would likely start at right guard during his rookie season.  The coaches thought that the requirements of the center position would be too great for a rookie.  However, he is absorbing the system well.  There is a very real possibility that we might see Pouncey at center at some point during the season.

Jonathan Scott – Scott is a veteran player who is going into his 4th year in the NFL.  At 6’6″ and 318 pounds, he is a big, physical player.  He started 8 games last season with the Buffalo Bills.  More importantly, he played under new offensive line coach Sean Kugler in Buffalo.  Kugler brought him here because he thought that he could help the Steelers.  He didn’t bring him here to cut him.

Tony Hills – Hills has shown me nothing since he joined the Steelers 3 years ago.  Absolutely nothing.  He suffered an ankle injury yesterday that may limit his availability for the rest of training camp.  That means he is not going to have a chance to show us much before the Steelers have to decide on their final roster.  Depending on how bad the injury turns out to be, the Steelers might be able to carry Hills on the injured reserve list.  But I think it is much more likely that Hills’ time with the Steelers will come to an end following training camp.

Tony Hills gets instruction.

Kraig Urbick – For some reason, I feel like I’m writing Tony Hills’ review again.  Like Hills, Urbick was a highly touted draft pick.  And like Hills, he has shown us absolutely nothing since he joined the Steelers.  This is only his 2nd year with the team, so they probably aren’t willing to give up on him so soon.  But he had better start showing us something.  Quickly.

Ramon Foster – After ending up as a starter last year, despite being an undrafted free agent, Foster earned a lot of respect from me.  I like this kid a lot.  He’s had a concussion for most of training camp, so he hasn’t gotten to show what he can do.  But frankly, I think he’s better than Trai Essex.

Doug Legursky – Legursky is a low-profile player who made the team last year by being scrappy.  Unfortunately, Legursky is a center.  And with Maurkice Pouncey learning the center position much faster than anyone expected, Legursky’s position is seriously in jeopardy.  It is doubtful that the Steelers will carry 3 centers on the roster.  So Legursky had better pray that the Steelers decide that they’d rather see Pouncey start off at guard rather than center.

Willie Colon and Chris Scott – On injured reserve.

Dorian Brooks and Kyle Jolly – Training camp fodder.  They won’t make the team.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it until the Steelers’ coaches start listening to me.  Max Starks, Chris Kemoeatu, Maurkice Pouncey, Ramon Foster, and Flozell Adams.  That is the best combination that the Steelers can put on the field.  Now if only the Steelers would start taking my advice.

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After a very long wait, Steelers Defensive Coordinator Dick LeBeau was inducted into the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame.

LeBeau, who has spent over 50 years in the NFL as a player and coach, finally achieved his dream of being in the Hall-of-Fame.  Several of LeBeau’s Detroit Lions teammates like Lem Barney, Yale Lary, and Dick “Night Train” Lane have been in the Hall-of-Fame for years.  But despite the wait, LeBeau is finally where he belongs.

LeBeau played cornerback at Ohio State University.  Upon graduation, he was drafted in 1959 by the Cleveland Browns, but he was cut during training camp.  He was picked up by the Detroit Lions, and the rest is history,

LeBeau became a starter in the middle of his rookie season and then didn’t miss a single game until late in 1971.  He started 171 consecutive games, which is still a record for cornerbacks.

At the time of his retirement, LeBeau’s 62 career interceptions was second all-time among pure cornerbacks, and third all-time among all positions.  His 62 interceptions is still 8th best in NFL history.

During LeBeau’s acceptance speech, he talked about his days growing up in Ohio, he talked about his time at Ohio State, and his time with the Detroit Lions.  But mostly, he talked about his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers.  He acknowledged most of his starters on the Steelers’ current defense like James Farrior, Ike Taylor, Ryan Clark, and Troy Polamalu.

The Steelers canceled training camp practice yesterday, so that the entire team could be in the audience in Canton to support coach LeBeau.

Congratulations, Coach!  It was a long time coming, but you’re finally where you belong.

Click on the link below to see a video of LeBeau’s induction speech.

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To be completely honest, the night practice is usually fairly uneventful from an on-field standpoint. Sometimes the team will do a goal-line drill that might elicit a few “oohs” and “ahhhs”, but for the most part, it is just another practice.

Despite this, I love going to the night practice.  Unlike the regular daytime sessions during training camp, the night practice feels more like an actual Steelers game.  There is simply a different feel.  It’s a bit more electric.

The night practice seems to be the single event during all of training camp that is most dedicated tot he fans.  From the police escort that accompanies the team buses as they arrive, to the fireworks show that closes out the event, the night practice is the climax of Steelers training camp, in my opinion.

There also seems to be a greater camaraderie among fans at the night practice than there is at the regular day sessions during training camp.  I always meet lots of great Steelers fans at the night practice, like my new friend below who made me promise that I wouldn’t put her picture on the internet.

I lied. Welcome to the internet.

But the one element that is most noteworthy is the clear attempt by the team to give fans an opportunity to meet and greet with the players.  The opportunities to get autographs are far greater than at any other time during training camp.  If I were a fan who had never been to a Steelers Training Camp before, I would definitely choose the annual night practice as the day that I would choose to attend.

There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words.  So here is what makes the annual Night Practice so special.

Casey Hampton signs autographs for fans.

Matt Spaeth signs autographs for fans.

Charlie Batch signs autographs for fans.

Larry Foote signs autographs for fans.

Chris Hoke signs autographs for fans.

Mike Wallace signs autographs for fans.

Jeff Reed signs autographs for fans.

Byron Leftwich signs autographs for fans.

Ziggy Hood signs autograph for fans.

LaMarr Woodley signs autographs for fans.

Aaron Smith signs autographs for fans.

The Steelers make a special effort to make sure that all of the players are accessible to fans at the night practice.  Anyone who wants an autograph can usually get one.  It is not uncommon to leave the Night Practice with 20 or more autographs.  If you’re lucky, you may even get an autograph from a Hall-of-Famer.

Mean Joe Greene signs autographs for fans.

Besides being a great event, the night practice is also a fundraiser for the Latrobe High School football team.  So it’s a great time, and it also serves a good purpose.

Worth noting

• Rookie running back Jonathan Dwyer is finally recovered from a hamstring pull that has kept him out of practice for much of training camp.  His running was on display last night.  He looked good.
• Punter Dan Sepulveda did kickoffs last night.  This is the first time that I’ve seen Sepulveda handle all of the kickoff duty.  He looked good.  His kicks had good distance and hang time.
• Troy Polamalu did not practice last night.  Nevertheless, he had a huge ice pack on his knee at the end of practice.  I hope he wasn’t feeling any soreness.

Special Thanks

I want to take a moment to acknowledge Ziggy Hood.  Anyone who has been to training camp knows that Ziggy Hood is an absolute joy to be around.  He always has a smile and a word of greeting for any fan who happens to call him.  I have never seen him refuse to sign an autograph.  He signs more autographs than any other player that I have seen.  But Mike Wallace also deserves recognition.  He is not as friendly as Ziggy, but he is always extremely pleasant, and is very willing to interact with fans and sign autographs.  Thanks guys.  You may not think it’s a big deal, but what you do really means a lot to Steelers fans.

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