Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

It wasn’t the opening result that any of us hoped for……or expected.

The Steelers lost to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos 31-19.  And in a painful reminder of how last season ended, Demaryius Thomas ran past Steelers defenders on a 71-yard touchdown reception.

There were some things that went well for the Steelers.  For example, they held the ball for a full 14:24 in the third quarter.  That left the Broncos with a mere 36 seconds to try to do any damage.  Unfortunately, it was during that 36 seconds that Manning hit Demarius Thomas for that deja vu  touchdown pass.

The defense also had a few positive moments, like the sacks by Larry Foote and Jason Worilds, and the fumble recovery by LaMarr Woodley.  But overall, the positive points in the game were few.

New offensive coordinator Todd Haley probably didn’t have the debut that he was hoping for.  His offense looked lackluster at times.  For example, the Steelers were only able to rush for 32 yards on 15 attempts in the first half, despite the fact that at times it looked like they had completely abandoned the passing game.  The offense only generated 75 rushing yards in the entire game.

The passing game looked very similar to what we saw in the preseason.  It mainly consisted of Roethlisberger throwing quick, short passes.  Gone were the long bombs downfield to Mike Wallace that had become so popular under former offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.  In fact, the only time the Steelers’ offense looked exciting was when Big Ben went to the no-huddle offense.  That’s when he started slinging passes to Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders.

But there were a few things that looked far too familiar, and may prove to be a cause for concern.  For example, Big Ben was sacked 5 times during the game.  And the offensive line was plagued by injuries and often struggled during the game.  And the offense seemed comfortable settling for field goals instead of touchdowns.  And the Steelers’ cornerbacks often seemed completely incapable of defending the pass.  They allowed Peyton Manning to complete 19 of 26 passes for 253 yards and a 129.2 passer rating.

All of those things were problems that we thought would be fixed this year.  But apparently, they’re still works in progress.

It’s only one game, so it’s much too early to get down on the Steelers.  They have plenty of time to turn things around.  But Mike Tomlin and the Steelers’ coaches are going to have plenty of things to try to fix before next week’s game against the New York Jets.

Notes:  Offensive linemen Marcus Gilbert and Ramon Foster both left the game with injuries.  Gilbert had a knee injury, and Foster suffered an eye injury.

The Pittsburgh Steelers open their 2012 season the same way their 2011 season ended; against the Denver Broncos.  However, the team names are almost the only similarities between the two games.

The Broncos team that beat the Steelers in the playoffs last year were led by Tim Tebow.  But make no mistake, this Broncos team is without question Peyton Manning’s team.

Peyton Manning will make his regular season debut with the Broncos on national TV in a night game against the Steelers.

All eyes will be on Peyton, who will be playing in his first real game since January, 2011.  Since that time he’s received multiple neck surgeries, and fans are anxious to see whether he’s still the Peyton Manning that they remember.

Of course, the Steelers aren’t going to go easy on Manning, despite his injury problems.  In fact, I’d be willing to bet that the LaMarr Woodley and Chris Carter will go after Manning like sharks who smell blood in the water.  Any sign of weakness on Manning’s part will send them into a feeding frenzy.

The Steelers are going to have question marks of their own.

On offense, this will be the first regular season game for new offensive coordinator Todd Haley.  Steelers fans will finally get to see what happens when Haley’s offense is unleashed on a real starting NFL defense.

Haley also has to contend with a depleted running game.  Neither Rashard Mendenhall nor Isaac Redman are 100% healthy.  Mendenhall probably won’t play at all on Sunday.  And depending on how healthy Redman is, the Steelers may have to rely on Jonathan Dwyer to carry the majority of the rushing workload.  Dwyer was the Steelers’ leading rusher during the preseason, but he hasn’t proven himself during the regular season yet.

Steelers RB Jonathan Dwyer

Haley will also have to work with Mike Wallace in the starting lineup, despite missing the entire preseason due to a contract holdout.  Wallace says that he’s been studying Haley’s offense, but this is the first time that he’ll take any actual snaps in the new system.

The Steelers’ defense will also face challenges.  Star linebacker James Harrison is still recovering from a knee injury and won’t play on Sunday.  Safety Ryan Clark also won’t play due to his sickle cell disease.

Despite being shorthanded, the Steelers’ defensive unit is still one of the best in the NFL.  I think they’ll be more than capable of containing Manning.  But I don’t think the same about Denver’s defense.  The Steelers’ offense has too many weapons.  If the offensive line can hold up their end of the deal, I think the Steelers offense has the potential to cause nightmares for Denver’s defense.

Las Vegas says that Denver is the favorite in this game.  But I’m going to disagree with that assessment.  I’m going with the Steelers to win 27-17.  Go Steelers!

After naming their 53-man roster yesterday, the Steelers announced the names of the 8 players who have been signed to their scrub list………errrr, I mean “practice squad”.

Each year, teams scramble to see which players they can sign to the  practice squad.  Practice squad players have the privilege of never actually getting into a real NFL game, yet still drawing a paycheck from an NFL team.  What could be better than that?

This year’s list of scrubs includes wide receivers David Gilreath and Toney Clemons, offensive linemen John Malecki and Ryan Lee, tight end Jamie McCoy, linebacker Marshall McFadden, safety Damon Cromartie-Smith and cornerback Josh Victorian.

Many fans were surprised when the Steelers only named 4 true wide receivers to their roster.  Chris Rainey is a utility player who can play running back, wide receiver, kick/punter returner, and special teams, but he’s not a true wide receiver.  However, none of the other wide receivers in training camp distinguished themselves enough to actually earn a spot on the roster.  But I thought that Gilreath was the closest to making the team.  After him, I thought that the Steelers would have signed Derrick Williams instead of Toney Clemons.  But apparently they saw more promise in Clemons.

You won’t be hearing much about these 8 players for the rest of the year.  But for today, they’re newsworthy.

Go Steelers!