I haven’t watched the game yet b/c it didn’t come on NFL network in my neck of the woods until very late but the highlights that I saw were down right ugly. But here’s my questions:

How did McFadden look and how much did he play?
Other than his holding penalty, did Hartwig stand out either good or bad?
I saw some recaps that Mendenhall still looks timid and runs to ‘high,’ Agree/Disagree?
Leftwich’s stats don’t look very good, did he look that bad?
Dallas Baker had a good statistical game, did he actually stand out or just pick up stats in mop-up time?
Did Big Snack look like a big snack or was he effective?

I too did not get to see this game; like cg I had a blackout of the game.

The defense, from what it sounds like is not much different then last week. They were better than they were this week but the same problems were there. Mistackles, poor push along the line,etc. What I did see which was a major improvement, was the sack factor. We only had one against Philly, and I think we had 3 in this game. Still I think the Steelers are have some hair pulling to do at the end of this season. Who should we draft round 1 Duke Robinson the monster guard out of Oklahoma, or one of the LSU Defensive linemen in Tyson Jackson or Al Woods (some early predictions from yours truly)?

What I have heard multiple times since Mendenhall began his career last week, is that he needs to get lower when he’s about to get hit and just in general when he runs. Luckily that’s a fundamental thing which should be easy to fix…Congrats to him on his first TD!

I thought Ben was very good. He was 9 of 11, with one of the 2 incomplete passes a throwaway (yay!). The int was really unlucky, but it still wasn’t a great decision. Good to see him and Moore make a nice 3rd and long coversion. I was actually unimpressed with the TD pass to Holmes, considering how open Holmes was and the fact that the ball hung up enough to let an out-of-position backup free safety still get a lick on Holmes. Ed Reed would have picked it off. It was against Cover-2, so he should be able to zip it in to Holmes before the safety gets there. Solid game for Ben, though, considering that he had to do his usual scrambling.

The OL had some struggles with edge rushers and opening holes. No sacks, but Colon got beat and and helped cause the int, and Schobel got a few pressures that forced the throwaway and the scary (but brilliant) pass to Ward. There wasn’t a lot of running room, and Hartwig also set up the int with his holding penalty on a 3rd and 1 running play. I’m a little concerned with Marvel Smith, even if he has gone up against 2 top pass rushers (Schobel and Cole) without letting up a sack. I’m also wondering if they’re trying to fit Kemo too much into a Faneca shaped hole. He’s not great in space, but he always seems to be running around. Also, if there is a pocket, Ben needs to learn to step up in it.

I don’t think the numbers do Dixon’s game justice. They were brought down by some drops, a miscommunication on a deep pass to Reid, and running the 2 minute offense at the end. He was calm in the pocket and made smart throws to open receivers early. He got a little less accurate later but he still moved the ball well in the 2 minute drill. If we had had some timeouts, a little more time, more experienced players with him, or a 6’6 WR who can catch, he might very well have led the team to a tie or win.

Leftwich looked terrible. I know he’s new, but the stuff that really bothered me was what he has always done: long throwing motion, no touch passes, fumbles. He threw one quick hitch to Sweed (IIRC) that illustrated why I’m not thrilled with him. A quick hitch only works if the defense doesn’t see it coming. At the snap, Sweed looks at the QB, waits for him to finish throwing, catches a 5 yard (lateral) rocket pass, then gets clobbered by 2 defenders who were able to grap some coffee while they were waiting for the wind up. And that fumble was dowright embarassing.

I thought Baker looked pretty solid, whereas Reid made both good and bad plays. Reid had one really nice return, but then a few amatuer ones too. I’m guessing Baker makes the team. He just looks more confident.

Mendenhall looked better when he was improvising (he had a nice gain off a circle button worthy cutback spin move) than when he was running the play. It concerns me a little, since he came from a zone blocking spread offense in college where he had to choose the hole and he’s playing in a man blocking offense now (thanks, cg ;). I don’t want him to be the Michael Vick of running backs. Russell looked good.

Timmons looked like a bigger Troy flying around. He had 2 really nice blitzes where he flew in untouched netting him a sack and a crushing hit on the QB that caused a wobbly pass. He came on delayed blitzes, but the delay wasn’t very long with his burst. This was definitely our most effective blitz scheme of the night. He did get pushed around a bit in the running game, though. I feel like he was trying to make plays instead of taking on blocks and trusting his teammates at times. Woodley was a bit disappointing. He didn’t get much pressure, and on the first TD pass, he had a chance for a sack but was stoned by Marshawn Lynch. Also, whoever let Edwards off the hook on that drive-ending-sack-turned-25-yard-first-down run needs a good talking to.

As terrible as that one KR was, the ST looked very good the rest of the time. We gave up 2 yards on 3 PR’s, and an 18 yard average on the other KR’s. People were getting downfield, working together, and making tackles. Also, McKelvin is going to be a very good returner, so we shouldn’t beat ourselves up over one bad play in the preseason.

Sorry for the long post.