1) Last pre-season the D was commented on as playing at “mid-season intensity”, and I think that hurt us in the long run, as we wore out. Tomlin went lighter on the guys this year so they can play at a high level all season long. I don’t see any problems with the D. Hamp had a bad game because he’s only been playing football for 4 days.
2) Agreed. Timmons (and Woodley) are both stars. Period.
3) Holmes is going to be one of the best receivers in the NFL the next 5+ years.
4) Agreed on the sacks.
5) Agree about the coverage, but we need a returner to surface.
6) Having Hoke play a bit more is completely fine with me. Our defense had a HUGE year with him as the NT when Hamp went down early in the season. Farrior even said he loves Hoke just as much as Hampton. D-Line should be good, and will look better when Woodley and Harrison are both rushing the tackles.

It’s always a bad sign when the Steeler D can’t stop the run pretty much on command. I did not like what I saw the other night. Too much like the Jax game. Getting Troy back and adding Timmons will not solve that problem. The line is responsible for those holes not opening in the first place. The defense has to get off the field, period. The fact that Silverback is complaining about the performance of the unit is encouraging. An important sign of emerging leadership. That, btw was the biggest impact of the whole Hampton incident, a failure in leardership. Based on his performance and the performance of the D so far, Big Snack doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

The offense will be better than fine. But it will still disappoint if the spend the year bailing out the D.

You are right on the spot as usual maryrose. Hartwig and Kemoeatu looked good next to each other. Dixon looks like he will do well. His knee looks fine and he seems to be a smart player. Still can’t get used to Leftwich in a Steelers uniform, but a good backup.

Thinking big. A sign of a championship mentality. Conception precedes results, something you Cleveland guys could learn.

— Larry Foote has not had as good a preseason as L. Timmons and has repeatedly been beat in coverage. If Timmons isn’t in the starting lineup by Sept. 1, then Tomlin isn’t serious about winning football games, which means getting your best players on the field.

— Too early to push the panic button, but the team’s D-Line is getting pushed around pretty good, especially against the Bills. Woodley never sniffed the QB, but I’m not too worried about him. There is NO depth behind our big 3 right now, to the point that the team signed Orpheus Roye today, who is 50 years old. There will be other bodies come cut time, but it’s not a good sign to have to go outside this late to try and find quality DLs. By this time, you either have it or you don’t. The bright side is that they’re not satisfied with what they have and that the DL backups can’t play any worse this year than they did coming down the stretch this past year.

— Kemo and Hartwig could be an upgrade over Faneca and Mahan this past year. DaTruth doesn’t care what the prognosticators say about the world coming to an end because Faneca isn’t gracing this team with his presence. The Faneca of 2007 wasn’t the Faneca of 2005. Sometimes you have to move on and give someone else a shot.

— Seeing Big Ben throw that ball away on third down and 10 was a thing a beauty. Once he learns how to do that and when to do that, then he’ll be mentioned in the same breath of Brady and Peyton Manning.

— DaTruth doesn’t like any reminders of the gaffe on special teams (McElvin’s TD) but I’m not going to lose any sleep about it. Keyaron Fox & Mike Humpal will both help all of us sleep a bit easier on special teams.

— DaTruth doesn’t think Tomlin & company has settled on a returner as of yet. Don’t know about you but M. Moore looks a whole lot better on punt returns than he does kickoff returns. At least Eddie Drummond or Bloom would be a threat to take it a distance. I think M. Moore is a threat to find the sidelines & go out of bounds. DaTruth does like the hands he’s shown on third down, though. Let’s hope his blocking is as good.

— This coaching staff has to find a way for Gary Russell to be active on gamedays. He is the best goal-line runner and short-yardage runner on this team. He can also return kicks and play special teams. If it is 3rd and 1 and this team needs a 1st down, the comfort level isn’t that high right now on the DaTruth’s truth meter about giving the ball to Mendenhall (still running too straight up) and Fast Willie (still too light in the pants). Russell asks like his next meal depends on him picking up yardage each time he touches the ball.

— The Max Starks situation is officially a farce. Did they really give the guy a chance? He looks to be in the best shape since he’s been a Steeler. Also, do you guys think T. Hills make this team as a backup lineman? Considering they will have 3 free agent tackles, they may have no choice but to keep him. However, that means Stapleton will probably be cut if that is the case. Or do we keep 10 lineman & only 9 DBs?

— Too bad McFadden can’t beat out Deshea. Datruth still thinks the kid can play, but it’s hard to get a big payday on the bench. The good thing is that with this team, he’ll still be on the field about 70 percent of the time because of the work a 3rd corner gets in this defense. Let’s see how this unfolds.

— Are you guys as anxious to see some players get a bus ticket out of town — T. Carter, Nick Eason — as DaTruth? Who else on this team would you guys like to see get the GONG on this team by the final cut?

— Has Dallas Baker landed the 5th WR spot or would you just give it to the best returner — Drummond, Bloom or Reid?

That’s it. Thoughts?

I agree with datruth about Gary Russell…I was impressed last year with his toughness and again this year…he is built nice and low, always falling forward.

It may be me but…I don’t think you should have to “teach” a RB picked #23 to run lower…guys who run upright in this league aren’t around very long.

ED was 6’3"…Eddie George was 6’3"…Roger Craig 6’ (I think)…a 5’9" running back should not run upright

My disappointment with Mendy is more his timidness than his running upright…on 1 play v. Bills he actually stop 5 yards into the hole and turn away from the tackler!!!…I couldn’t believe it…

The three guys above may have run upright but they all had other amazing gifts…ED was smooth, shifty, blazing speed…George was built like a Greek god…and nobody ran harder than Roger Craig…those high, churning knees

I love to watch RB’s…I was a former RB who played in college so I understand the position extremely well…there are many different styles and lots of ways to be a real good RB…even upright runners as mentioned above…but those are the exceptions and not the rule…

Again, I don’t necessarily think he runs too upright…it’s the apparent “softness”/shying away from contact that concerns me…his excuse in the goal line drill was “I was thinking of what play to run..” yeah…I wonder what his excuse was during the Bills game when he completely turned away from contact…I sense a pattern

I know it’s early to judge Mendy, but with RB spot it’s usually, what you see is what you get…it doesn’t take years to develop a RB…you have it or you don’t

Like all of you, I hope he develops and grows…but my early impressions…disappointing…

I just think hes not used to the blocking scheme and style of play. He ran that spread out system in college, so it will take time for him to get into the flow. I dont think hes scared of contact. From the highlights ive seen on this guy he really goes after contact. Hes a bit timid, but he has all the skills to be an elite back. I think he will eventually shine once hes comfortable with what hes doing.

I hope so…if he can be as advertised it will be a great 1-2 punch…

We had Tomlin in MN for a year and he brought our D from pathetic to respectable with many philosophies on stopping the run, hitting, and playing off the ball to avoid the long play. We had many of the same complaints here. I like the philosophy, but you do have to keep things tight enough and mix it up enough that the opponents can’t easily march down the field with short passing plays.

But that is part of Tomlin’s philosophy and also the Vikings philosophy here. He’d rather an opposing team have to use a custom game plan like dink and dunk when that is outside what then normally do in order to play the Steelers. He wants his team to be able to play the same way every week and force opponents to change their game and play “Steeler Football”.

The Vikings do this to an extreme. They run run run while opponents stack the box. On Defense, the Vikings stack the box while teams pass pass pass. But if your team gets good enough at certain things and plays the same way week in and week out, the execution can become flawless enough that they are virtually unstoppable.