the eagles were blitzing. wasn’t ben supposed to hold onto the ball until inside pressure forced him into the edge rushers and he was sacked?

here we go D!

Is it just me or does Colon actually look sturdy out there….I’m a little scared now…

Seemed to get a gooooooooood push in that drive. Nice smooth drive!

“Eagles offense is gonna be great this year”

Man, the FO will be making a mistake if they dont’ give Farrior another 3 years. Also, Timmons looked like an eagle seeking missle there…

the pass rush seems much improved, with woodley noticeable off the edge.

d-line seemed to get pushed off the line a bit much. chris hoke’s quick first step isn’t worth much if it is away from the play.

Timmons is one quick dude. Heck with the coverage – did you see him cover ground in a flash to shut down a wide open pass in the flat?

secondary didn’t seem terribly strong, but they only gave up short passes (bend but don’t break).

If they can stay healthy – and, ahem, trim – this is going to be one tough defensive unit

since all indications are that’s not even a battle

to close it out, we choked on third down, and then let desean foster pick up a long reception, but ryan mundy was right there in both cases. (to be fair, i couldn’t tell, but he might have let foster get open with poor coverage).

first play of the drive, Timmons flies toward the ball and stops the runner dead. I’m excited.

Ben is out, and some second teamers are in on D.

took a late hit after he was on the ground making a tackle. looks like a knee or lower leg. no idea how serious.

(ok… i’m done. No need to monopolize the comment thread)

im in a little late, watched the first bit on tape delay. HOW FUKKIN GREAT DID THAT FIRST DRIVE LOOK?!?

Was that a bad throw by Charlie or a poor route by Reid? Or just good coverage

keyaron fox – who i have heard nothing about this offseason – was always around the ball on that drive. he just looks solid – not flashy, just there (and in a good way). and on the ernster punt he was right there.

did you see ryan mcbean run from the line of scrimmage into the secondary to tackle a guy who got away from william gay? if he can get consistent he could be a player.

offense:
mendenhall has got some moves, doesn’t mind smacking people in the face, and has speed for a big dude. but he’s not all there yet. he’ll dodge when he should hit someone, hit someone when he should turn on the burners, etc. but he has all the skills and these are his first nfl carries.

it only takes a few hard, power runs for me to better understand why the coaching staff likes davis and why we all love Russell.

charlie batch – that’s some steeler heart, friend.

Does anybody watching KDA know what the situation with Charlie is? It looked like he took an elbow to the face on that scramble

much

xraying is right shoulder

Thanks guys! Hopefully it’s nothing serious…

Listening to the radio broadcast since I’m out in California and the game is not on TV… Anyhow, Tunch Ilkin made the observation Eddie Drummond was down on two knees crutching his groin after the most recent punt. Sounds kinda serious.

It’s been my experience that groin clutch is rarely good

I hope Dixon is ready for prime time….or maybe we’re suddenly in the running for Pennington. I hope not…

Man, Hills looked pretty bad there. At least he stayed with the guy though

keyaron fox – i said he’s always around the ball, and he has been.

paxson – i heard his name mentioned. i’m piss poor at evaluating the lines (sad, i know, since that’s basically what’s important). anyone else?

Limas Sweed – when you’re a big WR, we’re gonna ask a coupla things from you. Be willing to go up and catch the ball. Hold on to it when you take a hit. Run solid routes to get open, even if you’re not the fastest guy on the field. Sweed did the first two in one play tonight and the rest will come with time.

Roy Lewis was around the ball quite a bit, but needs to work on his tackling.

Bryan MacFadden laid a great hit on Desean Jackson. A very Lambert-like pick-him-up-and-throw-him-to-the-ground. No wonder last season he was called the strongest pound-for-pound player on the team.

Hills – don’t push the guy outside on 5-7 step drops, unless it’s real far outside. He couldn’t slide out enough to stop a 3rd string eagle DE and it forced dixon to scramble. Dixon made a good play, but Dekker can’t catch.

More hard running by Russell…

Yeah, I’m not sure what happened on that last play

I saw Legurski on that last play. Could not tell what he did.

Damn… too bad this wasn’t the regular season, or he’d hold the record for the longest field goal ever at Heinz Field…

great kick though. still counts as the record in my book—I doubt anyone else has made a 50-yarder at Heinz, even in preseason

Jeff Reed can put up a 50 yard field goal but can’t translate it into more touchbacks? Come on, man!

And with Ernster knocking it into the endzone… he just needs to show he can place short punts inside the 20, and the FO will stop monitoring the waver wire.

and i may summarize in a diary, though i have to work this weekend. besides – who wouldn’t rather wait for wexell and lolley to tell u what they think?

Dixon had a rocky start, with a few poorly thrown balls and some hesitancy in the pocket. But he picked up his game, and looked pretty good against the 3rd team Eagles defense.

Limas Sweed, for all i’ve heard about him dropping balls in practice, caught them when they count.

I really don’t see Jeremy Bloom making this team. He doesn’t seem like a Steelers player at heart.

Travis William was what he was cracked up to be: around the ball in the passing game, but absent in run defense. But he screwed up when he could have simply knocked the ball down and instead got called for pass interference in the fourth quarter.

Bruce Davis is fast and has a quick first step to get to the edge. He doesn’t have the strength, though, to follow up on by pushing through to the quarterback without getting shoved outside. And on at least running play, he didn’t move the 3rd string left tackle one inch and couldn’t get off his block. His best play was getting around the right side to clip a ball as it left Feeley’s hand – against the dregs of the Philly line.

To get a good sense of the lines, you need to be better at this than I am or watch the game more them once.

Is it me, or is Jordan Reffet having a good game? I’ve noticed him behind the line of scrimmage a couple of times, admittedly against 3-4 string teams.

Jonathan Dekker stood out, in a bad way. If you want to be the 3rd tight end, you need to block, block, block, while showing enough hands to make a few plays. The only time I heard his name called was when a Dixon escape-pass bounced off his hands and when he was called for a penalty.

Mike Humpal made a few good plays. I saw him in the action on 2nd/3rd teams and once on ST. I think he has more to show us.

William Gay didn’t show up the way he did last preseason.

Yeah, I more or less agree with everyting you’ve put up there systeeler. A couple of thoughts:

Mendenhall (Rush-hard Wreckingball? Nah…) looked good, getting 7 carries for 34 yards (and a 15 yard dash in there). Given that this is his first NFL experience I think it’s admirable. This guy is going to be good.

Fox was always by the ball with 3 tackles (and perhaps more assists). This guy looks like a perfectly good backup/special teams guy – which is what he was advertised as.

Mundy hits hard, is always around the ball, but thinks too much while in coverage. Still, this kid has an upside I think. We ought to keep him.

Timmons, as I said above, shows great skills. He and Farrior could be quite a team. Also, Farrior needs a new deal.

McBean showed some good mobility and could probably be an asset in short range coverage. Given our obsession with the zone blitz this could be a good reason for keeping him around.

Sweed is going to be great.

Also, Mendenhall looks totally solid on kick return and Eddie Drummond flashed his old self there a couple of times on that punt return.

And our kick coverage was surprisingly good. Who are these people and what have they done to my Steelers.

I’m watching NFL network and their Mendenhall comments are killing me.

They keep showing Rashard’s first run, where he shrugged off a tackle but was stood up straight by it, and then hit hard while standing straight up. Their comment? Either “lower your pads” (maybe true) or “welcome to the NFL, rook.”

They fail to mention that the guy in Black and Gold bounced up after the play, while the tackler lay on the ground in pain. Hell yea.

First off, Mendenhall looks like the real deal and the offensive weapons look deep. Even Dixon looked decent for his first time out. I agree with the others, in that I’d rather see Dixon at #2 while Batch is healing. I don’t want Leftwich or Culpepper near Latrobe, let alone on the team. Trust that Kemoeatu will do well. He’s got the tools and attitude. Faneca got paid, but he went to one of the worst front offices in the league. Remember how the Jets treated Pete Kendall?

Farrior needs a new contract even with Timmons and Woodley coming on. Keep Mundy, cut Smith if he cannot mature. After the Philly game, it’s obvious the D-line needs Hampton, “big” time. Cut Bloom and Drummond. Fox and Davis looked decent as well. Ernster also looked ok, especially on the kickoff.