The offensive line did a nice job pass blocking, but not much run blocking going on. It seems like they just kind of muddle around out there on run blocks. No real push. When you have a bunch of running backs all take snaps and NOBODY stands out, it seems obvious that it’s not the runners.

Consisting of (from LT to RT) Tony Hills, Ramon Foster, AQ Shipley, Kraig Urbik, and Jason Capizzi than the starting line. Granted they weren’t facing starters, but the pocket held up pretty well, and gave Dennis Dixon time to throw… out of the pocket. WR’s looked damn good, but if we keep 5 or 6 of those there is no way we can keep any extra RB’s. At least in my opinion.

Just too good to have football back to say anything too bad. Wait ‘til week two, I’ll get all pesimistic for you. Not now, football is back!

I purposefully watched shipley because I consider myself a Penn State fan. He didn’t let me down on those that I watched. It seemed like every play ,who ever he was blocking had just insulted his short arms, because he went after em. Also, on Redmons TD’s Summers had a really nice block on the first one, the 2nd he kind of miffed but….it was enough to open the gap, so kudos to him too. I wish he would have caught that 3rd and 3 pass, but oh well. Sweed was good, but the 6 yd out for the first down inside the 5 that he dropped reminded me that he’s not over the drops totally yet. Redmond looked good until he ran more than 2-3 in a series, then he seemed to get winded and slowed down…which won’t matter to much if he is only short yardage. I’d say Mendy hit the hole about 70% of the time and did fairly well, we just need to get people on the line backers and he’d have broken a few of those. He was doing well falling forward for at least 2-3 yards when hit at the LoS, so that was nice too. Ben was Ben, nice scramble action from the endzone. Our defense, even though I don’t think we sent more than 5 rushers at any one time still held their own…for not showing anything and not having a game plan as it were. I think we held up pretty good. Our starting O line looked S L O W very slow. But not horrible.

I came away feeling very good about this team (so far). Observations (in particular order).

Woodley and Harrison. A preview of coming attractions. Both LeBeau and Tomlin are quoted as stating that Harrison is better than he was last year. Tomlin is not prone to hyperbole and Deebo put a frightening hit on Linart to emphasize the point. Woodley added a sack of Warner. This has to terrifying offensive coordinators and players across the league. Barring injury, we’re set here.

Other linebackers. Timmons did seem a tad out of sync, but I’m confident that will be corrected in short order. I was particularly impressed with the play of Donavan Woods, Fox, Bailey and Arnold Harrison. Less so Davis and Frazier; not that their play was bad, just not up to the standards set by the other guys.

Ziggy. Came away feeling that this guy is the real deal given that this was his first exposure. I think he can become a significant contributor by mid season at the latest.

Other new guys. It looks like most of this draft class are going to make the team, and not by the skin of their teeth either. The exception could be Tank Summers. Special teams work was okay. But he needs to show a lot more as a runner. Wallace, Lewis and Burnett looked pretty good and will add welcome depth and upgraded special teams play. Was particularly impressed with Burnett. Like him.

Redman looks to be this year’s Gary Russell right down to the uniform number. I like what I saw, but wonder if he can maintain that level of performance when the level of play rises.

I like the direction of the offensive line. They are not there yet, and frankly given the injury situation I would have been surprised if they had. But in general they protected well on pass plays. It is the run blocking than concerns the most right now.

Special teams no longer terrifies me. In fact, I’m beginning to look forward transition play.

Also, these guys hit hard across the board!
 
Madison got robbed on a great interception at the half. I say he gets a slot on the roster.

I think Mendenhall is a few game reps away from fulfilling his potential as a back. He’s still a little tentative on occasion. But on most runs last night he literally had nowhere to go.

We won’t be missing Nate Washington or Bmac very much (or at all. And I like both those guys) Sweed, Wallace and Gay will see to that.

Did you notice that the Cardinals didn’t challenge Ike Taylor at all.

As well as Dixon played Charlie is still #2. One series was all Tomlin needed see with Batch, and Dennis needs as much work as he can get.

All in all good stuff, no major concerns yet.

He’s going to play on a 53-man roster somewhere this year. I hope it’s for us but if not that kid has a future somewhere.

— Anyone else feeling us keeping Ziggy and R. Harris for our DL? Ziggy got a sack and did his dance, but I thought R. Harris showed a motor and athleticism, pushed the pocket, pressured the QB and did a lot of good things. Nick Eason, nice to know!

— 5 RBs make this squad (FWP, Mendy, M. Moore, Redman, the Tank). Carey Davis, thanks for knocking out that Raven in the AFC championship game, but don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

— Starting to like that young depth on the OL. I think Legursky, T. Hills, R. Foster, K. Urbik and Jason Capizzi have a lot of potential. A.Q. Shipley I think is head to the practice squad. There still has to be one more cut somewhere, particularly if Stapleton returns soon. Well, I guess the next 3 games will determine that.

— 5 WRs that you can book (Ward, Holmes, Sweed, McDonald, Wallace). The top 3 by the end of the season (Holmes, Ward, Wallace). Just think Wallace has better hands than Sweed and the Steelers will need this kid on the field to open up room for Hines, Santonio and Heath.

— Bruce Davis is going to have a difficult time beating out Patrick Bailey. Davis might be better in the base defense right now, but Bailey is a special teams missile on coverage units. Which would you rather have as an 8th LB?

— A lot of hard decisions to make in the secondary. The final call could come down between K. Ratliffe and A. Madison. Who would you keep, knowing that Ratliffe would probably be your 4th safety (and your 3rd corner) if anything happened to Willie Gay and Ike Taylor. Madison is a good on special teams but if he has to play corner, your defense is hurting (yes, even despite his sick one-handed interception last night).

— Dennis Dixon, welcome to the Big Time. Bout time you joined the party. Now just keep getting better every day for the rest of the preseason and you might do more than just carry a clip board this year.

— Any of you have the feeling that Tomlin had a smile on his face when he had a moment to himself after the game and when he woke up this morning? He knows he has a loaded squad. Now, if the team can just stay away from injuries and distractions, and cut Carey Davis ….

Davis is good on special teams, but he ain’t great. However, his real problem is that he offers you nothing as a FB on offense. I’m still pulling for one or both of the rookies to make it. I still think Summers is going to show you more as he gets more comfortable in the FB and RB roles. Redman will get some more carries against stiffer competition to show if he is for real or not.

As for Davis, he is what he is, a mediocre backup FB (Sean McHugh is the no. 1 FB on this team anyway) whose best asset is his ability to cover punts and kickoffs. With the talent currently on this squad, that shouldn’t be enough for him to stick around.

Starks looked like a guy who just signed a nice contract- not good. Dixon looked comfortable and confident after a few snaps. WR is not gonna be a problem this year. I’m not sold on Redman or Summers yet. Lose Bruce Davis, he is not even close to being a Steeler linebacker. Mendenhall looks timid, and the second string O-line looked good, Capizzi looks huge, Shipley is a football player, no matter what his size is and Ramon Foster looks like a keeper. The starting O-line played in slow motion. Lastly, God bless Sepulveda.

— I was really impressed with the blocking of C Doug Legursky, Ramone Foster and T’s Tony Hills and Jason Capizzi. Legursky got good push on his man in the first quarter and he even recovered on a stunt of a blitzing LB to allow Ben to get off a pass. Is Hartwig that much better than Legursky? I don’t know but I think we’ll find out.

— Capizzi’s technique was flawless when pass blocking. He didn’t get as much push in the run game as you’d like, but he clearly looked better than Parquet, whom he was substituting with. Hills feet actually looked better than Starks’ during the game. Calais Campbell gave Starks a lot of problems in the first quarter.

— I like the way the 2nd OL communicated on stunts and blitzes. It was pretty impressive considering most of them are rookies and 2nd year players.

— K. Lewis caused that fumble on the punt return that the Cardinals recovered (R. Lewis made first contact and K. Lewis cleaned up). K. Lewis, Ratliff and Burnett all looked good at CB. Anthony Madison, not so much, despite that one-handed interception. Leinart completed 5 passes to Madison’s side (4 on one drive) because he gave the WR’s such a large cushion.

— I think Tomlin gave Vincent those carries early on as a courtesy and chance to allow the practice squad player to show something. He didn’t. So, NEXT! I also think those carries during the next 3 games will go to Tank and Redman. Bye, Bye Vincent.

— Tank did a better job blocking than what I thought. Will be interesting to see how he and Redman perform against better competition.

— Bruce Arians must have been on crack when he said Willie Colon is one of the best RT’s in the league. I don’t even think he is the best RT on this team. I really believe Capizzi is (and the crowd laughs). That’s okay. I could be wrong. Or I could be really right. Time will tell.

— Tomlin has quite a few teaching points from this game and will let the young players know that they haven’t done anything and will let the veterans know this could be their last rodeo unless they pick it up (Nick Eason, Carey Davis).

d anybody notice that frank summers had some very good blocks for redman on the goal line? i think i he keeps doing a good job he’ll supplant carey davis as the starter becuase hee has more of a blocking fullbacks build (short but stocky) while davis is more of a recieving fullback andnot a good blocker