The Pittsburgh Steelers Lose to the Denver Broncos 34-17 - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Did anyone see the hypocycloid formation? It made an appearance last night.

I had forgotten the whiff by Dwyer on the blitz pick up, that wasn’t pretty at all. Glad he started to show some life with running though. May be too little, too late.

Rather than get too upset, it is only the preseason, I’m going trust the coaches to lay into the team for the lack of effort and wait for the opening game.

Any chance some of the starters play Thursday to make up for last night?

His play was just God-Awful. You’re dead on that Foster should at RG. My primary concern is the o-line because I firmly believe they set the tone for the game and all I saw from Essex was mistakes and an apparent lack of effort. I know the injury to Colon may have the coaches looking for some consistency and experience on the right side, but Essex is a major liability.

The game was not our best effort, but thanks for reminding us that there were some good moments during the game. There were some last night, and will be in the future that just see the score and focus on all the bad and the ugly. It is just the preseason. Now woudl be the time to have a game film of how NOT to play the game, then during the season.

the offense didnt play to Dixons strengths at all, (thanks again BA) to me it looked like they were trying to keep him in the pocket to much, let him do play action or some roll outs or something, his feet is his weapon, you were right about him having tunnel vision and slow through his progressions, he needs to look off the defenders better, Dixon’s first (i think) INT wasnt all his fault, he had defenders all over him and the WR (Sanders i think) didnt make an aggressive play on the ball, the second INT was his fault but that was just the inexperience there, a little bit higher and it would have been better, Lefty didnt play any better though, im sure the O-line didnt help either, it was practically none existent, seriously how can it be that bad, most of our O-linemen must be just too plain lazy to block their man, idk maybe the altitude got to them but its no excuse,

Dwyer looked pretty good in his first time getting alot of playing time, probably would have looked better if the O-line played better…… Butler looked pretty good as well almost got a pick6, made an excellent play on the ball, good’ol bait and switch, but he also gave up a TD. what was with our D, i hate the fact that they made Tebow look good, now the Tebow worshipers will never shut up

Is there someplace to see the final stats for the game. I am curious because the score is somewhat deceiving. When you take off the 14 points we gave them on pick 6s, their offense only scored 20 points. There were times we still played like crap, but I wonder how the games stats compare.

With 11 seconds left in the half (after the pick six), why would you take a touchback instead of trying to return the kick? So what if it doesn’t work work well and you are pinned near your goal line? With 11 seconds, it doesn’t matter. Try to return the kick and maybe you will score. Some of these guys aren’t smart enough to understand the nuances of the game (I think it was the beloved Isaac who held the return man back), but where is your Special Teams Coach? How can he not huddle with the return team and say “OK guys, there are only 11 seconds left. Return the ball no matter how deep in the end zone…” This man is paid around the year to understand special teams for crying out loud. I know it might not have made any difference, but I want the team to be smart, not stupid. You can’t control being outplayed at times, but you can control a simple understanding of the game.

Thanks for reminding me that there was indeed some good, it just didn’t come from any of the QBs not named Ben.

Ask count’em how many times I said “holy crap, Timmons is all over the field!”

Count’em said at least a half dozen times “Dude, are you watching Pouncey?!?”

My game buddy is in Mid-season form and wants to cut everyone from the team “Dwyer sucks, he’s gone, Dixon sucks, cut him,” blah blah blah. I need to get DirectTV this year so I don’t have to watch the games at his house anymore.

Loved Tomlin grabbing Lewis by the Jersey and giving him the what for.

And, finally, I’m a lot less confident after last night that the Steelers can somehow manage to enter the buy at 2-2. I sure hope our Defense is as lights out as I have been touting them to be.

Worst moment for me was Keenen Lewis when he was getting benched had to be grabbed by Tomlin and held there so Tomlin could talk to him. Then instead of looking Tomlin in the eye like a man, Lewis keeps his eyes diverted and is rolling them at words he doesn’t like, then just sits on the bench in a hissy fit the rest of the night. If Keenen Lewis were on my team, that would put him in street clothes for at least 4 games. When I played sports if you screwed up, you took your beating and you looked your coach in the eyes when he told you what you did wrong. If you don’t respect your coach enough to do that then you don’t deserve to be on the team.

If I’m Tomlin, I’m not comfortable with Antonio Brown as a returner. The way people were talking, it seemed as if the return spot was his job to lose after last week (which was by no means spectacular), and I think he lost it last night with two dumb, dumb returns (and a third maryrose references above, though as he points out, that one wasn’t really his fault). I don’t know how we keep Logan on the roster, but I think unless Sanders shows something next week, you have to make room somehow.

I don’t think Sanders looked great, but I don’t know how much you can read into last night’s performance. He showed pretty nice hands on his catch out of the Hypocycloid formation, and fought off a jam to make that catch. He also looked lost as the intended target on two interceptions, but he learned the whole offense from a new position this past week – I feel like if there’s any place he’s likely to struggle, it’s on his route running and being in position.

I think it’s funny that our starting O-line looked much improved today and Ben and Dixon had more time to throw while Leftwich was scrambling for his life with the second team, whereas in the last couple games our O-line seemed to stabilize as the game went on and Dixon had more time to look good in the second half. The difference? Pouncey. I don’t think there’s any question you start him, and I think it’s time to cut ties with Hartwig, even in an uncapped year. We need the roster space.

Speaking of Dixon, I said after the first week he’d earned some time with the starters. Well, he got it…I’m satisfied, it’s time to move on. I agree with posters above who said the game wasn’t planned to his strengths as well as it could have been, and who knows, that may have been Arians’s intention (maybe he game-planned to illustrate Dixon’s weaknesses and get the media off his back? Cold, I know…), but I think no matter what the game-plan is, you have to go through your reads and find the open man, or at least avoid the stupid throws in the process. I was on the Dixon train, but he didn’t show me last night he could do either against starters. Give him a package, and let him come in when you’ve game-planned to his strengths, but this team won’t go 1-3 with him starting.

As for Leftwich, I wouldn’t put too much stock in his performance last night. His protection was abysmal, and as I said above, I think he’s had to play behind more porous lines for most of the preseason than the other QB contenders. I don’t know that he’ll be flashy, but he definitely gives us the best chance to win.

I’m not sold on Dwyer. He had some good runs against scrubs, showed some leg strength moving the pile and broke a long one, but this is the first I’ve seen anything impressive from him. I heard he looked great in OTAs, but he’s struggled in camp so far and one game does not earn him a spot on our 53, especially when he still made a few blatant errors against backups. If we can sneak him on the practice squad, great (Redman was much more impressive in preseason last year and still made it to the PS), but I don’t see him making the team. He doesn’t offer anything at RB (or on ST) we can’t find with another, more polished back.

I really had high hopes for Keenan Lewis last night. We really, really need B-Mac to stay healthy for this defense to be top caliber, because Lewis isn’t the answer. Nothing that hasn’t already been said, but getting turned around every other play and committing 100% avoidable 15-yard penalties is a very dangerous combination.

I’m glad to see Gay make a play; I’m expecting him to shine again as a nickel back. His pick was an example of using him to his strengths.

Will Allen looked like Ryan Clark on that hit that forced the ball out. He looked pretty good in coverage as well (he cleaned up for Lewis on more than one occasion); I’m more comfortable with him as our primary S backup than I was with Tyrone Carter, that’s for sure.

I still say start Sepulveda on kickoffs. Even Reed has kicked it out of bounds every now and then; I’d rather start from the 40 once a game than give up one kickoff return for a touchdown per game, and Supulveda did singlehandedly prevent yet another return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, fighting off a block to do so (dude’s a beast).

Timmons, Polamalu, Mendenhall, Harrison, Ben, Wallace and Hines are ready to play. That’s encouraging.

Ben’s first trip to the red zone, 1st and 10, Ben throws it away??

After Antonio Brown can’t cross the five yard line after fielding a punt…The O lines up in the I formation, and we get a handoff to Redman the fullback, who takes up the middle for four yards. Next play handoff to Mendy, up the middle again, this one for a first down. Really nice to see the presence of the running game!
Ike Taylor uses his hands to sack Brady Quinn.
Gay interception: really hoped this would give the secondary a boost.

Halftime thoughts- Thank goodness this is preseason. We still have work to do on O, D, kickoffs, kickoff returns, I didn’t just say special teams because Sepulveda did punt well.
We just don’t seem quite ready. Miller hasn’t caught a pass yet? No one has gotten past Pouncey.

Dixon has 4th and one, we call timeout. Moore and Redman in the backfield, Heath motions, Dixon keeps it and runs to the right, for a loss of six. Come on, that call just sucks.

My fleet impressions were that Heath was either kept in to block, or was double covered (as he was on the interception that was targeting Spaeth). Either explanation is plausible, as the OL is still struggling, and, with Tone’s departure, teams figure we’ll throw to him more.
I really did not like Keenan’s body language when Tomlin intercepted him. Even though the penalty was borderline, you don’t try to run by your coach when he’s yelling at you, and you look him in the eyes, not away.
I, too, was guilty of looking ahead to next draft and imagining the Pouncey twins on our OL. I too, thought that Hartwig just quit, which means we have another problem on our hands if we start Maurkice at C: no credible backup, and a problem at G, as others have noted.

of why we play four pre-season games. If we had played just two, we would have gone with this starting lineup and we would have done about as well as we did. No! to the 18 game season.

Pouncy was a monster last night for the most part. He starts.

Gay isn’t nearly as bad as all you make him out to be.

Arians is why we can’t win in the red zone.

50 yards in penalties in the first half of the first quarter can and will be cleaned up. (counting the out of bounds kick off)

David Johnson steals Matt Spaeth’s spot. (much better blocker)

Sanders and Dwyer to the practice squad, Brown is kick returner and Logan is cut. (Brown has more upside)

All that said, glad we have one more pre-season to get our stuff together.

Did anyone get this moment on Tape/DVR? It needs to be on youtube!!

Joe Buck to John Lynch: “Well you have a nice smile and a nice laugh, so we’ll keep you around!”

It could only be described as a “Joe Buck” moment.

James Harrion on on the Orton hit:

He was running his mouth and getting in the way of the train. And the train wasn’t coming off the track. He was popping off down there the 1st time they were about to score. So run your mouth, expect to get something. Everything’s between the lines, so he got what he had coming.

First off, Cowher has one ring, Tomlin has one. Ask Cowher how many championships he’s won before taking credit away from Tomlin. I’m sure he’d have enough class to tell you you’re full of it.

You act as if Cowher’s teams never had any issues. Ever hear of Bam Morris? No – how about Cedrick Wilson? Still nothing eh?

Obviously you don’t like Tomlin and love Cowher, ever ask yourself why? Could it be because Cowher was a big game coach? Not with his record in AFCC games. Did Cowher teams always win – not by a long shot. You’re touting a guy who got us one championship in 15 years while trashing a guy who has matched it and has yet to have a losing record. Is there a possibility that you’re holding Tomlin to just a tad higher standard and if so why might that be?