My thoughts on preseason wk 3

1. Couldn't have asked for a more dominant performance on both sides

2. 5/5 for the starting offense is highly encouraging

3. Defense looks like it may be special

4. Calvin Austin is going to be a lot of fun to watch

5. Can Nick Herbig get double digit sacks as a part time player???

6. While I believe Presley Harvin won the punter competition, Bredan Mann certainly made the decision a tough one

7. Chris Boswell looks to be in mid-season form

8. The coaches have some seriously hard decisions to make on the D-line

9. Our offense appears to be quite electric

10. Initial fears about our ilb's may have been misplaced

 

Agreed. Going to be a fun season it looks like.

 

I agree with everything you have written for the past 3 games but I can’t help but wonder if we are putting too much stock in preseason performances.

Tampa probably is a bad team this year
Buffalo was moving the ball but penalties killed them
Atlanta played no one and may also be a bad team this year, in a terrible division.

Not to say the Steelers won’t be pretty good but I still think 10-7 is more likely than competing for the Super Bowl…this season. If KFP is really the good then I think next year we have the ability to make a run. Our problem will be playing in a stacked division with 3 teams with good QB’s, and 2 teams (not the Browns obviously) who have had proven success with their current team makeup.
Not to mention a conference with Mahomes, Herbert, Allen and Rodgers.

This season should be fun, kind of like early Bill Cowher when we could see the build towards becoming a Super Bowl contender. But I hesitate to expect a lot more. Hope, yes. Expect, no.

 

I am curious to see how the Steelers are going to use those linebackers once the real games begin, with Alexander playing more when they are facing more pass-heavy offenses. Holcomb, Alexander, and Roberts were all good. I think Muse and Robinson will also both make the roster.

Unless they are only using him on special teams, Pierre needs to go. The only offensive strategy that seemed to work for Atlanta was to throw at him on every down. He's just terrible.

 

I honestly don't have a large enough sample size to say this or that regarding the first team. I would've liked to have seen the offense or defense in at least 1 two minute drill. Preseason looks to be a bigger waste of time than ever and we truly can't really evaluate this. Scrap the preseason altogether, it's become worthless.

 

We went what 7-2 in the second half of last season? We did that with a struggling offense. Think about that.

Now imagine what we can do with an offense that is fairly potent and maybe a better defense too.

This is not hope, this looks very real. You can see the quality of play by us.

There is reason to be very optimistic about this season.

 

Teams having their starters SCRAP THE PRESEASON, see to have problems in Week 1 and Week 2. Just ask the Steelers who have are 3-0 in the last 3 years after beating the Bengals, Bills, and Giants.

Players taking the preseason off really became a thing during COVID.

Of course they are 0-3 in week 2, so I guess maybe the MOJO of your players playing in Preseason only works for week 1.

 

The 1999 St. Louis Rams won a Super Bowl coming off a 4-12 season. They had a historic offseason, which began by signing a creative OC, Mike Martz, and his QB from Washington, Trent Green. They added a starting OG, Adam Timmerman to go along with, a #1 overall LT pick in Orlando Pace picked 2 years earlier. They also traded for Marshall Faulk, and drafted Torrey Holt #6 overall. Green was 28-32 in preseason before Rodney Harrison took him out at the knee. Kurt Warner, a street free agent took over for Green at QB and the rest is history. The Rams beat a solid Ravens team 27-10 to open the season. The Steelers will get a good opponent in week 1.

I am not going to say that the Steelers will be the 1999 Rams, but there are some similarities. Pickett's preseason numbers compare to Green's, his accuracy compares to Warner's preseason that year. While Harris, Johnson, and Pickens do not compare to Faulk, Bruce, and Holt, I would suggest that Warren and Friermuth are better than Robert Holcombe and Rodney Williams. Calvin Austin and Az-Zahir Hakim are also comparable.

To me the Buffalo game was a watershed game. Yes, it is preseason, but McDermott knows his team took a whipping. And though the Falcons did not play their starters, Arthur Smith was not happy with the way his team played. Back in 2018 I pretty much only watched the Steelers offense because the defense could not get off the field on 3rd down. In 2019, the offense wasn't worth watching after Roethlisberger got hurt, but the defense was worth watching. In 2020 the Steelers had puck-luck with their 11-0 start, with a solid defense and Ben's 4th qtr. comebacks, but their offense was on the decline. This year it looks like they have players on both sides of the ball and some solid depth.

It should be a fun season.

 

Pretty much proves this is all worthless. Kenny looked great, but I really would've like to have seen a half by him and the offense. Just scrap this worthless portion of the preseason. There's zero need for it if starters are getting no more than 10 minutes of game time between 3 games. Hold more scrimmages or have an extended rosters through the first 5 games.

 

My negatives. Because everything else was great this pre season.

My only thing I ask for is better coverage CB. And run game up the middle.

I am also not to sure about Jones and Washington, like I was when they were drafted. But i know they'll eventual come around.

 

Has Peterson even played? JP jr only played one game, were he played well, so hard to judge how good well be in the CB department.

 

Peterson started the game against the Falcons. He also played quite a bit against the Bills. Porter also played in both games. Aside from one play in which he was correctly called for pass interference, he was fine Thursday night and played well against the Bills.

 

I like the running game, we have a three headed monster.

As much as i'm high on KP the jury is still out...until he's facing starters with a weeks worth of preparation week after week (some top defenses that want to bury our offense), we won't know how good he is (i think he's at least good, he may be great). Even those games at the end of last year, we faced some mediocre teams who probably had one eye on the offseason.

 

I'm more excited about this upcoming season than I have been in a long while.

The team is just looking more cohesive as a unit, and more confident in what it's doing. Which, given the number of new parts involved, is pleasantly surprising.

 

At the end of the day you would rather look good especially with a young offense than struggle. However the pre season is such a joke and certain teams like last night don’t even play any starters etc it’s a complete waste of time trying to evaluate anything or make predictions based on it.

 

Those Kenny Pickett passes to DJ on a 3rd and 5 and Pickens down the sideline were money. The OLine were having their way against Atlanta's defense and our 1st string defense was a 3 and out machine. Austin was great on punt returns. All 3 phases looked great last night. The best part is most of the league is writing off this team and they seem to have a chip on their shoulders. This season can't start soon enough.

 

Yes

 

I hope the Steelers play with urgency each and every game. We have a roster than can compete.

 

Please stop being so optimistic its only pre season playing against 2's and 3's

Levity's my friend so its now green. Speaking of Green "Can you hear me Knockin"

 

You forgot the green font

 

Jp played this week abs last night. I'm not a fan of his coverage skills.
Peterson played last week and looked slow.

 

Whether or not the now concluded practice games mean anything, it's better if we played well in them, than not, going into the real games. JMO>

 

I just like the team attitude. Feels like the players are here to win and not just be out for themselves completely.
Just a different vibe, they seem to take it all very seriously. Lot of times in pre-season it going through the motions.

Wasn't much going through the motions. But, team is younger at lot of spots, so maybe that has more to do with it.

But we need a fast start, we need to be at least be at 6-3 through 9 games or better. AFC gonna be too hard this year to play catch up in the 2nd half of the season.

 

A negative coming out was he was a bit grabby. This was a bit of a concern with me. He will learn that penalties do not sit well with the coaching staff. The zebras will not be forgiving. He's a rook but they are looking to use him as a starter. Hopefully he's ready and keeps his emotions in check. He will get burned at times. They all do.

 

Good thing Steelers dominated.... as they should vs. 2's and 3's. It's a good sign. 49ers will be 100 times better, so Steelers offense will have to bring their A-game on September 10th.