Preseason grade

Seen all anyone needs to see.

Thumbs up :

running game

Thumbs down:

Lose the fricking joke screen passes all it does is put you in a hole and the Steelers screen plays are brutal

Special teams suck

Landry Jones wont pass Reed for best #3 jersey . Guy had deer in headlights look in college.

 

We have a long way to go

 

As I've been saying for a while - I can see JPW beating out Landry Jones unless there's some significant improvement.

Some good play in the secondary for the back ups, but Troy and Clark did not look at their A-game last night.

Stephens-Howling looked great. Batch looked unimpressive.

 

Lots of work ahead. And thats what preseason is about, improving getting ready for real games.

 

Running game and defense had their bright moments. I like the screens in our playbook as options go. There have been lots of years when we didn't have tools to slow best pass rushes because we didn't run draw effectively and hb/middle of field screen at all. Because we haven't run these plays they need extra work on preseason regardless of situation. And then during regular season you know you can run them and only use them when it is right moment. Anybody remember cincy playoff game and when their pass rush pinned ears back on every down and got upfield. People were screaming screen because our o-line was losing the battle, they hit Parker on a perfect call and there was nobody to block for the easy score. You need that and Arians' wr screen does not get it done.

 

Just based off last night...

Stephens-Howling over B. Batch
JPW over Landry Jones
Al Woods over Ziggy Hood

 

Here comes 2013 ... just random thoughts from last night's performance ....

Grading the preseason game for me is about assessing potential, not execution. That being said, there's obviously plenty to work on.

Random Thoughts.....

LSH looks like the perfect fit for Haley's scheme regarding using a small, explosive back. This was a theme when he was at KC, and LSH will plug in nicely

The rookies all looked like they had some good potential overall, so we'll see who can continue to climb the ladder. Jarvis - looked like he was learning the defense, but there is clearly a difference in his presence compared to #93. He's clearly got the physical talent to shine at this level. Made some small mistakes here and there, but clearly looked like he belongs and performed adequately in both pass coverage and rush/run.

Markus Wheaton looks like he'll push Cotchery early in the season. I'm not even thinking about the speed, but more that the stage didn't look too big for him, and he looked fairly sharp in his routes with good hands and catches in traffic.

Landry Jones... who knows what's in this kid's future. The stage was obviously too big for him last night. Passes were way to live coming out of his hands. But, he was clearly trying to be the leader of the offense in the way he directed the guys in the huddle and on the LOS. I'm really just interested in seeing his attitude and perseverance right now.

Williams looked like he's a better prospect than we may have had in terms of pushing Foote out. I don't think it will happen this year, but he was certainly putting a good foot forward, even if it was with the 2nd/3rd string guys.

Shamarko... having grown up around Syracuse, I'd love nothing more than to see this kid blow it up. But, he looked like he's mostly learning the defense right now. I suspect we'll see more of his physical skills as time goes on, but I'd rather actually see him be disciplined and in the right spots for now. I think we saw a mix of that, but I had a hard time following him on the network tape.

Justin Brown. He caught the ball and took advantage of his opportunities. What else can be asked for right now? Nice job kid.

Can't wait to see what Bell brings to the field. It better be good. Not sure what the deal was with Red getting limited carries, unless they just didn't need to see him....but, Dwyer is clearly mediocre at best. Red's ceiling is not nearly as high as many on this board have thought, IMO. Which means, if Bell isn't the answer... we don't have one.

The Oline looked much better using the zone blocking run scheme. If we have a back capable of picking the best holes and winning one-on-ones, this could be the best run blocking line we've had in quite some time. The pass protection was another story. Depth is obviously a concern. Still preseason, game one, but this group has some work to do.

Jason Worilds. Really? Seriously, you're that undisciplined? He's clearly a solid back-up. I think Jarvis will overtake him pretty quickly, but all I see is a decent back-up. Too slow in coverage, instincts to the ball didn't look great. Big and strong...that's about it.

Cornerback play. There were some nice plays here and there. Safeties looked okay to me. CB's... I'm worried. You can argue some good things happened during the 2nd/3rd stringers, but that won't cut it when the regular season starts. Ike looks like typical Ike. I didn't see anyone who was 1st team, from a strictly talent standpoint. We better hope someone comes back that can take the spot opposite Ike, or the good QB's in the league are going to pick us apart over there.

Overall, I think the Dline looked about like they should for the first preseason game. I like the youth and talent, and I like McClendon at the nose... much more athletic than Casey. They need to continue to improve as a unit, but I saw some things I liked, even outside of the "Woods" show against the 2nd/3rd stringers.

Special Teams. I'm really not that surprised and am not going to overreact to preseason game one, but this group has a lot of work to do.

Gradkowski. The best backup we've had in years, with both physical skills and brain. Good call Steelers. We needed this.

So, overall, we have lots of room for improvement. But, i also saw plenty of potential. Of course, potential is pretty useless once the regular season gets here, so we'll have to see how the guys progress over the next couple of weeks. I think Jarvis, Bell and Wheaton all have a chance of being strong contributors this season. Actually, I think it will be a requirement if we are going to have a chance of making the playoffs, let alone getting in the dance in this division.

 

Long way to go. Running game good, Ben C-, Gradkowski B-. I think he moves and releases the ball a lot faster than Ben. Just my opinion. We are still so predictable on play calling. Coaches that have played us for years already know what we are going to call. It is like the have our play book. Very impressed with Stephens-Howell and his running game. Long time since we saw that.

 

Grad definately has good vision and does not scramble as much. He has a motor as well. Good instincts. We finally have a really decent backup that can win games. Although I must say CB was able to win us games as well and was a good reliable backup.

Stephens-Howell is amazing. He is so small and fast he slips through cracks easily without being seen for the first few yards. Great cutback skills and explosive. Really like this acquisition.

Bman

 

Ta'amu was a friggin beast out there!!! ( that's all i have )

 

He did look good. Al Wood looked GREAT!

 

If you are making the judgement based on last night alone, you end up cutting Cotchery and keeping A. Brown, Sanders, Wheaton, J. Brown, and one of Moye or Woods. That keeps the WR group really, really young, but a group that you can mold to what you want. Most experienced guy would be Sanders in his 4th/5th year.

 

I see a lot of guys saying JPW over Landry Jones. You guys watch the same game I did?
I don't want JPW in the city let alone on the team

 

I agree, Coastal. Aside from his first snap, I thought Jones seemed more in control than JWP.

 

My grade would be "undisciplined".
Looked entirely too much like last season, of shooting ourselves in the foot, in all three phases.
I was expecting much better execution, 1st pre-season game, or not.

 

D-

 

You guys who agreed with me on L Jones, thanks. I thought maybe I missed something

 

No you didn't miss anything, but someone must have missed the 4 sacks that JPW had.
... Ben (1), Mr Clean (0), Landry (0), JPW (4)

 

This is JPW's 5th....let me repeat that 5th....training camp, yet Jones is playing him to a draw in his FIRST camp. This is a no-brainer at this point.

 

How many camps?

I didn't think Landry was a fit. Hope I'm wrong.
Loved bringing in Grad and think he could be our Batch going forward. Hope I'm right.

 

I think its a little early to be grading the preseason after only one game? I mean if you want to grade THAT game, I get that but grading a "season" after one game doesnt make much sense to me.