pre-season wk. 3........ postgame observations

overall:
i'm pretty sure the whole bell/blunt situation (pun definitely intended) had the team distracted and they clearly did not have their collective heads in the game because of it... that said, on to the individuals

offense:
1. ramon foster might want to forget this game.... definitely not one of his better moments

2. ben fell into some bad habits....ie holding on to the ball too long

3. gradkowski had his best game of the pre-season and finally looked the part of our #2 qb


defense:
1. most of philly's long plays were avoidable... missed tackles and poor angles on containment contributed mightily...these things can be coached

2. the defense has forced turnovers in every game so far

3. pass defense was not as bad as some believe

4. run defense was

 

I went to this game, although I left at halftime (can you really blame me?)(plus, it's 6am and I'm at work already). Here's my observations:
The Philly offense is really confusing. On about 30% of the plays I couldn't even tell where the ball was. It looked on many occasions that the defense was just out of position. Quite often I saw WR stacks with only one DB to cover them, only for someone to migrate over just before the ball was snapped. I can only assume they were playing a pretty vanilla base defense. It often times was on Ike's side when they would have stacks. This could have been coincidence, or they could be targeting Ike.
On the first McCoy TD, that was a really good play. Also it's with an elite back that can change direction almost as well as Barry Sanders could. I don't necessarily fault the defensive breakdown on that one, it was a really well designed play.
Mike Mitchell still might be the best front office move this off season. This guy brings the wood the way Clark used to.

I'm not sure what the front office sees in Wheaton. He's looked very mediocre to me in everything I've seen so far. And he's awful at holding a block.
I'm not sure what Ben was looking at with that interception. Unless he was expecting the receiver in the vicinity to have a 70 inch vertical.
The running game just can't get anything going. Even when the back appeared to have a lane, it disappeared quick. I'm not sure if that's from poor OL play or good pressure by the defense.
I will re-itterate what was said above. Foster would do good to have amnesia about this game.

The illegal contact flags are ridiculous. Fans for both teams were getting fed up with them. I just can't see them staying the course with calling it this way. It will make games take to long, screwing up TV time.

 

I know it is only preseason but the run defense looks to be in trouble again, I hope it can get fixed. Why does our secondary seem to be slow, is it me or does it look like receivers get 3 yards of separation from the DBs without trying. I had high hopes for this season but it seems if a team has a feature back or a good QB this defense is going to struggle. The offense needs help again, was Ben having issues throwing the ball or was Wheaton running poor routes, it looked as if every ball throw that was way off the mark was thrown at Wheaton but I shut it off at halftime, no need to watch that and get disgusted as it is only preseason. I believed in Tomlin but if they can get some of the same stuff that has been going on for years fixed, then maybe it is time to look at the HC and wonder if that is where the problem is.

 

Ben was awful for the entire first half. The majority of his passes were too high or behind the receiver. If last night is indicative of what we're going to see from Jarvis Jones it's going to be a long season. The DL was just ugly. We need a left tackle and Guard.

 

Pretty much what I was going to say. I would add that either the Eagles are THAT good and will be SB bound come February or we are THAT bad and its going to be a loooonnggg season.

 

Bob Smizik pointed out something in his latest article.


"With the first team still on the field, KDKA-TV color analyst Edmund Nelson, a former Steeler who is not a harsh critic, had the unkindest cut: ''Really not seeing much effort here.’’

 

Either that's not true ... or our guys can't coach ... because they keep happening.

 

My observations the D-line were on skates getting pushed around, I guess Shazier is human after all he got abused by passes over the middle. Secondary still can't cover anybody enough with those 10-12 yd cushions on every play. DHB should be the 4th WR and Bryant the 5th he needs to learn to high point the ball instead of waiting for the ball to come to him. Justin Brown may have had a good camp but it doesn't show in games, he hasn't done enough to make the 53. Antwan Blake maybe fast but he can't cover WRs just go over the top of him. Suisham you got that new contract needs to stop missing easy FGs. Foster is fat and out of shape he's the weak link on the O-line.

 

On the Ben to Miller TD play, Beachum got beat so bad it wasn't funny.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000381683/Miller-27-yard-TD-reception

 

The eagle O line controlled the line of scrimmage the entire game even with their 2s, shady McCoy just toyed with the defense, Foles and sanchez hit targets all over the field, Ike Taylor was useless as usual and jarvis jones still looks lost out there......Out played, and certainly out coached, we had no game time adjustments so the eagles just kept pounding the defense with basically the same plays the whole game....

 

what happend to lance moore ?

 

I was thinking the same thing. I guess either they know what they have in him and wanted to get Justin Brown some reps with the 1st string. The other possibility is he isn't living up to expectations and has been passed on the depth chart.

 

Any word on the severity of Spence's knee injury? The media reports I've seen just list it as a PCL injury with no specifics.

 

Offense
- for once the oline played pretty good.
- Ben just had a bad night
- don't know if the Bell/Blount affected this team but they were not into this game.
- next year, draft a replacement for Ramon Foster
- Wheaton needs work.
- Bryant has a long way to go.
-Bell/Blount should not have played
- Heyward-Bay might have earned himself a roster spot.

Defense
- Nickel defense does not work. 2-4-5 . I would line up Heyward, McCullers, McCleadon, Tuitt up front and Shazier and Timmons as the lbs.
Jarvis Jones is still not strong enough. Another scheme would be Heyward, McCullers, McCleadon and Worilds but at no time would have two of our outside linebackers and no "big" bodies in the middle.
- we need to draft another corner IN THE FIRST TWO ROUNDS. Ike is done. With the new rules he will be the most penalize player in the league.
-Shazier came down to earth
-Is William Gay our best corner?
- I got mixed feelings about Mitchell.

-

 

Let's hope this guy catches a break.

 

I thought Beachum struggled that game. I hadn't actually paid much attention to Adams this last game but I did notice him a couple of times and he looked to be holding his own. I thought I saw him in at LT in the 2nd half? Anyhow, from what little i noticed of him this past game he didn't look as bad as i've thought from the two previous games.

 

He sucks

 

The D is finally forcing some turnovers, Blount looked decent, pretty much everything else sucked. The past few draft classes are starting to look not so good.

 

IMO Beachum's ideal job is the one he used to have ... #1 backup right across the OL. As a patch, he's great. I wish we had more of him.

 

Sorry, I've been too busy picking up all these flags someone's been dropping to read any of this.

 

A common theme the last couple of seasons. I'm really concerned about the state of the franchise right now, guys. How many times the last few seasons have we come away from a game just feeling like the Steelers weren't prepared to play? I know last night's game was a preseason game, but it was the most important preseason game. It was the dress rehearsal for the season so can we all at least agree that the third preseason game does matter a little bit??? I watch some teams and they seem to operate like a well oiled machine with a purposeful gameplan. The last couple of seasons when I've watched the Steelers they just seem out of sync to me. The offensive play seems disjointed, the defense gives up big play after big play and the special teams generally suck it up. I'm starting to doubt the entire coaching staff. It starts with Tomlin. I think the stage is too big for him. Haley can't get the offense moving and DL should just retire. We should be 0-3 this preseason but pulled one out of our butts against Buffalo. I see another season wasting away in Mediocreville. Sorry to vent, but things just aren't feeling right in Steeler nation right now.

 

Was the first touchdown scored utilizing the no huddle or more traditional play calling? I know the whole reasoning behind vanilla play calling but I can't for the life of me understand why they do it. I was going to say something about it in the gameday thread but changed my mind. I mean does anyone currently buy the reasoning that you don't want other teams to see what you are doing thats why you go bland on the play calling? Seriously like every team in the NFL doesn't have game tape of what most teams run as bread and butter plays. Yes you can have a new wrinkle or two that you don't want to give away but come on you are wasting valuable reps running garbage under the belief that you cant show teams what you are doing. Heck Kelly showed everyone what he intends on doing and that is running his offense with his foot on the gas the whole game and playing stout defense behind it.