Steelers-Dolphins Pre-Season Game Thoughts

[Menudo]

First off, what an ugly game. Lots of turnovers and sloppy play.

 

First Team Offense:

 

Well, it certainly wasn't great. I thought that the Offensive Line played pretty well. Bettis only got 2 carries, and one of them broke for 8 yards. Ben did not look too great. He made two awful, high passes to wide-open receivers. One was Cedrick Wilson in the endzone, and the other was intercepted when he overthrew Jerame Tuman. To his credit, he does have a natural ability to avoid pressure and keep plays alive. I'm not too worried about him, and I think he will be fine. Though the pass in the endzone was high, Cedrick Wilson needs to make that catch. Hines Ward caught one pass and only played only a few plays, but it was very nice to see him out there. The crowd went bonkers when he made his catch. Willie Parker stole the show here. Running with the first team, he broke off two very impressive runs. This kid is plain fast, and could be a valuable weapon this season. He seems to have passed Verron Haynes on the depth chart.

 

First Team Defense:

 

They looked fantastic. Flying to the ball, nice hitting, and good, crisp tackling. Granted, the Dolphins offense looks to be pretty sad, but I'm very happy with the looks of the Steelers defense. The Front seven has been nasty and the secondary is looking good. Ike Taylor continued to impress with his coverage with the first team nickel and dime defenses, and I believe he is inching closer to overtaking Willie Williams as the starter. He has already passed McFadden & Coughlough on the depth charts this pre-season. Standing out on the defense were James Farrior and Clark Haggans, who both had monster games.

 

Reserve Offense:

 

Nothing much to talk about here. Charlie Batch and Brian St. Pierre both played O.k. at best. The reserve offensive lineman didn't play too well, with the exception of Chris Keomotu, who for the 2nd straight week was impressive. Neither Verron Haynes, or Noah Herron had any real impressive runs. Nate Washington had a nice catch and run to setup a Steeler score, and in two games, he has turned some heads. It's a little concerning to not see much of 1st round pick Heath Miller in the passing game in either of these first two contests.

 

Reserve Defense:

 

They were solid. The Steelers are showing themselves to be very deep defensively. Chris Hoke, Travis Kirshke, Rien Wallace, Ricardo Coughlough, and Bryant McFadden once again showed themselves to be solid backups, and the reserve defense played hard.

 

Special Teams:

 

The strenght of last week was a weakness this week. Coverage teams did o.k., but Jeff Reed missed a chip-shot field goal, and Ricardo Coughlough twice made stupid mistakes fielding punts, one resulting in a turnover. Look for Randle-El to continue to handle punt return duty when the real games begin.

 

Overall:

 

Ugly game. Defense looks great, offense needs some work.

[Fenokee]

So with Staley on the mend and Bettis collecting social security, whats the chance that the Steelers turn to RBBC this season?

[Menudo]

So with Staley on the mend and Bettis collecting social security, whats the chance that the Steelers turn to RBBC this season? 

 

941683[/snapback]

 

 

 

 

I think the chance is quite strong. They will not let Bettis carry the load for the entire season. He can't do it anymore. If Staley is healthy, Staley will be # 1, but Bettis will see time, AND either Haynes or Parker, probably Parker, will be the 3rd down back.

[max]

For a quicker summary ... The D played like they are the sh!t and the O played like sh!t.

 

Parker was one of the few highlights on the O against the dolphins. It was good seeing Hines out there. I want to see Ben step into more passes rather than throwing off of his back foot. That should help get his passes down a bit. On the play he threw to Wilson in the end zone he did a nice job avoiding the D but if he would have made the right read he would have hit Miller without having to avoid any type of rush. The good thing about it being preseason is that they still have some time to get some things worked out. I think everything will work out.