Steelers Morning Huddle 8/20/13

Aug 19, 2013; Landover, MD, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Isaiah Green (39) attempts to catch the ball as Washington Redskins linebacker Bryan Kehl (53) defends in the fourth quarter at FedEx Field. The Redskins won 24-13. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Well, the Steelers have another preseason game under the belt and they came away with plenty of material to work on.  As a fan, I was glad to see Roethlisberger out of the game early because if the O-Line wasn’t going to stop anyone getting through, why leave him in there?  It was at the expense of Gradkowski, but I didn’t want to see and early Roethlisberger injury.  The repeated penalties were tough to watch and I kept reminding myself that I was glad it was preseason.

Here are a few articles on the internet about the Steelers:

Game Summaries

Ed Bouchette, of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, starts his article relieved that the preseason is still four games instead of the proposed two because the Steelers certainly aren’t ready for “prime time.”  Bouchette quotes Tomlin that “We nee to get better in a hurry.”   He also said that Tomlin is bringing in NFL officials to practice this week to see if that will help with the penalties.  Personally, I started to wonder if there was some sort of “point of emphasis” for each ref team to take on with each NFL team – as if last night was the night to emphasis “illegal use of the hands” for the Steelers and what they shouldn’t be doing.  I’m not saying the Steelers didn’t commit the penalties, I just started to wonder if that Ref team had been prepped to watch for something that happens a lot on the line – with all teams.  It’s preseason for the refs too.

Alan Robinson of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review summarized the game and focused on the “lack of execution.”  There are quotes about it from Tomlin and Roethlisberger.  Robinson also quoted Bruce Gradkowski that “There is no reason to panic.”  Well, thanks Bruce.  I don’t think Steeler Nation is panicking, but very little on that field induces confidence that the Steelers will have a winning season.  I remain concerned that as the Steelers try to establish the running game, they will take another step back.  There’s still time to get it clicking, but if injuries are a problem among the running backs, then will the running game really contribute this year?

Offensive Line’s Poor Showing

Ralph Paulk, of the Trib, reviews the offensive line’s lack of momentum and sifted through some of the negatives to identify the positives.  Some of the O-Linemen thought there were some positives in establishing the run game.  I think there were moments when Dwyer was able to see a hold open up and take advantage of it.  It certainly wasn’t enough and it certainly wasn’t consistent.  What was consistent was the constant harassment of the quarterback when he dropped back to pass.

Gerry Dulac, of the PPG, looks at the offensive line’s performance against Washington and grabs a few quotes from the lineman, who were disappointed with their showing, to say the least.  He notes that after the game, there are only two uninjuried running backs:  Alvester Alexander and Jonathan Dwyer.  Oh boy.

Steelers Notebooks:

Both the PPG and the Trib put together the odds and ends of what doesn’t fit into regular articles into their notebooks.  Ray Fittipaldo, of the PPG, looks at the game where there are position battles.  He notes Jarvis Jones was impressive and Landry Jones had at least one good drive that resulted in a score.  Ralph Paulk, of the Tribune Review, calls attention to Woodley’s nice sack.  He also notes that injured cornerback Terry Hawthorne finally got into a game and Jason Worilds started even after his penalty issues from the first preseason game.

Big Ben’s Interview

Bob Pompeani, of CBS-Affiliate KDKA, interviewed Ben Roethlisberger about football and about life.  No disrepect to Mr. Pompeani, but it was your standard interview.  No surprise questions (unless you’ve been under a rock) and no uncomfortable questions.  Ben denies there is or was a rift between he and Todd Haley and he reflects on his leadership roll with the team.  And so on.

Featured Tweet:

This comes from the Pittsburgh Steelers official account:

I. Have. No. Words. LOL.  Have some fun with it, Steeler Nation.

That’s it for today

The national outlets were mostly focused on injuries and didn’t provide in-depth summaries, so I stuck to the local news outlets for this Huddle.  We all know that Bell left with an injury, so I left out the articles where that was the main focus.  Bottom line:  Let’s hope the Steelers can get down to business and fix some of the garbage we saw in last night’s game.