As I stated in a previous post, I usually skip preseason games. The tedium of watching fourth and fifth stringers compete for the honor of becoming practice squad fodder simply doesn’t interest me. However, it’s been so long since my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers last took the field, I was compelled to watch their inaugural effort last night.

Since I took the time to highlight a few select training camp battles here, I thought I’d share some early observations on those competitions. I’ll also throw in a couple snap judgments about some notable players suiting up this season for the Black and Gold.

Limas Sweed – Sweed got a bad rap by Steeler Nation for some horrible drops late last season (including a sure touchdown in the AFC Championship Game). He looked terrific last night, catching 2 balls for 56 yards, highlighted by a 45 yard grab where he out jumped a defender Plaxico Burress-style and caught the ball with a helmet assist reminiscent of David Tyree. That kind of tall, athletic, jump ball catching WR is exactly what the Steelers have been missing. It’s why they drafted Sweed and it looks like he may be ready to provide it.

Shaun McDonald - The veteran caught 6 passes for 69 yards. The #3 receiver spot is still Sweed’s to lose but McDonald seems to at least be in the mix. He mostly played late in the game against fourth stringers which either means the coaches are comfortable about what to expect from him or he’s already an afterthought. I would guess the former is more likely the case.

Mike Wallace – The rookie made the best impression out of the remaining WRs. He only caught 2 balls for 35 yards but showed some excellent vertical speed in going deep. He didn’t connect on any bombs (mostly due to poor throws from the quarterback) but that speed is very enticing. He was also used as the kick returner, returning one ball 35 yards. That’s a lot better than Gary Russell’s catch-the-ball-and-plow-ahead-5-yards strategy last year.

Daniel Sepulveda - Many a feminine heart was aflutter as Dreamy Daniel made his welcome return  to the Steelers. He seemed to show no ill effects from last year’s torn ACL as he boomed 6 punts for an average of 50 yards. I’ll leave it to my female readers to swoon over his looks, I’m perfectly happy to swoon over the fact we finally have a punter that can kick the ball more than 15 yards down the field.

Ziggy Hood - The Steelers top draft pick played well in his pro debut. He got some nice pressure off the edge, albeit playing against backup offensive linemen. I also noticed him hustling downfield to get involved in the play several times. They said the kid had a great motor and seeing is believing. He’s not going to play much (if at all) this season but I feel good about what we’ll be seeing from him in the future.

Joe Burnett, Keiwan Ratliff- Cornerback depth is one of the few concerns on this team. Will.i.am Gay is the new starter and he looked okay in limited action. Anthony Madison is supposedly #4 on the chart (after the starters and ageless wonder Deshea Townshend) but he didn’t play well at all. Keiwan Ratliff, the journeyman free agent pick up, had an excellent game. He recorded 6 tackles and had a nice corner blitz-sack. I liked what I saw from this guy.

Burnett, another rookie, had mixed results. He played nice corner, intercepting a pass at the end of the half and returning it 42 yards (but not for a score) in a play eerily similar to James Harrison‘s Super Bowl pick six. However, Burnett is probably more important to the team as a return man. He handled the punts and didn’t fare well at all. His first one was fumbled away, while he returned the two he managed to catch 12 yards each. Obviously, I’ll give him a break for nerves and the sample size is very very small but I wasn’t impressed with what I saw.

Charlie Batch, Dennis Dixon - Batch, making his return from a broken collarbone, played very sparingly. He had the one completion to Sweed but misfired badly on his other attempt.  They yanked him after those two pass attempts over two series.

However, if Dixon hopes to take the #2 spot from Batch, he has to play better than he did tonight. He played the majority of the game, going 10/19 for 112 yards with no TDs or INTs. He showed a lot of Slash-like tendencies in that on some passes he’d fire beautiful strikes right on target, then on the next play badly overthrow a wide open receiver. Lack of playing time may very well account for this inconsistency so let’s give him time.  The Steelers are clearly high on him, letting him play almost three entire quarters to get a good look. Off of what I saw, though, I wouldn’t want to put my season into his hands for any extended period of time should Big Ben take another wrong turn on his motorcycle.

Isaac Redman - Isaac who?  Trust me, I’ve saved the best for last.  Isaac Redman is an undrafted rookie out of college football powerhouse Bowie State. The 5’10 228 pound back put up some pretty impressive rushing totals for that school during a four year career.

While fellow rookie Frank “The Tank” Summers got all the hoopla coming in to camp, Redman put on the best performance last night.  The Tank was used primarily as a fullback, carrying only twice for 3 yards.   Meanwhile, Redman had 10 rushes for 32 yards.  Not exactly the greatest numbers but two of those rushes were for TDs.

Short yardage TDs to be specific.  Both were goal line attempts where Redman was stopped at the line and then bulled his way forward for the score.  At 5’10, he’s a tall target with a fairly vertical running style that makes him easy to hit.  What he does have is the bulk and leg drive to push ahead in a very impressive fashion.  If the Steelers are looking for a short yardage back to take Russell’s place, Isaac looks to be the early favorite for the role.

Still, one must keep in mind Redman played against fourth stringers when he performed his heroics.  Then again, in goal line drills earlier this week, Redman was the only back to score on our first team defense.  It also bears mentioning that Rashard Mendenhall, playing most of the first half with Fast Willie nursing an injury, only had 27 yards on 9 carries playing with the first and second string offensive lines.  He looked fine making cuts but showed very little in the way of power running, which is what the Steelers need from him.

Congratulations, you’ve won the Pennsylvania lottery. Certainly, sir, we’d love to give you a refund. Sorry for the long wait, please have an extra chalupa on us.  Oh my, it’s soooo big.

All things I thought I’d never hear.

“The Steelers offensive line has played an excellent game tonight.” used to be on the list. Miraculously, that one gets crossed off because I actually heard it last night when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 27-10. Granted, it was spoken by Cris Collingsworth, who is so in love with his own voice I bet he talks dirty to himself, but kudos are kudos.

To be fair, the line did perform well in surrendering zero sacks. Okay, the Bengal defense was pretty banged up and sure they don’t have much of a pass rush even when healthy but remember Baby Steps. QB Ben Roethlisberger was afforded a nice pocket on almost every play and the team managed to rush for a total of 121 yards with three different backs. Plus, they managed to avoid getting flagged for the zillion holding penalties which plagued them last week.

The 121 rushing yards were shared by a three man RB-by-committee. Fast Willie Parker started the game and looked awful. The weather, field conditions, or a flare-up of his knee injury really affected his performance to the point Coach Mike Tomlin yanked him from the game for the entire 2^nd half. He had none of the burst he showed last week and would stutter step/hesitate instead of hitting the hole. Subtract one 15 yard scamper and his stat line is an ugly 13 carries for 22 yards.

Luckily, the calvary was on its way in the form of Mewelde Moore. Moore stepped in to provide a capable rushing attack (56 yards) while also being a threat on screen passes (41 yards). I dare say without his valiant efforts, we would have been in deep trouble. Gary Russell also came up big, first on a 35 yard kick return which gave the Steelers field position and then later converting a key 4^th and 1 near the goal line. That call, where Tomlin channeled his Inner Cowher by passing up a chip shot FG for a first down conversion, was the turning point of the game.

Cincy came out guns blazing, even without the services of malcontent WR Chad Bozo Clowno. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick moved the team right down the field, picking on newly signed CB Fernando Bryant. Fernando did not look mah-velous. It’s no mystery why this guy was out of the league as of two weeks ago. He has the speed to keep up with WRs but gets juked and faked all over the place and in the NFL all it takes is leaning the wrong way for a split second for a window to open up. He got burned on a long pass early in the drive and then got toasted in the end zone for a quick 7-0 Bengal lead.

The Steeler offense came out flat as FWP couldn’t get on track and the passing game seemed out of synch. WRs Nate Washington and Hines Ward have had some big games and big catches this year but they’ve also had big problems with dropping easy ones. Drives floundered when both failed to make plays in the first half. The Steelers finally ended their TD drought after 8 quarters in the 2^nd when O-Coordinator Bruce Arians, who seems to have figured out you’re allowed to throw to your TE, decided to try it with Heath Miller.  Miller’s 14 yarder after a penalty moved them back and TD catch from 3 yards out were sandwiched around a 36 yard strike to Hines. A Skippy Reed FG later in the quarter and it was déjà vu all over again as the teams went to halftime with the same exact 10-7 score they had in their first game.

When play resumed, the Steelers chewed up some clock (and added another FG) with Mewelde Moore taking advantage of a beat up Bengal defense that lost two more starters as the game progressed. Gary Russell finally rammed the ball in from the 2 for his first TD as a Steeler on a drive that was set up by Double M’s 15 yard run followed by a 22 yard screen pass.  Also interesting to note was Carey Davis joined FWP on the pine with blocking FB duties being performed by Sean McHugh.  He did a rather good job which is yet another case of backups on this team outperforming the supposed starters.

In the third, Cincy finally got some offense going after the beautiful violence of the Blitzburgh Defense had pretty much stifled them all game. Their drive was aided by P Paul Ernster and his inability to kick anything but wounded ducks. I usually ignore kickers and concentrate on the real football players but I have to say Ernster is quickly becoming an embarrassment. One could argue the poor weather contributed to the lousy punting yesterday (Cincy’s kicker had a rough outing, too) but over two games now Ernster’s average has to be hovering around the 30 yard mark. How sad is it that the punter with the torn hammy kicked better than the punter with two healthy legs?

Anyway, Cincy took advantage of starting at midfield and drove the ball down to the 8. Once there, the Steelers benefited from Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis’s distinct lack of testicles when he kicked a FG on 4^th down. You play to win the game, Marvin.

On the subsequent drive, a heavy dose of Mewelde Moore, a clutch third down play (Ben broke free from a sack and scrambled to find a heads up Limas Sweed), and the game was sealed when Ben broke away from another would-be sacker and darted in for the score. It wasn’t always pretty and there is definitely more than one area that needs to be worked on but as I said in my preview Baby Steps.  With the cream puff section of their schedule over, the Steelers look toward games against NE, Dallas, and Tennessee, making now the time to put their best foot forward.

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