Week 1, Preseason

[Maximus Rex]

I saw some of the first half action against the Lions here. Kind of weird, one good play, 10 bad ones. Harrision, Shazier, and Chick looked good first half. Grant hit or miss on some stuff. Heyward-Bey with a big drop, but then a touchdown. Coats with a bad drop. I had to watch it out at Buffalo Wild Wings, so didn't have sound, and had a lot of distractions, but interested in hearing everyone's take.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Didn't get to watch it... Played catch-up by watching the highlights and reading all the winners/losers articles on BTSC & SteelersWire.

Quick thoughts...

QB... As always, no ben means a struggling O. Landry had some decent throws, but overall struggled to move the ball on 3rd downs. Still making errant throws and questionable decisions. More of the same from Landry. Bruce gets a leg injury. Haven't read how serious it is, but I'm curious to see if there is a roster transaction in the near future at the position. Bruce has reportedly been stinking somethin awful during TC. FO should probably seriously think about using this injury as a means to an end with him. I know the FA group is awful & thin, but I'm pretty sure there are multiple names out there worth considering over Bruce.

RB... Daryl Richardson is making a serious case for Toussaint's roster spot. He has the look of a great scat-back addition to add depth to the offense. Something Haley has been looking for ever since drafting Chris Rainey. We know the Dri Archer experiment was a failure, so who is the next one? D-Rich looks the part. Nobody else in the group saw much work, so nothing else to be excited about.

WR... Eli Rogers was heavily involved early & often. He has the acceleration & quickness to be a major problem for defenses between the hashes. The much anticipated action for Coates was dismal. Bobbled & dropped catches, combined with 2 fumbles. Yuck. Could have been the jitters, but he's young and needs to use these sort of games to build on. It sucks to watch as fans, especially after reading all sorts of sensational puff pieces on him all offseason. But I think these sort of bad games are just what these budding stars need. The reality check that grounds them and keeps them hungry. He knows he had a terrible game, nobody needs to remind him. He'll be back in the lab and trying to improve in no time. As I suspected, DHB will continue to prove his worth. Coates will have a difficult time unseating him now. Sure DHB had a bad drop, but the toe tap TD redeemed it.

TE... James & DJ made their presence felt early with their blocking. Didn't get involved much in the passing game, but the throws were pretty dismal. Paul Lang had a nice conversion. 2 catches for 15 yards (1 was for 13). Hard to feel excited about this group, but that will change when Ben takes the field. The entire offense opens up.

O-line... Not the start I was hoping for with AVill. He struggled against the #2 DE. Like I said with Coates though, these types of down games are good for the building process. Good thing is that Munchak is still here, and throw in Alan Faneca at TC, they are in good hands to turn things around.

D-line... Solid start to the game by the front 7. Good amount of pressure, but not a whole lot of substance. Ricardo Matthews looks like a great FA acquisition. He was the direct cause of that INT by Grant. Matthews should provide great depth and much needed rest for Tuitt & Heyward. Unforunately after him, the depth looked pretty bad. Walton, Lyons, Philon, & Newberry all struggled to shed blocks against #3 & 4 O-lineman. Saw Lyons produced a FF, but didn't read anything about it? Must have not been anything spectacular. Didn't see or read anything about Hargrave yet.

LB... Harrison continues to Deebo. Huge strip sack on 3rd down. Chick looked decent. Sets the edge nicely, but would like to see more from him considering how great he looks in camp. Suffered an ankle injury so hopefully he rebounds quickly. Shazier sounds like he was a beast out there. If he can continue to improve his cerebral game, then dear lord... DPOY could be a serious discussion, so long as health permits. I found myself holding my breath in angst of reading his name on the injury report. Thankful to not see his name.

CB... Grant shined. Not talking about the INT either. He showed great tracking ability & open field tackling. Interested why he wasn't talked about much this offseason. But he looks ready to challenge Davis for slot duties. His INT wasn't anything special, just solid heads-up football, but the return for the TD was great awareness. 1st team secondary still looks like the 2015 version. Struggles to maintain WR's, poor route coverage, botched assignments... More of the same! Lions offense didn't have much of a problem moving the ball on 3rd downs. Didn't read anything about Burns or Davis. Good thing?

S... The Shamarko experiment is coming to a close. He has serious "above-the-neck" issues with coverage. His only semi-good use is in run-coverage. He is not much more than a ST player. Golden showed his flaws as well.

ST... This unit looked awful. Feels like every year I say this. Seriously makes me debate why Danny Smith has a job.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Good work @FaCe-LeE-uS & @Maximus Rex...I've learned more here than I could watching the game!

Heck, I even forgot when they were playing.