The Steelers dropped their first preseason contest to the Washington Redskins last night at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. Most fans are on one side of the spectrum or the other, they either are worried about how well the Skins moved the ball on the Steelers or they are under the mindset that the preseason doesn’t matter. With these two sides in mind I decided to breakdown how the preseason fared versus the regular season over the last decade.
2010 3-1 12-4 Div. Champs Lost Super Bowl XLV
2009 3-1 9-7 missed playoffs
2008 3-1 12-4 Div. Champs SB XLIII Champs
2007 4-1 10-6 Div. Champs Lost Wild Card
2006 0-4 8-8 missed playoffs
2005 3-1 11-5 SB XL Champs
2004 2-2 15-1 Div. Champs Lost AFC Championship
2003 1-3 6-10 missed playoffs
2002 2-2 10-5-1 Div. Champs Lost Divisional
2001 3-1 13-3 Div. Champs Lost AFC Championship
Personally I think that this offseason is different because of the lack of OTAs and mini-camps. I don’t worry about the Redskins much either way because the team is 5-10-1 against Washington in the preseason. The Redskins touchdown drive in the first half was also scored on the second team defense by the Redskins first team offense…I think they should have scored more if they were actually any good.
I don’t think that we need to spend much time on the first team seeing how they played a whole three drives or so. Some players played longer but the bulk of first teamers were gone before the teams switched sides for the first quarter break.
The first team defense allowed a long 88 yard drive at the beginning of the game, but is true form inside the redzone they shut down Grossman and the Skins forcing them to attempt a FG (that former Bengal/Patriot Shayne Graham missed)
The secondary was very poor in this game but I will say that the bulk of the snaps went to Keenan Lewis and Crezdon Butler, who really did nothing to impress this fan. In a real surprise William Gay looked really good in the nickel packages and could actually do halfway decent this upcoming year. In other secondary news, Ike Taylor broke his thumb but without more information I do not feel that it will cause him to miss anytime.
There were two linebackers that really stood out in this game Stevenson Sylvester aka Sly and second year man Mortty Ivy. Sly was really no surprise as he was in on a lot of plays and blew up quite a few and was a disruptive force the entire time he played. The Monroeville product Mortty Ivy was very impressive in his Steelers debut. The former WVU standout recorded six solo tackles and showed real skills as a backside tackler. On the underside I felt that Larry Foote was very poor in this game and with the great play of Ivy and the hope that Mario Harvey (who was held out of game) could step in, Foote and his three million dollar contract could be on the chopping block.
One of the biggest position battles is between the eight guys the Steelers have competing for two receiver slots that are free. The Steelers will have Ward, Wallace, Sanders, Brown and most likely Cotchery on the roster opening day but who will be the last two?
Wes Lyons was terrible last night dropping whatever was thrown at him; that should be no surprise really, that was his claim to fame at WVU and I don’t think he will make the cut. Arnaz Battle was a dropping machine last night and with younger (cheaper) guys playing well last night, he should be cut as well. Speaking of young guys the 6’7 rookie from Idaho Eric Greenwood made an amazing 29 yard grab in the fourth quarter and Grisham was solid even though Dixon could get the ball to him to save his life.
Best of the Rest:
Sepulveda had punts of 62, 51, 54 and 37 with the latter being a pooch punt to pin the Redskins at the fourteen yard line. Of his four punts three were inside the twenty (1, 18, and 14) Weslye Saunders was great blocking and really made a case to be the third TE. Redman was a bruiser last night and is the most underrated runner in the league and at some point could be the number one back. And you can’t talk about the game without bringing up first round pick Cameron Heyward who played most of the game. He was solid and played amazing opening up lanes for the linebackers all night, they just failed to capitalize.
FIRST HALF REVIEW
The Steeler backups looked solid against a large first team makeup from the Skins. The best performances were by Issac Redman and Antonio Brown who lite up the Skins with a 22 yard touchdown run and a 49 yard grab. In a “FIRE BRUCE ARIANS UPDATE” the team tried four receiver sets on third down twice and both the play ended in sacks. They tried it again with Dixon in the second half, and it had the same result.
SECOND HALF REVIEW
As they dug deeper into the backups the offense played worse but the defense seemed to hold, big shocker there. There were a lot of bright spots on the young defense; Corbin Bryant, the 6’4 rookie DE from Northwestern recorded one official tackle but stuffed numerous plays and was around the ball all night. Mortty Ivy was also impressive and really made a case to make the team.
FINAL GAME NOTES
The biggest surprise was that the Steelers did not record a penalty until 9:53 left in the fourth quarter, which was for twelve men on the field (which was decline and didn’t count) The first accepted penalty was at the 4:06 mark in the fourth quarter. The Steelers also committed no turnovers; which was huge for the team and is rather unheard of for first through third string players to pull that off. Finally, the Redskins seemed to celebrate…A LOT and for a preseason game that really made no sense…hope they enjoy their seven wins this season.
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