Steelers @ Washington: The Good,the Bad, & the Ugly ~ the LIVE Edition

Because of some scheduling issues ~ not the least of which is a 7:00AM flight later this week into Pittsburgh (that's right, Pittsburgh Steelers Fanatic is coming home for the big matchup between the Steelers v. Colts!), we will be offering up contemporaneous insights of the game. For the purposes of clarity we will post those insights at the conclusion of each quarter, so feel free to check back early and often!

The First Quarter
What a beginning!

The onside kick revealed what the Steelers' coaches must certainly be thinking ~ that Pittsburgh's defense can handle the Redskins' offense. The performance of the defense in that opening possession seemed to vindicate that belief; but three points is three points.

Offensively the Steelers look inept. The offensive line appears completely overmatched ~ Washington is deploying a maximum pressure approach a la Philadelphia and Baltimore ~ despite the quick-hitting pass plays being called by Bruce Arians. To that point, Santonio Holmes looks very ragged after his one week suspension; and frankly none of the receivers has looked very good ~ is Hines Ward even playing? Finally, Willie Parker has had a bit of success, mostly inside the tackles, picking up 29 yards on six carries.

Defensively Pittsburgh had a tremendous quarter. The secondary was more than up to the challenge of covering the Washington wideouts, and except for one carry Clinton Portis has been contained (6 carries, 28 yards ~ his long was a 22-yard carry; so the other five carries have netted six yards).

Special teams have been adequate, even with the unsuccessful onside kick. The new long snapper, Jared Retkofsky has done his job well but Mitch Berger's left leg continues to bother him. Also, the use of Mewelde Moore on kickoff returns seems a good idea, the the per return average is only 18 yards.

The Second Quarter
A tale of two quarters if ever there was one.

Offensively, the Steelers continued to struggle, but their 62-yard drive for a field goal was huge, even only to demonstrate that they couldpass protect a bit, and get down field. In fact, that drive netted more yards than the other seven offensive possessions combined (61 yards v. 62 yards). However Max Starks is killing the Steelers ~ i.e. he's getting beaten like a drum on passing plays, and then was called for a hold deep in Redskins territory.

Defensively . . . this defense is playing amazingly well; and are being led by James Farrior who, frankly, did not play particularly well last week. But tonight, through two quarters, he has five tackles, three assists, a sack, and a blocked pass.

Finally, when a team's offense is not playing well that team needs special teams to step up. Santonio Holmes' struggles seemingly are extending to punt returns, but there are no words to describe how big Andre Frazier's blocked punt was.

Halftime stats snapshot:

Pittsburgh Net Rushing: 46
Washington Net Rushing: 40

Pittsburgh Net Passing: 44
Washington Net Passing: 31

Pittsburgh Net Punting: 33.4
Washington Net Punting: 28.8

Pittsburgh Time of Possession: 14:03
Washington Time of Poseesion: 15:25

The Third Quarter
The injury bug is now an epidemic.

With Ben Roethlisberger out, Byron Leftwich did more than we ever believed he was capable of (we admit it, Mr. Leftwich was singled out for a fair amount of criticism during the preseason). The opening drive of the second half ~ 8 plays, 72 yards ~ was such a breath of fresh air; and despite a -5 net yards on the second possession Mr. Leftwich delivered iin key situations, converting two consecutive third downs to maintain possession.

The defense continued to dominate ~ the interception snuffed out the best Redskin drive of the night.

Special teams was the weak link ~ Jeff Reed had his first missed extra point of the season.

The Fourth Quarter
Last season, at least for most of it, some Steelers fans criticized Mike Tomlin for not showing enough emotion.

Based on Monday night's performance we say that criticism has been laid to rest.

We do not often get into discussions about the officiating, but the roughing the passer call against James Farrior, on fourth down, was utter horse****, and was followed up shortly thereafter by a ridiculous touchdown call. Weak.

Despite all that the Steelers' defense showed how an elite unit plays, with James Farrior showing the way with his diving deflection of what would have been a touchdown pass, and Lawrence Timmons delivered an exclamation point, sacking Jason Campbell on fourth down.

The pressure up front meant that the Steelers' secondary played better than at nearly any time we can remember since the AFC Divisional game in 2005 versus Indianapolis. To underscore this point, the wideouts for the Redskins accumulated 55 yards on 9 catches ~ combined.

Finally, not to be a downer, but we feel compelled to point out that the Steelers offense had two net yards in the final quarter.

We'll have a bit more tomorrow, but for tonight we're going to celebrate a great win.

Houston v. Steelers:The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

There are occasions, infrequent though they may be, when even a fan of the Steelers is satisfied. To say that finding something for the "Ugly" section was difficult is an understatement.

The Good

1. The offensive line has been the object of some concern amongst the Steelers' faithful so it is just that, in the aftermath of a fairly dominant performance, we salute them first. Other than a blown assignment in the second quarter that allowed Mario Williams to get a clean shot on Ben Roethlisberger (which resulted in the fumble return that setup the Texans' first score), the offensive line was very nearly flawless. In fact the job that Marel Smith did on Mr. Williams was marvelous! The outcome of the game was hardly in doubt at halftime, but whatever doubt did exist was squashed in the third quarter when, in two possessions, the Steelers rushed the football on fifteen of their nineteen plays in the quarter, gained 108 rushing yards in the quarter, and had 11:26 of possession time. For one week the group of Marvel Smith, Chris Kemoeatu, Justin Hartwig, Kendal Simmons, and Willie Colon transcended sports to become something closer to art.


2. The play of the linebackers ~ specifically LaMarr Woodley (3 tackles, 1 sack, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 interception, 1 recovered fumble) and James Harrison (6 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 quarterback hits besides the sacks, 1 forced fumble) ~ had visions of Joey Porter, Greg Lloyd, Jack Lambert, et al dancing in the heads of the Steelers' faithful. The play of this unit was at the very core of an overwhelming display of defensive prowess not captured in the statistics. Indeed, it was the ability of the Steelers' defense to hold Houston to a field goal, following the fumble recovery and run by Houston, that was the turning point in the game.


3. Another aspect of the Steelers' play that has been justifiably criticized over the years has been their special teams; and given that Houston had excellent return teams in 2007 it was something that was a concern coming into this game. However, rather than the 26.5 yards per kick return that they averaged last season, on six kick returns Sunday the Texans were limited to 18.7 yards. The punt team also did a terrific job, limiting Houston to 2.5 yards per return on two punt returns. The decision to mix-up their kicks (i.e. regular, line drive, pooch) and the ability of Mitch Berger to kick with his coverage (on three punts he had a gross average of 43.0 yards and a net average of 41.3 yards) was . . . remarkable, at least compared to Steelers special teams play of years past.

The Bad

1. Why in the world did the Steelers actually hand the ball off on the final play of the first half? What if the ball had been fumbled, or Willie Parker had been injured? Hey Bruce Arians, order the kneel down next time (in a game like this one, with the Steelers performing as they did, there is pretty slim pickings for bad stuff).

The Ugly

1. Sure it's nitpicking, but the fourth quarter defense was pathetic. That's what fifteen minutes of prevent defense looks like, and we didn't care for it one bit. If the Steelers defense cannot do a better job of matching up athletically with opponents (i.e. their ability to stop teams is all about the scheme) then they are going to struggle mightily with the better teams in the league.


2. It was fourth quarter play in a blow out but we could not help but feel that Byron Leftwich was auditioning for a more permanent place on the Steelers' roster ~ and did not do much to make us believe that Charlie Batch should be let go. Mr. Leftwich's 0-for-4 performance, and general inability to spark any life into the offense, causes us to hope that recent reports that the Steelers are exploring an injury settlement with Mr. Batch for the purpose of releasing him are nothing more than rumor.


3. Houston's backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels was the only active player for either team not to make it into the game ~ is he hurt or just that bad?

Conclusion
This game represents further evidence that the preseason is utterly meaningless.