Good, Bad & Ugly – Steelers vs. Giants Preseason Week 1
At long last, our nightmare is over. Steelers football has returned!
Yes indeed, there was a game (albeit a preseason game), and when you reflect on it, there were some good things, some bad things, and even some ugly things.
That means it’s time for this season first edition of Good, Bad and Ugly!
Let’s take a look at what stood out in the Giants preseason matchup.
Good
The Defensive Line
I said it on a podcast, and I’m coining the phrase again: they are The Horsemen.
Or the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Cam Heyward, Javon Hargrave and Stephon Tuitt.
Tuitt got washed away on at least one play, but overall, he was good. Cam Heyward was even better showing great power and strength and dominating wherever he was on the line.
And then there was J-Wobble. Javon Hargrave was beastly. He abused the Giants center on almost every play. His athleticism and strength really were evident throughout the first quarter.
Mike Hilton
The Hype Train for Hilton has almost left the station. I’m not quite fully on board yet, but Friday night’s performance certainly got me interested in jumping aboard. A fumble recovery (on ST), a sack (and nearly a second one), pass breakups and fourth down stops – what a game this young man had.
Hey, at least we got something from a former Ole Miss corner! (I know, everybody is saying that and I kind of feel bad for Senquez Golson, but it’s low hanging fruit, and I felt like picking it).
Cobi Hamilton
2 receptions for 74 yards and a TD. They were both solid catches. Really the stat line is more “meh” then it is awesome, but at least we had one receiver who was making plays (to be fair, marcus tucker could have also stolen the night had the quarterbacks throwing him the ball put it within 10 or 15 feet of him).
Terrell “Nightmare” Watson
I wasn’t impressed with the running game as a whole, and still am not. It’s not a surprise – no Bell, no Connor and so we have Knile Davis, Fitz Toussaint and Terrell Watson to enjoy. It’s not that anybody was bad per say, but Watson definitely outperformed the others. He looked big and strong and relatively quick.
He scored a TD, and for that if nothing else I felt compelled to put him on the Good list.
T.J. Watt
I’m done calling him J.J.’s little brother. T.J. Watt had a coming out party on Friday night.
Well, at least that is what they hype machine is putting out there. Watt was good, but he’s not a hall of famer yet folks. I loved his motor, and I loved his flexibility in switching sides of the ball. He played 70 snaps give or take and his effort was consistent throughout the game.
It was a better than average start, but we need to see that production maintained and improved upon as the rest of the preseason moves on. (I admit it, I’m a little more excited about it then I’m letting on – but I’m trying to be at least a little realistic.)
Bad
Joshua Dobbs
I’m sorry, but those first two picks were so ugly that Dobbs is just lucky I didn’t put him in that category. He got better as the game went on, and that’s a credit to him and his potential, but it wasn’t a “good” night for him.
Even the two big passes to Cobi Hamilton were not really a result of Dobbs placing the ball perfectly –he didn’t. On the first the ball was so high that a lot of receivers would have just missed it entirely. On the second (the TD) the ball was behind Hamilton and he had to wait for it.
Still, they were complete, and he made a really nice throw to Xavier Grimble that didn’t count, and sprinted for a nice third down pick up as well, so I couldn’t put him in Ugly, but overall, it was, in my opinion, below the line. However, I didn’t expect much more than that – it was his first ever NFL game, and you kind of expect it to go a little bad.
At least it wasn’t…
Ugly
Bart Houston
Some people thought that Bart Houston looked pretty good.
Those people are nuts.
I said this on the podcast, and I’ll say it again – I feel bad for Marcus Tucker. He beat the Giants secondary so bad a couple times, but the ball was thrown about a mile over him.
Houston was brought in to be a camp body, and the only reason I think he’s getting any playing time is Landry Jones is injured. If Landry recovers from his abdominal strain before the Falcons game, I don’t expect to see much more of Mr. Houston.
Conclusion
It was a win in a preseason opener – that in and of itself is a rarity and is certainly something to be happy about. We get to say we won.
The thing is, it doesn’t matter, and never will. We could go 0-4 in the preseason (and have I think) and still end up having a great year. These games are all about learning what the young guys and new guys can do. They aren’t about the final score, but it is nice to win some of them.
(Oh and they’re also a good way for AB to show off some new gear on the sideline – above.)
We learned something from this game, and we couldn’t ask for much more. It will be interesting to see moving forward if any of the injured guys make it back in time to take some snaps in Sunday’s Falcons game. I look forward to seeing Cam Sutton, Keion Adams and (heaven forbid) Senquez Golson finally get on the field. Maybe James Connor and JuJu Smith-Schuster will get more playing time (JuJu appears to be cleared from the concussion protocol, since he was practicing today).
It’s a good start – let’s see what the next game brings!
