I believe my first sentence in the preview for the Saints/Steelers preseason game was this “Relief may be in sight.”  Yes, yes it was!  The Steelers come away with the 27-14 victory over the Saints in the Superdome.  Let’s be clear, this is still preseason, and what we saw was a limited version of what the Steelers have to offer in the regular season, both on offense and defense.  Still, this 3^rd game has been repeatedly called the “Dress Rehearsal” or “Tune Up Game” or whatever term best fits your mood.  Coach Tomlin said this of the 3^rd preseason game:

“It’s probably more similar to the regular season than any of the other preseason games…”

Even with that being said, it’s still just similar.  The basic idea is to evaluate players, and determine who is going to stick and who isn’t.  There is a big day coming up this week, when we have to cut from 90 to 75, which if my math is still acceptable, that 15 players are going to see their NFL dreams end or at the least, be postponed.  I am going to spend time on the starters because frankly we haven’t had the chance to see them in a game yet.  So with that in mind, let’s get to the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Steelers/Saints.

The Good

The First Team Offense

I’ll talk about some of these guys individually, but the starting units on both sides of the ball looked good, especially the offense.  We didn’t really try to run the ball during those first two drives.  In the first drive the ratio was 13 passes vs 2 runs.  The second drive was 4 passes vs. 0 runs.  All told that’s 17 passes out of 19 plays.  I don’t expect that kind of off balance attack during the regular season, but it makes sense here because Ben was only going to play a limited number of series, so why not see how he looked.  Bell and Williams would get their chances later in the game.  The bottom line was the offense as a whole looked really good during those first two drives.  They overcame a holding penalty on a second down in the first drive, and really just executed.

The First Team Defense

They got a 3 and out on the Saints first drive, and allowed just one first down (albeit aided by a holding call that nullified a 26 yard pass play) on the second series.  They played most of the first half, and eventually did give up a score to Drew Brees on the Saints third series (this time with New Orleans benefiting from a phantom defensive holding call on Will Gay that left even the New Orleans announcers baffled.)  Overall, they looked pretty good, and some of them looked outstanding.

Ben Roethlisberger

19 plays, 17 passes (12/17 for 148) and a passer rating of 136.4.  Ben was Ben.  He was sharp, he was accurate, and oh my god that pass to Antonio Brown!  How the hell did he get that pass into AB’s hands!  Ben is at the top of his game, and he looked it.  To digress for a minute – that play, the 57 yard touchdown to AB, is a perfect example of why the only thing that matters this season with regards to the quarterback position is keeping Roethlisberger healthy.  Does anyone else make that pass play?

Landry Jones (who I’ll talk about in a minute) doesn’t make that pass.  He probably doesn’t even try.

Mike Vick? No.

Bryn Renner? Please.

The simple answer is no, because the chemistry and trust between AB and Ben is not something that is replicable with any other quarterback.  Tom Brady doesn’t make that throw to AB, not without the years of playing time that Ben and AB have together.  I honestly don’t’ think anyone in the league even tries it, but Ben will.  I have digressed enough.  Ben was awesome.

One more thing about Ben before I move on.  I said last week I was concerned about the tight end position.  I still am, but think about this, in two preseason games prior, Jesse James had what, 2 or 3 catches?  He had that tonight in the first drive didn’t he?  Ben elevates the entire team.  The offensive line plays better, the receivers play better, everyone plays better with 7 on the field.  As Bill Mahr might say “I can’t prove that it’s true, I just know it is”.

Antonio Brown

AB was targeted 4 times, and he made 4 catches.  He was AB, and showed he was AB.  A simple out pattern was there because of the respect that opposing corners have for his speed.  The cushion he was getting was ridiculous.  The fact that AB is on the field, much like having Ben on the field, makes the rest of the receivers better, because the opposing defense has to be focused on AB.  In limited duty, AB showed that he’s ready for the season.

Markus Wheaton

What a catch Wheat made!  I have watched the replay 4 or 5 times and I still have no idea how the guy kept both feet in bounds and the ball under control.  That catch showed me enough.  Wheaton is in a contract year, and I expect him to play like he wants to get paid.  If our top 3 are AB, Wheaton and either Rogers or Coates, man I do not think we’ll be wondering about “what ifs” (and you know what “what if” I mean) this year.

Sammie Coates

Only two catches, but way to make them count Sammie!  One for 58, and the other for 6!  The fact that Sammie didn’t get much love from Ben does bother me a little, but frankly he needs to show that he deserves it, and as I said after the Eagles game (and to Coates’ credit, he said the same thing) he needed to be more aggressive in going after the ball.  It was a solid bounce back week.

Le’veon Bell/DeAngelo Williams

Bell looked really good.  DeAngelo looked solid.  Bell caught 5 passes, and rushed 3 times, and looked quick and confident.  I couldn’t ask for much more.  DeAngelo ran 4 times and caught 3 out of 4 passes thrown his way.  I’m not worried at all about the running back slot for the first three games, or for the remainder of the season as long as we have these two guys available.

Stephon Tuitt

Man, can anyone block Stephon Tuitt?  Especially on plays that run laterally to the line of scrimmage.  His burst and quickness were in evidence the whole game, and he brought consistent pressure.  In my view, as far as the defensive starters go, Tuitt stood out.

Javon Hargrave

With Big Dan sitting out, Hargrave got the majority of the snaps, 30 overall.  He was relentless, showed a good motor and pursued the ball.  And of course, that sack.  He abused the Saint’s center, and got to the quarterback quicker than a man his size should.  It showed the kind of potential this kid has.  Solid effort.

Landry Jones

Ok haters.  I want to see somebody eat their words.  C’mon now, Landry was so good in this game that the Saints announcers (I watched the game on NFL Game Pass, and so the feed was the New Orleans announcers) thought that Landry was Ben for almost the entirety of his first series.  He looked really good and the numbers back that up (19 of 22 for 206, QB Rating of 120.8.)  That is what happens when he gets to play a good portion of snaps with the first team offense.  The pass to Wheaton was beautiful.  The passes to Coates later in the game, both the long one, and the touchdown were beautiful.  He still isn’t Ben, but he showed in this game why the Steelers are comfortable with him as the backup.  That’s his role, and that will always be his role.  And he’s good enough in that role.  He was better than good enough last night!  Well done Landry Jones!

Other

I really wanted to put Chris Boswell in the call outs above, but frankly there were too many other guys to talk about.  Still, Bos looked great!  Nailed a 40 and 48 yard field goals showing that he is still “money”.  (He’s so money, he doesn’t know he’s money!)

There were other nice bits, Jarvis Jones played well, Matakevich’s interception, Steven Johnson’s interception, Doran Grant’s fumble recovery (even though it didn’t count.)  Xavier Gimble showed up and what most impressed me wasn’t his nice catch and run, but his blocking.  It was almost enough for me to single him out, but not quite.  Maybe he will lay claim to that Matt Spaeth position?  Jesse James had a solid game, probably the best game of the preseason so far.  Richardson had moments again, but considering his attempts (9) and total (20) the average of 2.2 yards per carry was more likely to put him in the “bad” category than the good.  He had moments though.  I do like his burst.

The Bad

Missed Tackles – again!

Too many missed tacklers.  Shazier looked out of control a couple times, and didn’t wrap up. Sean Davis missed tackles for the same reason.  Ross Cockrell missed badly several times.  This is concerning and needs to be addressed.  Too many times I had to listen to Saint’s announcers say “Making people miss” about someone either running the ball (notably C.J. Spiller) or catching it.  Yes, the other team has guys who can play, and who will make plays, but there were too many misses and our guys should make plays too!

L.J. Fort

I did not think Fort had a good game at all.  He looked out of place several times, and seemed to be constantly following the play rather than attacking it.  He managed just two assists in 29 plays.  Not his best effort.  I think Fort has probably done enough to earn a spot, but this game didn’t help.  I’d be shocked if he didn’t make the cut down to 75, but he’ll need to play better than this in the final preseason game to assure himself a spot on the 53, rather than the practice squad.

Will Monday

If anyone doubted that the punting “competition” is over, this game showed it is.  Jordan Berry punted once – for 55 yards, with no return.  That was enough.  Will Monday punted 3 times with a long of 40 yards, and an average of 35.7.  My thoughts are that Monday is probably one of the easier cuts that Tomlin has to make this week.

The Secondary

I’m calling them out simple because when we needed stops, the secondary failed to standup too often.  The touchdown catch that Snead had should have been knocked away (somebody has to play the ball and not just try and knock the guy down!).  Somebody (maybe Doran Grant, but I can’t say for sure) blew a coverage badly which lead to another touchdown.  Too many mistakes, and too many first downs via the pass (7.)  We gave up passes of 31, 26 and 23 yards and a slew of passes between 10 and 20 yards.  Too much passing yardage.

Other

It’s not fair for me to call out Brenner.  The guy has had limited snaps, and it’s no wonder he looked lost out there.  He’s playing with 3^rd, or 4^th string guys, and a suspect O-line, and well, it looked like it.  He attempted no passes (primarily because on his lone drop back he got nailed for a 12 yard sack.)  He was in there to hand off, and that’s what he did, although not always effectively.  He left Richardson out to dry one time and while I don’t know it’s on Renner, I think it was.  The only other thing I felt was bad was that Matakevitch had only 9 snaps.  I wanted to see more of him.  I’m hoping he makes it through the first round of cuts, because I’d like to see more of him in next week’s game.

The Ugly

Let me be fair, I really didn’t think there was much ugly about this game.  What was ugly wasn’t really related to play – the Steelers played a good game, and sometimes a great one.  There is only one thing that bothers me…

Injuries

Cam Heyward has a high ankle sprain.  It’s great that Cam said he’d be there for game one, and I hope he’s right!  This is a guy we can’t afford to lose.

Marcus Gilbert had an elbow.  Also a guy we can’t afford to lose.  Gilbert is the best tackle on the team, and essentially in the run game, and Ryan Harris isn’t as good.  Again, hopefully this isn’t a long term injury.

Really, that’s the only ugly I can take away from this game.  There was some bad, there just wasn’t much that was really butt ugly bad.

Conclusion

It was a great effort by the first team against a squad that isn’t bad.  The Saint’s defense has played well during the preseason, and against playoff quality teams (Texans/Patriots.)  The first team offense made them look bad.  Ben made them look bad.  AB made them look bad.  The Saint’s offense can be explosive.  Drew Brees does not take sacks (and we never got him last night) and when he has time he can pick a defense apart.  He didn’t always have time.  We got pressure, even if we never got home.  It took the Saint’s three series to score, and by the time they did they were already down 14.  From the way that game looked, did you ever think the Saints could stop the offense?  I sure didn’t.

Again, as I said in the preview “Relief may be in sight” and relief did come.  Hopefully the Nation can enjoy this week, and get ready for the preseason finale against Carolina next week. Until then – Go Steelers!