Preseason Game 2

The Steelers faced the Giants in their second preseason game on Saturday night. Big Ben was back to playing football and played solid through three series. He showed great pocket presence eluding tackles nearly every pass play. He went 6-8 76 yds and threw one interception when being chased out of the pocket. He didn't show any rust from the event filled offseason.

The Steelers also shown that they will be just fine without Ben during the first few games of the season. Byron Leftwich came in after Ben and went 3-6 95 yds and a touchdown. The touchdown came on one of the best deep passes I have seen, 68 yds to Mike Wallace who caught the ball in stride and never slowed down until he leaped into the endzone.

Dennis Dixon took over in the third quater and played like a superstar. He went 7-8 82 yds passing and ran five times for 27 yds. He led the team to two touchdowns one by Isaac Redman who finished the night with six carries for 34 yds. Dixon is putting heat on the Steelers to start over Leftwich in the opening games of the season. He has played better than expected and rumor has it that the Steelers don't want to start him in the case that they go 4-0 opening the season and have a QB controversy when Ben is eligible to play. I think for sure Dixon should start and if he goes undefeated then congrats to him and the team but Ben is the starter and their is no controversy since the team made the commitment with such a large contract. Not a contract that I supported since he has had such trouble off the field.

My thoughts from the game are that the Steelers O-line is really struggling, their defense is solid but gets exploited by speed, Dennis Dixon and Isaac Redman are the real deals, and their is a solid competition going on as return man between Stephan Logan and Antoinio Brown.

Steelers Preseason Game 1

For the first Preseason game the Steelers faced the Lions in a monsoon like weather conditions at Heinz Field. There was a 73 minute delay in the middle of the game due to the storm. There was a lot of talk on whether or not Roesthlisberger would play in the game. Tomlin said he wanted the other QBs to get their snaps and Ben wouldn't play. Leftwich started the game and struggled going 6-10 passing for 43 yards. The crowd chanted "we want Ben" while Leftwich played. To Leftwich's credit the starting O-line looked terrible, leaving him no time to pass the ball.

Dennis Dixon came in and played like a star. He went 6-7 128 yds and 1 TD, not to mention 6 carries for 31 yds. The offense looked smooth when he was in, if he had time he got a good pass off, if the line broke down he was quick enough to make a move and get some yards running the ball.

Isaac Redman who was cut from the team the previous year played hard throughout the game with 15 carries for 61 yds. He had showed the power to score on the goaline when he punched it in the second quater, which was a weak point in their game last year. He also had a bid 31 yard run breaking 3 tackles along the way. He has the ability to work his way into the number two running back slot ahead of Mewelde Moore who is more of a 3rd down back who comes out to catch the ball.

Defensively the Steelers looked alright against the Lions starters. Their run stopping and pass rush looked good, however the coverage from CB's was just lackluster. Detroit scored when they were inside the Steelers 5 and just threw the ball up for Calvin Johnson who had no trouble making a play for it against Joe Burnett. 2nd round pick Jason Worilds did not play due to injury. Filling his spot however was 5th round pick Thaddeus Gibson played well recording 2 solo tackles.

Overall thoughts of the game would have to be that Dennis Dixon is creating a little QB controversy with his good play in the first game and that Isaac Redman should make the team and get all the tough yard carries this year.