Cowboys @ Steelers, Pre-season Game 3 Notes:
FOX Sports, cousin to that dim-bulb news org imagining itself in sole possession of the common term �fair and balanced� (by which they signify that righteous range of view descending from, say, Dr. Strangelove or General Curtis LeMay) had the broadcast and, by comparison, KDKA looked pretty good.� FS proved only a light camera complement and, essentially, zero play-by-play, preferring stand-ups featuring their 3 stooges, Buck, Aikman and Collingsworth, prattling on around the doings in Big D, or even down in Bungleland.�� Generally, this was a celeb fest with the head coaches, Cowher and especially Parcells, getting the kind of face time normally allocated to J-Lo and Benny Affleck.� There was a game going on, though as some ancillary to the real action and, from what I could tell:
The Steeler #1 defense made Quincy Carter look like Donavan McNabb.� As was true for the Eagles last Saturday, the Cowboy O-group got little accomplished in their first two possessions.� They ran (9) plays (1/3 3rd down conversions) including 3 on the ground and 6 by air.� The Steelers were stout against the run (3/-1) but excluding Logan flushing Carter on a blitz off the corner, really made no other play against the pass; Carter misfired once, Glenn dropped a slant and 3 were completed.� Carter�s air numbers weren�t good at this point but that had more to do with �Boy ineptitude than any dominating performance by the B&G.
As McNabb directed the Eagles to a score on their 3rd possession and then sat down, so did the great Quincy lead his Boyz 74 yards in 13 plays on their 3rd possession before yielding to Chad Hutchinson.� This drive featured pass and run equally; the big play was Carter�s scramble for a 1st down on the second series, the nut-cutting play was a short out where, as usual, the Steelers� scheme precluded any adequate defense.� Individually:
- Clark Haggans filled in acceptably for Jason Gildon.� On the plus side, Haggans came across the field to stop a screen play after a 10-yard gain; good hustle there on a play that otherwise would have been bigger.� Haggans had pressure on Carter once, and pressured Hutch a couple times in possession 4 too.� On the downside, Carter escaped Clark to pick up that crucial 1st down and, in the same possession 3, Richie Anderson twice got under Haggans, carrying the Boys to another 1st down.
- Brent
Alexander materialized briefly, making a nice force for a TFL on the
opening play of Dallas� 3rd possession.
- Chad
Scott� had good deep coverage a
couple times, forcing an OB toss once but dropping a sure INT on
possession 5.� However, Scott was
burned on Dallas�s 1st TD and you�ve got wonder at the plan on
this play.� Dallas was inside the
10; Scott was lined up on about the 1 and so had absolutely no chance to
defend the square-out that went for a score.� Scott may not be a lockdown CB but, really, I can�t think of
any DB who could have made that play, off that set.������
The D-side starters didn�t dominate and, for the most part, that was true for the O-group too.� However, the Steelers� 3rd possession showed exactly what that side might accomplish.� Starting at their own 15, the PS needed just 8 plays to score.� In point of fact, they scored twice; one TD being negated by a hold call on Marvel.� In this drive, the Steelers passed 5 times for about 80 yards (or 6 for about 120 including the first score); of note in that:
- Tommy Maddox was very sharp all night finishing 10/14/142 and 1 TD.� On possession 3, he was 5/5 (officially). Of his 4 incompletes, 2 were drops (Ward and Haynes).
- �Jerome Bettis� looked like a #1 RB last night.� Bettis was 3/18 and looked very quick
on 2 toss sweeps; additionally, the Bus had 2 fine blitz pick-ups.� For those who imagine that the Steelers
will be uni-dimensional with the Bus in the backfield, well, Bettis
entered the game in possession 3 (the 1st scoring drive).� The sets (and results) on the opening
plays were: standard pro set (completion to Kreider, 1st down),
2 TE, single back (completion to Ward, 1st down), and RB/FB,
3WR (completion to Ward, 1st down).� ���
- Spike
woke up in possession 3.� He beat
both starting CB for TD, first, Mario Edwards on a 9 route left (called
back) and then prize rookie Terrence Newman on a deep out right.� Really, really impressive.
- Both Jeff Hartings and Kendall Simmons played throughout the first half ; both were creditable, effective in pass protection although the Steelers rarely ran right and never got anything done up the gut.
There�s your downside; the Steelers have no trace of an inside run game.� Amoz was blown up on several occasions and, on another gut plunge, Bettis got just a yard.� Dallas D-linemen seemed to beat the Steeler O-line to the gaps on every occasion; their LB were up in the 1st half and their safeties in the second.� To this date, the Steelers have been highly susceptible to the run blitz; we can anticipate plenty of that on 7 September.
Of note:
- The Steelers had a big TOP margin in the 1st half and out-gained the Boys 190-113.
- The Steelers converted 4/8 3rd down ops; on the downside, Dallas matched that mark.
Aggravating stupidity redux:
- On their opening possession, the Steelers moved from their own 10 to about mid-field.� That drive stalled with Ward�s drop and, on 3rd and long, Haynes was swarmed on a screen.
- On their 2nd possession, the Steelers had the ball at mid-field having gotten the better of an exchange of punts.� That drive stalled on a bobbled exchange between Hartings and Maddox and, on 3rd and long, Haynes was swarmed on a screen.
Later:
Dallas kept their first unit defense on the field for much of the 3rd quarter; their 1st O-line and WR group stayed in too although Chad Hutchinson and Adrian Murrell were the featured skill guys.� Pittsburgh came with their 2nd units on both sides.� Of note:
- Bailey, Clancy and Keisel were tossed around by a very average O-line.� Clancy was especially ineffective at the POA, when Murrell took it in for the Boys� 2nd score that flash of B/G you saw was Kendrick getting hurled out the hole.� To no one�s surprise, the PS has no one behind Big Casey.
- Zo had two strips; that�s good but the fact is he beat the Dallas 2nd line, but did little against the starters.
- �Ike Taylor had (2) PD and a 62-yard KO return (negated by Kriewaldt�s hold).� On the downside, he got trucked by Tony McGee on Dallas� 2nd scoring drive and drew a 15-yard penalty to boot.� Still, those PD were (probably) the only of the night for the PS and, for sure, Ike will help on ST.� He certainly showed christallmighty jets on that KO.
- James
Harrison continues to impress; he plays with great energy, showed
excellent range running down Jamar Martin on a pass in the flat.
- David
Upchurch had a TFL; he did that late against the Eagles too.� Upchurch is a brawler, given 30# or so,
he�s a back-up NT.� In the interim,
I�d like to see him in earlier, against better opposition.
- Chris
Hope and Troy Polamalu comprised the 2nd unit safety
tandem; they played a quantity of Cover 2 and, certainly the athleticism
both possess could allow some range of split-safety options.� On the downside, neither made any
significant impact.
- Chidi Iwuoma got down fast on one punt and had a nice open field solo stop.� Dallas has no big WR; consequently, Chidi held up fine as a 2nd unit CB.
As for the O-side hopefuls:
- Charlie Batch was bad last night, worse than his numbers indicate.� The low light was when he hung out Khori Ivy on a deep slant, patting the ball just long enough for Darren Woodson to come up and cancel Khori�s ticket.
- Brian St. Pierre was awful in his first two outings but played very nicely last night.� Good accuracy, good presence, good results.� Many have written his obit but that was pre-mature.
- Todd Fordham was in on possession 3, the Steelers first score and was in late when St. Pierre drove them in.� Fordham is a competent player, not great but, maybe, good enough for now.
- Mathias Nkwenti had a hold and gave a sack, this matches Marvel�s output in the 1st half.
- The rest of the 2nd unit O-line (Collins, Okobi, Vincent and pick a RT) didn�t get much done against the Dallas ones but did beat the Dallas 2nd group all around the field.�
- Lee Mays had a catch and a drop with the ones, and a catch with the twos.� Lee is okay but I don�t what the fuss is about.
- Dante Brown went 18-yards untouched for his 2nd pre-season score; he had a good blitz pick-up on the 2- point conversion too.� At this point, Brown is more a future-value athlete than a polished back but there is no way he slips to the practice squad.� IMO, the Steelers should bite the bullet, carrying 4 RB and 1 FB.� Either Ours or Walls are far more likely to survive the waiver process than is Brown.
Summary:
Generally, a good showing for the offense; however, optimism must be tempered by the fact that while the Steeler O-line pass protected pretty well, that the Dallas pass rush was near the bottom last season, and figures to return there.� Factor that with the absence of any inside run game and, well, while there has been improvement, room remains for more of the same.� Additionally, that the 2nd unit O-line didn�t fare well against the Dallas ones suggests that Hartings and Simmons absolutely must stay healthy, somehow.
Base, nickel or dime will matter not at all so long as the Steeler scheme provides the kind of cushion Scott surrendered on Dallas�s TD 1.� Base, nickel or dime will matter not at all if either Hampton or Smith goes down because it is completely apparent that the 2nd unit guys are nowhere near able to help.
As for ST, well, Reed missed his only FG try, Miller had 2 punts inside the 10 but opened the 2nd half with a 28-yard effort that set up the Boys� 2nd score, Kriewaldt wrestled down a guy on the side opposite Taylor�s 62-yard return (that is, the penalty was irrelevant to the play) and Larry Foote got a roughing call on another punt play.�
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