Steelers Source

MCL

That’s about all that’s left at this point. Video of Byron Leftwich going down last night against the Carolina Panthers with a possible MCL injury can be seen on NFL.com here.

He will be having an MRI today to confirm what type of injury he’s sustained, but judging by the reaction of players on the sidelines during last night’s game it doesn’t look good. With Leftwich out the Steelers will most likely be starting Dennis Dixon in this season’s opener against the Atlanta Falcons.

Tim Tebow

Agh. What a performance. Almost all teams in the League use this third game as the last dry run for the starters and play backups and guys battling to make the team in game 4. I am going to try and not go off of the deep end today. The first half wasn’t terrible considering 4 personal foul calls. That is unacceptable and you just can’t win doing that, but it is easy to fix so no need to dwell on it. Ben Roethlisberger looked good while he was in the game and other than short yardage, which I’ll get to in my next article, were able to move the ball. The defense on the other hand did not play well with all the penalties. In particular Keenan Lewis stunk up the joint while filling in for Bryant McFadden.

The performance of the night was turned in by Maurkice Pouncey. Pouncey was matched up against an All-Pro nose tackle in Jamal Williams and was dominant throughout the game. He was putting people on their backs left and right. Too bad the rest of the line is not nearly as good. Are you reading this Trai Essex?

In the second half things just got worse. Denver’s defense pushed around the Steelers offensive line and the defense was anemic. As far as the quarterbacks go, two interceptions that went the other way for touchdowns. Just inexcusable. Controversy could be brewing at quarterback because of the bunch, and I hate to say it, Charlie Batch looked best of all engineering a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. Dixon didn’t look much better but I’m starting to wonder if Leftwich is going to end up being the odd man out.

The best news of the week is that I don’t have to hear about Tim Tebow anymore this year.

I’m a bit late on this one, and not very helpful since I was on an airplane when this one went into the books. I did get a quick synopsis from a very credible source (my brother) who had this to say:

“Pretty uneventful. Flozell took a penalty. Ike Taylor got in a fight and thrown out of game (Lewis looked decent as his replacement). Burnett had a pick. Pouncey got in a fight. The Rookie wide outs both looked good. Sepulveda’s kick offs looked the same as Reed’s. Dixon still can’t read a defense. Leftwich finally threw one far enough for Mike Wallace to run under (about 65 yards in the air). Harrison was nonexistent. Defense looked soft against the run.”

So it sounds like we didn’t learn a whole lot this week. At this point it is probably fair to say that according to plan, Byron Leftwich is the starter for week 1 and Dennis Dixon has not stepped up his game. I also read in several places that Issac Redman had another strong performance so that is good news in a backfield that had some depth concerns.

Sitting here at the beginning of the 4th quarter in the Steelers – Lions game after waiting through possibly the longest halftime in history. Very interesting game for a number of players.  I’ll start with the good news:

• Maurkice Pouncey got some snaps at center and looks like the real deal. I’ve changed my thinking and see him in the opening day line up at center, not right guard.
• Great drive at the end of the first half showcased by a long completion from Dennis Dixon to Arnez Battle. Steelers had a scramble for a touchdown by Dixon reversed on replay and got the ball on the one yard line. They proceeded to immediately punch it in off of great blocks by Pouncey and Tony Hills.
• Issac Redman looks awesome and Mewelde Moore better start watching his back.
• Welcome back Aaron Smith, you are still a stud.
• The starting linebacking corps looked like world beaters.

Now for the bad news:

• Byron Leftwich looks like the junior varsity. His only completions were to running backs and one to Heath Miller in the flat. The only time he looked down field he badly under threw a deep ball to Mike Wallace who had at least a step and a half on the corner. He also had another complete whiff on a throw to a wide open Arnez Battle over the middle inside the 20 that would have went for an easy touchdown.
• On consecutive plays in the Steelers second drive, Flozell Adams got whipped by the defensive end on a straight edge rush, then followed by Chris Kemoeatu getting worked straight up the gut.
• At least 3 fumbles by running backs in the first half.
• Spotty play by the young cornerbacks. Matt Stafford started picking on Keenan Lewis, but he did have a few good plays as well. Same deal on Joe Burnett, but less passes came his way. Nice to see flashes of brilliance, but we also saw some plays that they were out of position.

All in all, no surprises tonight. The offensive line needs a lot more work and it is going to be a long September if Byron Leftwich is playing quarterback.

Putrid, a great word frequently used by an old coach of mine and the only thing that is coming into my head as I reflect on today’s game. What, the Steelers won, you might be asking yourself. Well let me help you out with that one. Our boys in the black and gold are up 27-10 in the fourth quarter and they have managed to sideline the Dolphins first 2 quarterbacks. In marches Tyler Thigpen straight out of Coastal Carolina, and I’m thinking like a lamb to the slaughter, right? Wrong, so wrong. My man Tyler marches the ‘fins for 61 and 62 yard touchdown scoring drives on his first 2 possessions. Score 27-24 and in trots our vaunted offense who cannot stick it into the end zone and leaves Miami about 40 seconds and the possibility of winning the game.

On the positive front it looks like Bruce Arians must already be reading this blog. 36 rushes for 202 yards. That’s 5.6 a clip sports fans with Mendenhall going for 94 and Willie Parker chipping in with 91. Right, Willie Parker the guy I said last week they should have had in the offense all year. Glad it only took the coaching staff 17 weeks to figure that one out. I can only surmise that they didn’t want to wear Willie out and were saving him for the playoffs. Oh wait, I forgot, the stars didn’t align and we are not in the freakin playoffs.

I know we’ve been banged up on defense all year with the losses of Aaron Smith and Troy “Madden Curse” Polamalu, and Keisel getting hurt last week didn’t help, but enough already! I’m tired of hearing that “we took care of business” and crap of the same genre. Where was the blitz, the pressure, anything? Tyler Thigpen is the THIRD STRING quarterback!

This season can probably be summed up with a favorite quote of mine from back in the 70′s; “Before you can win a game, you have to not lose it.” So, I leave you with that to ponder. As for me, I can’t take any more of this right now. I have to go throw up. Post game comments from Hines Ward, James Farrior, and Tomlin below:

Alright, so it wasn’t pretty. The Steelers run defense didn’t come out of the locker room and made all 5 foot nothing of Ray Rice look like the second coming of Jim Brown. Rashard 17 carries for 36 yards and another one where the Steelers let ‘em hang around into the fourth quarter. However with nothing to be excited about since October I think we’ll take it.  See Coach Tomlin’s comments from after the game below: