Steelers vs. Bills post-game thoughts

Game Balls and Goats. Good, Bad, and Ugly. Whatever you got ...


I'm exhausted, so I don't have much to say right now. Game ball goes to Lefty and A. Brown on offense. I'm giving a game ball to Cortez Allen on defense.

The obvious Ugly from the game was the injury to DeCastro. It better not be too serious.

Quote :

David Todd ‏@hammerspeaks

Have loved Golden all camp. I think he makes 53. Wouldn't risk practice squad. Versatile. Talented. Player. #Steelers

Talked about Golden a little in the game thread.

Offense: Antonio Brown. Defense: Cortez Allen. Most improved performances: Lefty and Baron Batch.

The Good:

Cortez Allen (I was very impressed by him this week. Great coverage all night and made quite a few plays. May be emerging as the nickel back.)
Isaac Redman (Ran hard and decisively and scored a hard-nosed TD. Not many yards, but ran tough coming off an injury.)
Antonio Brown (Some great receptions, over 100 yards receiving, and 2 TDs.)
Robert Golden (Awesome INT almost returned for a TD. The guy is looking impressive. How can this guy not make the team?)
Ziggy Hood (Applied some nice pressure, handled the run game, and recovered a fumble.)
Byron Leftwich (Made some great throws last night. His 39 yard TD pass to Brown was nice.)
Ben Roethlisberger (After a slow start, performed very well in the no-huddle before half. Settled in nicely and moved the ball.)
Derrick Williams (Had a couple of really nice grabs. Look out David Gilreath!)
Ike Taylor (Looked solid again last night. Stayed with his guys and kept plays in front of him.)
Chris Rainey (Great move and TD run. This guy is blazing fast! He just keeps making splash plays that get him noticed.)
Troy Polamalu (1 INT, some nice tackles, and good coverage.)
No turnovers, 3 takeaways (We really need to be better at this ratio this year. So far, we're looking much better in this area. Let's hope it continues into the regular season.)

The Bad:

Antonio Brown's drops (He dropped 2 easy catches for nice gains. Needs to focus a little more. He'll be fine.)
Lamarr Woodley's drops (He had 2 easy INTs last night if he just concentrates and hangs on. Oh well... we pay him to level QBs, not cover WRs.)
Marquis Maze (I haven't seen much from this guy after some early camp buzz. He had a drop on an easy catch and does nothing in the ST game. Practice squad at best.)
Jon Dwyer rushing (5 carries for 1 yard. Ouch. He did have some plays in the pass game though.)

The Ugly:

The DeCastro injury (Yet another o-lineman goes down to injury. Is there some curse we don't know about?)

Nice summary!

I swore that someone made this thread last night though. Maybe it was on one of the other boards...

bayz101 wrote:

Nice summary!

I swore that someone made this thread last night though. Maybe it was on one of the other boards...

http://www.steelersxtreme.com/t3171-steelers-vs-bills-post-game-thoughts

Wallace108 wrote:

bayz101 wrote:

Nice summary!

I swore that someone made this thread last night though. Maybe it was on one of the other boards...

http://www.steelersxtreme.com/t3171-steelers-vs-bills-post-game-thoughts

Merged!

I knew it! Wally named it a little differently and I skimmed over it several times.

GOOD

Roethlisberger: Anyone notice the shape this dude is in? Anybody notice his furry of input on the sidelines to his offensive units? Ben is emphasizing what it is to be a leader. He's being vocal as ever and as always, lets his speaking on the field resonate for itself. He's in tremendous shape and seems to be playing SMARTER when it comes to his body. Even though Ben took a sack early, the way he went to the ground rather than taking a hit is a GREAT sign for Steelers fans. If this quick-strike Todd Haley offense sets in and if Ben takes less hits, our franchise QB will play for another 8 solid years. Plus, Ben's ability in the no-huddle offense is nothing short of a thing of beauty.

Redman: Love his North and South style of running. He barreled his way for a first down on 3rd and 1 and barreled his way AGAIN on the goalline on 3rd and goal after being hit by 2 Bills defenders as he dragged his way into the endzone. Redzone Redman struck and his low-center of gravity reminds me of a Michael Turner-style of running. Redman will do our backfield justice.

Colon: I tried to watch Colon as much as possible. On the opening series, I saw that nasty anger everyone was talking about in camp. With Colon pulling to his right, I saw his clamp onto a Bills defender and simply reek carnage on the poor fella. Colon is VERY MEAN and is the leader of our nastiness of our 2012 offensive line.

Defensive line: Ziggy was an animal, Heyward was an animal and the pressure we started putting on Fitzpatrick after we settled down was exactly what the doctor ordered. I'm glad LeBeau turned it up and notch and let our players swarm to the QB.

Turnovers: WOW. It's been awhile! I kind of forgot what it felt like to see our defense force turnovers. It looked more of the same when Woodley dropped a potential interception on an early Bills drive and a potential pick-6 on another. Nonetheless, Timmons made a nice hit on the ball on Jackson and Polamalu made Young pay for a very stupid decision. I remember reading an article about how Timmons like's "#30's" contributions to the team in camp. Guess who had an impressive pick along the sidelines and almost returned it for a touchdown late in the game? Mr. Golden himself. Lets hope this trend returns in the regular season.

BAD:

DeCastro: For obvious reasons I don't have to cover. I'm still angry over this as the bad luck that results into our line-rotations continue. Lets hope that his ACL isn't damaged but it's a shame this young man suffered a potentially severe knee injury in only his 3rd pre-season game. Lets hope for a speedy recovery.

Field position: Not only was our offense pinned back to our own goalline multiple times, but our defense was left on an island in their own territory as well. We must pick up the effort in moving the chains, even if it doesn't result into scoring drives as we must start winning the field position battle for our defense to shine. Hopefully this comes together quickly.

Slow starts: This whole pre-season seemed to start very slowly for our offense and it happened once more on our opening series. On first down, Brown dropped a perfect ball right between the numbers from Roethlisberger that would have been good for atleast 9 yards. We never recovered from that and our fortunes of bad field position begun.

Overall, I see some great things and flash's for this Todd Haley offense and this is without our deep threat in Wallace and without many pass-catching opportunities for Heath Miller to get involved. DeCastro's injury is ILL, but if there's anytime to get Foster in there to gel, it's now. We must keep this latest line rotation healthy for the remainder of the season.

StainlessStill wrote:

Redman: Love his North and South style of running. He barreled his way for a first down on 3rd and 1 and barreled his way AGAIN on the goalline on 3rd and goal after being hit by 2 Bills defenders as he dragged his way into the endzone. Redzone Redman struck and his low-center of gravity reminds me of a Michael Turner-style of running. Redman will do our backfield justice.

I loved the goal-line run by Redman. He was stood up at the 1 and just barreled his way in to the end zone. That's why they call him Red Zone Redman, and that's why a lot of us fans were screaming last season for him to be used on the goal line.

There were a couple cut-back lanes that styles like Redman will certainly miss. At times, all I could think about is how Mendenhall would break his usual bounce to the outside in open space on some occasions. The way our offense approach seems to be heading under Haley in the run-game, Redman is the right man for the job.

Redman looked great even if he didn't have a lot of yards rushing. He ran straight and hard at the holes and fought like a beast for extra yards. He's going to be solid for us until Mendy gets back.

Dwyer had an underwhelming night running the ball, but made up for it a little in the pass game.

I'm still impressed by Rainey's speed and playmaking ability. I don't see how he doesn't make this team. He'll be valuable in the return game and in 3rd and long situations.

1 ben is the freaking man
2 receivers had a lot of drops to start the game
3 defense is going to be # 1 again
4 turnovers. i hope they carry over to the regular season
5 decastro
6 lefty could start for a number of teams
7 refs still suck
8 rainey is exciting to watch