DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — A last look at the Steelers’ last game …
• So the offense’s first two plays of the 20-16 preseason loss to the Giants on Saturday night at MetLife Stadium went like this: Le’Veon Bell over right guard to PIT 32 for 9 yards. Then, Bell over left guard to PIT 40 for 8 yards.
Not exactly a bad way to start. And not just for Bell.
“The offensive line looked awesome,” Bell told me afterward.
He then laughed in recalling that, on the second of those runs, Ramon Foster drove back his man to the right, and Kelvin Beachum pulled all the way across from left tackle to take the man behind Foster’s. And yet …
“Ramon came up to me and apologized. Seriously, right up to me and says, ‘I’m sorry. My bad, bro. My bad.’ He told me he didn’t feel like he did well enough on that play, that he had more in him. I’m looking over at the yard marker, and it’s second-and-1, and I’m like, ‘What happened?’ That’s something you love as a teammate. Because that makes me feel like I could have done better, too. I could have gotten more than the 9 yards they gave me.”
• Ugly as that 73-yard Rashad Jennings TD was for the defense, the general consensus was that the first-team D otherwise fared just fine. And it’s difficult to dispute. Tom Coughlin made the Giants’ offense stay out for the full first quarter due to a lack of plays, as they wound up with only eight. Take away the Jennings run — as if such a thing were possible — and the other seven plays netted only 4 total yards. Both of Eli Manning’s passes fell incomplete, and he was sacked by Jarvis Jones for a 9-yard loss.
“No one likes to give up big plays, and we’ll get that corrected,” Lawrence Timmons said. “But overall, believe me, I saw some things out there I liked.”
• Here’s Cortez Allen on how reliant each defensive player is on the other …
• Sean Spence’s wonderful return to football saw him officially record two tackles plus a shared tackle with Timmons. Not sure why the official scoresheet didn’t record this, but he also should have had a hurry for sprinting about 60 percent of the width of the field to rush a Manning throw.
Don’t forget: This guy was supposed to be that outstanding inside linebacker before the knee injury.
• Speaking of sprints, none was more impressive on the Pittsburgh end than Dri Archer’s 46-yard gallop through the New York secondary off a screen pass. And yeah, that was a screen. He caught it flat-footed on the left side, had blockers lined up in front of him, and ran right. Because that’s where the daylight was.
Ben Roethlisberger put it well: “All I saw was the beginning of the play. After that, he was gone.”
• Archer also was hit twice on returns. Hard. At 173 pounds, he won’t be able to take many of those. Just a thought, for anyone who considers him an integral part of the offense.
“I think I showed I can play in the NFL,” Archer said, and he was right. But he’ll need to stay alive in the process.
• Archer and fellow rookie Martavis Bryant each fielded two punts, each for 4 yards. Antonio Brown might not be able to quit his moonlighting gig just yet.
• Fade to Lance Moore? Say it ain’t so.
• Fourth-round pick on Landry Jones? Say it ain’t so.
• Jones’ sack came, as he detailed for me, as the result of New York left tackle Charles Brown immediately going to his left, or the outside. It’s hard to explain why Brown would do that, beyond setting up for a screen, but he never got a piece of Jones, who cut to the inside and had nothing between him and Manning.
That’s where his athleticism shone through …
“It’s just me and the QB,” Jones said. “How I like it.”
I asked Jones how many of those he’d need to experience during the season to be satisfied.
“Twelve? Fifteen?” he replied. “How’s that sound?”
• I get that it’s the first preseason game, but maybe the most important performance through July and August will be that of Markus Wheaton, and he had only one ball thrown his way, that a 28-yard catch. He has lots of lost time to make up. He’s got to be involved a lot more than this.
• You can tell Tomlin wants so badly to like Bryant, the Steelers’ best internal hope for a big-bodied receiver. And he’d have had plenty to like on this night, not least of which was a long-range pass interference call he draw and a 14-yard catch late. But he fumbled after the catch, so … “Up and down day,” the coach said. Bryant will keep getting chances. Bank on that.
• Never lose sight of the only thing that really matters in a preseason game: No one got hurt. Well, no one except for Foster being poked in the eye. Initial indications were that it wasn’t serious, but I never saw Foster in the locker room afterward.
More online: Game center / Multimedia / Photos
Fun fact. The eye is the fastest healing organ in the human body.
Love Spence. Had gamer written all over him before going down.
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Playing without a brace says he won’t be holding back.
Maybe. I think many orthopedic doctors don’t recommend them anymore post-rehab.
Archer may not make impact in KO returns.
Not many chances with most kicks going out of end zone. Look forward to him getting past 1st wave of punt defenders and running to open space.
He’ll get more chances once the weather turns colder and kicks don’t carry as far.
One exhibition game that looks like that is no big deal. Especially when the Giants had already played a game. The problem last year was that all four looked like that. Can’t have that this year.
My most important takeaway from last night was almost no face time for John Norwig. I’m sure he’s a nice guy and all but the only time I want to see him in August is passing out water. Keep ‘em healthy & I’ll take my chances.
Nice feature. Didn’t see the game, as with most of them down here, but this helps.
Biggest concern for me are the DBs.
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Cortez (the Killer) Allen needs a solid, injury-free year. One.
And he shall be Le’Veon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Le’Veon
In tradition with the (Steelers) family (ticket) plan
Love that kid. Said last year was gonna be a beast.
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Expect breakout in Year #2.
I hated the fade to Moore too. Their best fade guy is probably Heath down inside the 10.
Gonna be some growing pains with the young WR ‘s. Offense will be ok though. Beware the defense. One of the safeties needed to tackle Jennings for crying out load.
DK, nice that you saw some positives in the game as well. I couldn’t watch it, so I was pretty depressed after you tore the secondary a new one for being, well, the same old secondary on big plays.
So Foster helped blow open a hole so Bell could gash for a nine-yard gain, and then he apologized to Bell? Oh well. It’s better than a poke in the eye.
Oh.
Just signed up for the 3-year, Lunatic plan! PgherinLev from the last two sites. Nice to see so many familiar “faces” here.
There you are! Been trying to get more of our internationals back, so it’s great to see you! If you want to use your old name, it’s simple: Just type it into the name field with your next comment. That’s it.
Yep, updated my profile
Glad the #1 D played well for most plays. However, as you pointed out in your other article, that long run is what has killed them in the past.
When your first end-zone fade target of the year is Lance Moore, you better believe they’re gonna keep trotting Martavis Bryant out there like he’s Craig Adams.
Is it me or did Bell look really skinny? I know you said he dropped weight DK but do you think he will hold up?
I only got to see the last 10 1/2 minutes of Steelers, after Pirate game ended.
However, I thought Landry Jones looked much better than last year. Couple real nice passes including the one fumbled at end
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Maybe that was just last year’s meme that Jagoff Boss was repeating above
This Defense should be noticeably faster this yr. Spences performance did nothing to make me think he cant contribute. This linebacking core I really think has a chance to be special. Gonna be a fun season.
Agree too many LBs. Who saw that one coming? Hope it continues.