Steelers offense debuts with long drive in loss

[polamalubeast]

PHILADELPHIA — The Steelers showed off far more of coordinator Todd Haley's new offense than might be expected for a preseason opener — maybe too much.

Call it Steelers football, the West Coast version. The Mike Wallace-absent offense was a steady stream of screen passes, short pass routes and ball-control runs as the Steelers possessed the ball for 16½ minutes on their first two drives during a 24-23 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night.

"We definitely didn't bring all of our cards out. We just came in with a small portion of our playbook and tried to execute that," wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders said of Haleyball. "I feel like we did a pretty good job, but as the preseason goes along we'll get better and show more of the playbook. I really like it."

Except for the injuries and the sacks that nastily coincided with all of this possession time.

Haley's offense is designed to keep the ball moving - and keep Ben Roethlisberger upright and healthy. But while Big Ben escaped without injury after leading a game-opening 16-play drive that ended with Shaun Suisham's 46-yard field goal, three Steelers weren't so fortunate. Tight end David Johnson left with his right knee in a cast, a possible season-ending injury. Rookie left tackle Mike Adams also hurt a knee, although less severely, and running back Jonathan Dwyer sprained his left shoulder during a 33-yard run.


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http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/2371818-85/steelers-didn-offense-ball-eagles-roethlisberger-yard-preseason-sanders-team

[steelerdude15]

Sounds like Tomlin isn't happy about losing tonight.

[Galax Steeler]

I didn't know that Dwyer got hurt hope it is not to bad.

[86WARD]

I think it's bad for Dwyer.

[suitanim]

OK, here's my first take on Haley's offense. I want to be VERY clear here that this is only based on one preseason game, so this is juts a hypothesis, but if we can truly extrapolate from what we saw, here goes:

If he's going to run a dink-and-dunk ball control offense (and I'm not saying he will, just saying that's what we did last night. In his first game. In the preseason), then we will HAVE to execute.

I brought this up extensively last year but from the other side of the ball, how in the NFL today, the defenses job isn't so much about trying to get a bunch of 3 and outs (it's too hard, and the rules are too slanted towards the offense now), rather to try and force the other team into errors and execution break-downs. If the average field the team has to work with is 70 yards long, you try to force the offense to execute 7 1st down drives perfectly and hope they break down. It's the whole "bend don't break" thing.

Some teams execute offensively in a maddeningly efficient way, like the Patriots. They hit those little 5-7 yarders to Welker or their TE's over the middle and it's very difficult to stop, especially when they get in a rhythm. IF the Steelers are going to run that kind of offense, it's even MORE imperative that we get solid blocking up front from the line. Obviously we did not last night, but what really bothered me was there we were, defensive guys all over our backfield, and Ben scrambling around for his life having to save plays all by himself. And then...we settle for a field goal.

Execute, execute, execute. It's what did us in last year, and it started out biting us in the ass last night. You HAVE to execute!

[GBMelBlount]

Don't we always seem to start games strong?

It seems like finishing strong has been a recurring problem...

It is really not apples and apples though because it is preseason when you have 3rd and 4th stringers playing....but still

[Chidi29]

I think it's bad for Dwyer.

Just an AC sprain. Should be fine.

[Bluecoat96]

I think it's bad for Dwyer.

He just had an AC sprain. There was apparently no structural damage, just pain. I'm trying to find the exact link, but that's what I read about it.