Good,Bad and ugly vs colts

[polamalubeast]

Say the good things that you liked and not liked against the Colts!

[Psycho Ward 86]

i paid no attention to the gilreath hype before this game, but he made some really good plays that can be held in high regard regardless of the fact that he was playing against 2nd and mostly 3rd stringers because he made some great body control catches and 2nd efforts after snagging errant passes or getting nailed by contact. two more decent games and you made the roster kiddo. 2 more great ones like that and youre a shoe in.

Dwyer and Batch continue to prove why Redman is the starter. Dwyer ran through the biggest hole of the night and took satisfactory advantage like he's done in the past and he's still a wimp against contact, especially for his size. Batch still looks tentative and sluggish in what few cuts he makes. The colts were extremely poor tacklers tonight so i was especially disappointed that those two didnt have at least decent games. Nice moves and balance on that touchdown AB, if you made that underthrown back shoulder catch from Batch that would have been the unsung/craziest play of the night.

And yes, this is a steelers forum, but how about andrew luck? yeah its preseason so lebeau didnt release the hounds like he usually would but luck looked really good, even with his receivers dropping good passes and Hilton causing an interception that wasnt his fault.

[Psycho Ward 86]

by the way does anybody know how big gilreath REALLY is? He's listed as 5'10'' 169lb. and i would imagine size was one of his knocks coming in. Definitely looks bigger than that though

[steelerdude15]

Well lets see, Antonio looked good and had a great catch for touchdown. Hrapmann kicked extremely well, going four for four on field goals and also had some great kickoffs that went for touch backs. I could see him creating a competition with Suisham for the starting kicker position. Jason Ford had a few good runs and one of his runs he had a very nice spin which allowed him to get out of trouble and get even more yards; that was the play he got hurt, but luckily he came back in. Jerrod Johnson looked better compared to last week with more confidence, better throws, and reading the Colt's defense well. I hope to see him more in the next two preseason games.
The second string secondary struggled like last week. Curtis Brown played better this game, but wasn't picked up that much compared to last week. However, Terrence Frederick (number thirty-seven) was picked on tonight and let three big passes go to the receiver. On one of the passes to their tight end, Frederick bit on the cut by the tight end which lead to space for the catch. Frederick did have a nice tackle in a goal line situation in third quarter, led with his shoulder, hit the runner in the abs, used his arms to take his legs out and slammed him. Mike Adams struggled again, there were times he let the defender right by him and then there were times when he wouldn't allow anyone to get by him. I believe inconsistency was one of the issues coming out of the college for Adams.

[Steelman]

Few thoughts.

Good: I thought the first-team offense was a little more improved, but it's still falling into place. AB did his thing, nice to see a well-executed bubble screen. Jerrod Johnson improved dramatically, I saw some pocket presence in his first two drives, made some nice throws. I mentioned this elsewhere, but if he continues to improve, I'd like to see him get that 3rd QB spot on the final roster...it's hard to watch Batch out there sometimes. Hrapmann made some nice kicks, doubt he supplants Suish, but he'll make it somewhere in this league. On defense, I thought Chris Carter had a decent game, was out of position a couple times, but got some nice pressure from the outside. If Harrison can't go, I think he'll do fine for a few weeks. McLendon could be the treasure of the year...he might be forcing Hampton his walking papers next year. Ike Taylor...maybe he nabs a few extra picks this year...stranger things have happened. Robinson has a knack for the play...might be a guy who could emerge as a solid LB for us later.

Bad: Run-blocking seems pretty rough for all units. Could be that our top RB's are sitting out, but still. For the first 4-6 weeks, it's gonna be a lot of Ben having to air it out. I don't really blame Arians for that quote about the O-line. Overall I think we could make it work this year. 2nd team secondary, as mentioned above, is weak, nobody really stands out. Looks like CB2/Nickel positions might still be a liability if Lewis or Allen don't step up their games. #68 Beachum...'nuff said. Maybe next year bro. I know Rainey gets compared to Sproles, but I gotta wonder if he's just too small to excel at this level.

Ugly: Mike Adams' woes continue. He won't and shouldn't start this year. I'd feel better with Foster at LT than Adams if Starks isn't ready to go. We all knew Adams would be a project, and turns out he needs a lot of extra work. Could still turn out though.

[st33lersguy]

Good: The Gilreath kid looked good, The starting defense mostly played well, the running backs at times picked up nice chunks of yardage, the Antonio Brown TD.

Bad: Too many field goals, blocking still shaky, Adams is not yet ready to start

[Steeldude]

Gilreath looked good.

Nice to see some turnovers go our way. Plus, a blocked punt.

Excellent field vision by Brown.

Adams looked bad.

Rainey didn't show much of the wiggle I keep hearing about.

Taylor and/or Polamalu blew an assignment. These are veterans.

[Pristas]

Fun game to watch.

The Good: Interior line play had great second level penetration. Ben played a clean game and seemed to march the offense down the field pretty well considering the new offense. Gilreath and Johnson both looked great for second teamers. Carter is fast... like Polamalu fast! I saw him jump the snap a couple times and he blew me away as to how quickly he made it into the backfield. I liked the play where Troy got into the backfield at the goal line and made the tackle, but what was really interesting about that play was that even though Troy initiated the tackle, it was Spence who had him wrapped up. Nice work on Spence's part. That Hubbard RB for the Colts was a beast. He may get a look in my fantasy draft in later rounds. Looks like he will get all the goal line carries. I'll bet what Arians said about their o-line was true, even if it was a dick thing to say. The jury is still out on Rainey. I agree that I didn't see that sizzle and shake from him Steeldude. And like I said in another thread, he could become a fumble machine at his size. It looks like he got his head banged pretty hard, which amazes me that the staff let him come back in there. All that said, he is still a playmaker and has to be accounted for by the D.

The Bad: Luck looked like a seasoned vet against our secondary, after the pick six. It definitely took some athleticism on his part, but he really did a great job. I hope Manning doesn't pick us apart in our opener, especially since Clark won't be playing. Hopefully Manning won't be as mobile and will simply throw the ball to end the play. Luck would run and gun, and he looked like Big Ben as a rookie.

The Bad Part II: We need Wallace. The field seemed tight and Ben had to really work passes into coverage. If Mike were there he would have been able to stretch that field out a few more yards.

The Bad Part III: Where was Timmons? Shouldn't he be making all kinds of plays?

The Ugly: Mike Adams can't play this season. He looked as bad as Scott, and that says a lot.

[Moose]

Sorry, I couldn't find much good from the game. It was a terrible game to watch and a game the Steeler's were lucky to win. I know it's just preseason, but damn... Ben looked pathetic, out of sync with the players, completely out played by Luck. The play calling on offense was terrible, again BA was calling a better game for the Colts, their offense looked professional, our offense looked 3rd strring. Our defense was terrible, our special team was in need of improvement, as usual. There were a few plays the Steeler's did okay, 2 or 3 plays out of 60 min.. I watched the whole game and I guess I'd have to say the GOOD came when Johnson came in to QB, I did think he looked pretty good for the amount of time he was in. I'm just glad there are 2 more preseason games......our starting squad needs it. After last nights game just made me remember why we NEED 4 preseason games !!

[suitanim]

I took notes: This is almost exclusively regarding the first teams...Here goes...

-I noticed some empty sets, especially one early on 3rd and 6
-Ummmmm...the Brown TD? That was the dreaded BUBBLE SCREEN, the same play so many brain trust members want eliminated from the playbook. At the half, I counted Haley 2 bubble screens, Arians 2 bubble screens. Browns accounted for like half of our total offensive output, and ALL of our first team scoring.
-Chris Carter looked good, hustled and had good penetration. Didn't look to be playing out of control, either.
-The Colts offensive line IS better than ours, last year, and, so far, this year too...because of this, they had no real trouble scoring TD's in the redzone, and running the ball to boot
-The Colts starters were 100% in the Redzone scoring TD's
-Adams healed fast, but looked lost again. His technique sucks, although his run blocking was okay
-Sanders alligator armed that pass at the end of the first half. That's fine in the preseason, but he's got to lay out for those balls when it counts. He's not trying to make the team, so I think he knew what he was doing and was just being smart.
-TY Hilton is going to be good. He bobbled that one INT, but he'll be solid.
-Luck is, as expected, for real

Off the field:

-Someone needs to get Hines Ward a copy of "Dress for Success". Your tie should come to the top of your belt loops. His was about halfway up his chest....looked like Oliver Hardy of "Laural and Hardy". Otherwise, he did fine...may want to be a little less demonstrative with his hands though...
-Andrew Luck needs to shave the facial hair. With that creepy "Deliverance" beard, he looked like the weirdo Klopek kid from the Tom Hanks movie "The Burbs"

[Godfather]

I liked the way Baron Batch got downfield on AB's touchdown. Very good job of staying with the play the whole way. I'm rooting for him to make the team, but they need to change his jersey number. Nobody should be wearing #20.

[suitanim]

I liked the way Baron Batch got downfield on AB's touchdown. Very good job of staying with the play the whole way. I'm rooting for him to make the team, but they need to change his jersey number. Nobody should be wearing #20.

Good point. He even laid a nice, clean block (head in FRONT) right down by the goalline.

As for #20, it could be worse. Dwight Stone, Bryant McFadden and Dwayne Washington have all worn it...

[GodfatherofSoul]

Ike Taylor's tackling throughout the game was horrible. I'm hoping he was just going low-risk for the preseason.

[steeldevil]

Yeah Baron Batch laid out 2 guys at about the 10 yard line.

[Psycho Ward 86]

oh i almost forgot. im sad to see that ike taylor isnt in midseason form yet. how dare that bum catch that ball :lol:

[steelpride12]

Alright I was at the game last night which was a blast :)

But the good: Brown looks like another 1,000 yard receiver. He can catch the ball in any situation and can run after the catch like no one else, when him and Ben are on the same page, he will be almost un-coverable.
The starting defense even minus a few key players did their job. Yes all the media hype is saying "Luck had a bounce back game after early mistakes," but don't forget that he started to drive when the Steelers had their 2nd and 3rd string defense out there, but with the starters he was practically shut down including their running game as well.
Gilreath showed some skill and surely impressed the players and coached with his 4th quarter catches.
The kicking and punting game looked phenomenal and the Steelers have not missed a FG all preseason (7-7).

The bad: I think the offense surely has plenty of work to do when it comes to clicking and figuring out the new offensive system, but that is expecting and I know they have plenty of time to bring it all together. Ben's interception was surely ugly, but at the same time that goes back to the fact that the offense is still not on the same page.
Baron Batch and Dwyer have been meh so far, but of course the OL still has some work to do.

The crappiest thing in general, not just from the game is the injuries. On top of all the others before last night now Sly is out 3-4 weeks. We are low in the LB depth and losing a guy who needs the preseason reps hurts.

[ALLD]

The Good: Antonio Brown. already in team MVP form. He is the synergy of Plaxico and Holmes.

The Bad: Roethlisberger. Not prepared and did not have his head in the game. Made some unnecessary audibles to force the play instead of working the game plan. Not to mention the pick. Luck has more discipline and looked more polished.

The Ugly: The hit on #22.

[Craic]

The Good: Gilreath, Brown, DeCastro (for a rookie in his second preseason game... He still looks lost when going to the second level), I thought Dwyer, Batch, and Ford did well. Not sure I want any of them as starters (yet) but they did well. IMO, we'll see Dwyer as the starting RB and Batch as a 3rd down RB for at least the first few games if this continues.

The Bad: Beachum, injuries, Adams, (for all the comparisons to Starks, he doesn't have Starks's motor :jawdrop2: That might not be bad in some comparisons, but since Starks's motor reminds me of a '78 pinto. . . well. . . ). Our second string Secondary.

The Ugly: Almost a completely empty stadium in the latter half of the game. Come on guys, I know it's preseason, but still, in a nationally televised game, keep the seats full.