Steelers at Eagles game thread 8/25/06 (1 Viewer)

[Frenchy Fuqua]

Solid Steelers post-game blog from local reporter Dale Lolley

Friday, August 25, 2006 Streets of Philadelphia Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor wants to stay in Pittsburgh, but he wants an eight-digit signing bonus to do so.But if Taylor, who will be an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of this season, wants to be paid like one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL, he'd better start playing like one.Not that Taylor isn't solid in coverage, coming up to support the run and all of the other things the Steelers ask of their cornerbacks. In those areas, Taylor isn't lacking.But there's a reason why an aging cornerback like Ty Law can hang around the NFL so long and still command big salaries and why, at this point, Taylor cannot. Law had 10 interceptions last season. Taylor had one.Case and point why the Steelers are not going to give Taylor the kind of signing bonus he desires even if somebody else may came during the opening drive by the Eagles in their 16-7 preseason win over the Steelers.Taylor got his hands on two Donovan McNabb passes in the first quarter, both of which came in Pittsburgh territory. He dropped both and insted of coming away with nothing, the Eagles went on to kick a field goal.Taylor had excellent coverage on both plays. But if he truly wants to reach that next level as a corner, he's got to catch those balls.Here are some other thoughts from Friday's preseason game:¬© Taylor wasn't the only player on the Steelers first-team defense who wasn't exactly in midseason form.Pittsburgh's vaunted run defense wasn't exactly up to snuff. Correll Buckhalter had 28 yards on six carries working against the first-team defense on Philadelphia's first two possessions, breaking some tackles along the way.The defense also missed several tackles in the secondary after catches.Despite what many think, head coach Bill Cowher doesn't exactly run a tough training camp and there's not a lot of hitting.It showed Friday night.¬© When the Steelers selected Anthony Smith with the first of their two third-round draft picks and second-overall selection many wondered about the pick. That was especially true considering there were several big-name safeties still on the draft board at that point.Three games into this preseason, nobody is questioning the Steelers selection of Smith any longer. Now, they are wondering exactly when Cowher is going to stop messing around with Ryan Clark and Tyrone Carter at free safety and insert Smith into the starting lineup.That may indeed happen at some point this season. But in the meantime, Smith is going to continue making plays as he did Friday night on punt coverage, timing his hit up perfectly to level Philadelphia return man J.R. Reed. That one will go down as one of the hits of the year even though it happened in the preseason.¬© Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is hooking up with running back Willie Parker quite a bit in the passing game this preseason. Playing just one series, Parker had three carries and three catches.Part of the reason for that was to help slow Philadelphia's pass rush, which the offensive line was having trouble with.But Parker is going to be a huge part of the offense this season.¬© Any thoughts the Steelers had about keeping a third quarterback were quickly erased when Cowher had to watch Omar Jacobs and Shane Boyd stumble around the field again against the Eagles.At this point, there's no guarantee either of those two will even make the practice squad. Drew Henson was released by Dallas earlier this week. He's got to be better than Jacobs and Boyd.¬© Chris Gardocki averaged 46.0 yards on his two punts, placing one inside the 20. Mike Barr saw his only kick sail 53 yards.Barr was the holder on Jeff Reed's first field goal attempt, a 50-yard attempt on which Barr appeared to have trouble getting the ball down clean.Gardocki held on Reed's successful PAT in the first half and for his 47-yard field goal attempt in the second half. Reed missed that one, but it did not appear to be because of a poor hold.It appears that Barr may be a little bit better punter than Gardocki, but Gardocki is a better holder. Advantage Gardocki.¬© The Steelers finally got a chance to run Duce Staley in a short-yardage situation, but the second-team offensive line and fullback John Kuhn forgot to block anybody on the play.That?Äôs not to say Staley would have succeeded in the fourth-and-one situation, but he really didn't have a chance on that one.¬© Staley finished with 21 yards on 11 carries. Verron Haynes had 15 yards on five attempts.The Steelers should be scouring the waiver wire once the cuts start happening to look for a possible third quarterback and another running back.¬© Ricardo Colclough, meet Greg Lewis. Greg Lewis, meet Ricardo Colclough and welcome to the end zone.Bryant McFadden had to be looking at Colclough chasing Lewis to the end zone and wondering exactly what he has to do to beat that guy out.¬© For some reason, the Steelers feel that Jonathan Dekker is their third-best tight end.After watching him bat down a Charlie Batch pass in the first half like it was on fire, fail to block anybody on Staley's fourth-down attempt and then get lit up in the fourth quarter on another catch attempt, I, for the life of me, can't figure out why.Cripes, what's Matt Cushing doing these days?posted by Dale Lolley at 11:40 PM 0 comments

 

[Godsbrother]

All I can say is that it is going to be an extremely long season watching Monday Night Football this season. I don't think there was a total of 10 seconds in the entire program where someone wasn't talking, and it was usually about something that didn't have much to do with the current play.

It was really, really brutal to listen to. And I especially liked the 3 inch screen they let you watch the game on when their conducting a sideline interview.

I think I'll be watching MNF with the sound off this season.

 

[Exile]

Reggie Brown's stat line for tonight was:

6 targets, 3 catches, 46 yards in 2 quarters of play

Not bad. But stats don't tell the whole story (duh). For those that watched the game, how did he look?

In a 12-team, PPR league is he really a legit WR3 with WR2 upside?

 

[The Jerk]

Reggie Brown's stat line for tonight was:6 targets, 3 catches, 46 yards in 2 quarters of playNot bad. But stats don't tell the whole story (duh). For those that watched the game, how did he look?In a 12-team, PPR league is he really a legit WR3 with WR2 upside?

For now, yes. He's currently #1 or at least co-#1 on a team that passes more than it runs especially for its TDs. If Deion Branch gets traded to the Eagles, then no. I'm not putting that much stock into the info coming out of NE, but it's at least a possibility.

 

[Sabertooth]

Big Ben appears to think he's really arrived. His hubris is going to cost him this season for sure. Also, Willie Parker seems to go down on first contact an awful lot.

What makes you think this?

Just the way he was laughing off the pick. Stuff like his general demeanor during the game. He seems to be acting as if "this game is for you scrubs, not stars like me." I guess I can't really put my finger on it exactly.

 

[mike303]

Reggie Brown's stat line for tonight was:6 targets, 3 catches, 46 yards in 2 quarters of playNot bad. But stats don't tell the whole story (duh). For those that watched the game, how did he look?In a 12-team, PPR league is he really a legit WR3 with WR2 upside?

Brown had one completion from McNabb and two from Garcia while running the two-minute offense just before halftime. Brown looks sharp. But his only error was a big one. With McNabb still in the game, he ran a curl route. Brown stopped and waited for the ball, but Ike Taylor ran past him and took it for an INT. It was later overturned because Taylor trapped the ball but it was completely Brown's fault. The cameras even showed McNabb motioning to Brown to come back to the ball. Definitely a young player's mistake. No big deal, that's what preseason is for. I think Brown will easily finish as the 18-25th ranked WR in PPR. His numbers with Mike McMahon last year were decent. I think his worst case scenario if healthy is 65-850 with 7 TDs. McNabb is going to throw for 3000 yards and somebody has to catch those passes.

 

[Godsbrother]

Big Ben appears to think he's really arrived. His hubris is going to cost him this season for sure. Also, Willie Parker seems to go down on first contact an awful lot.

What makes you think this?

Just the way he was laughing off the pick. Stuff like his general demeanor during the game. He seems to be acting as if "this game is for you scrubs, not stars like me." I guess I can't really put my finger on it exactly.

Wow, I didn't get this impression at all. My take was that he knew it was an ill-advised throw and was just laughing at making his own mistake.He looked very much into the whole game to me. After he left the game he was on the sideline with an earpiece, even late in the 4th quarter. His reaction to the fumble by Shane Boyd when they were in the redzone looked genuine to me, he really wanted the offense to score.

 

[jurb26]

Big Ben appears to think he's really arrived. His hubris is going to cost him this season for sure. Also, Willie Parker seems to go down on first contact an awful lot.

What makes you think this?

Just the way he was laughing off the pick. Stuff like his general demeanor during the game. He seems to be acting as if "this game is for you scrubs, not stars like me." I guess I can't really put my finger on it exactly.

Wow, I didn't get this impression at all. My take was that he knew it was an ill-advised throw and was just laughing at making his own mistake.He looked very much into the whole game to me. After he left the game he was on the sideline with an earpiece, even late in the 4th quarter. His reaction to the fumble by Shane Boyd when they were in the redzone looked genuine to me, he really wanted the offense to score.

OK, I really can't take it anymore. That was not an ill-advised throw as so many would like to say it was. It was simply a severly underthrown ball. All the people on TV kept talking about was how great a play/read it was by Dawkins. If Ben puts enough hieght on that ball, Dawkins is not even in the play. The WR was open. Ben just didn't it there and gave Dawkins an easy pick. One of the 1st times I've seen Ben look BAD throwing on the run. I think thats why he was laughing about it too. He knew darn well how bad a pass that was.

 

[CrossEyed]

Big Ben appears to think he's really arrived. His hubris is going to cost him this season for sure. Also, Willie Parker seems to go down on first contact an awful lot.

What makes you think this?

Just the way he was laughing off the pick. Stuff like his general demeanor during the game. He seems to be acting as if "this game is for you scrubs, not stars like me." I guess I can't really put my finger on it exactly.

I've seen at least a dozen interviews with Ben this preseason. The impression that I get is that the accident has humbled him. He's not nearly as brash as he was last season. He appreciates life and he appreciates being able to play a game for a living. You couldn't be more wrong in what you are reading into one incident.

 

[suchislife]

Eagles fans will rip on someone for anything no matter how unclassy it may be.

Wow, what a classy remark And so original.

 

[Godsbrother]

Big Ben appears to think he's really arrived. His hubris is going to cost him this season for sure. Also, Willie Parker seems to go down on first contact an awful lot.

What makes you think this?

Just the way he was laughing off the pick. Stuff like his general demeanor during the game. He seems to be acting as if "this game is for you scrubs, not stars like me." I guess I can't really put my finger on it exactly.

Wow, I didn't get this impression at all. My take was that he knew it was an ill-advised throw and was just laughing at making his own mistake.He looked very much into the whole game to me. After he left the game he was on the sideline with an earpiece, even late in the 4th quarter. His reaction to the fumble by Shane Boyd when they were in the redzone looked genuine to me, he really wanted the offense to score.

OK, I really can't take it anymore. That was not an ill-advised throw as so many would like to say it was. It was simply a severly underthrown ball. All the people on TV kept talking about was how great a play/read it was by Dawkins. If Ben puts enough hieght on that ball, Dawkins is not even in the play. The WR was open. Ben just didn't it there and gave Dawkins an easy pick. One of the 1st times I've seen Ben look BAD throwing on the run. I think thats why he was laughing about it too. He knew darn well how bad a pass that was.

Agreed that it was underthrown and that if it had more height Dawkins wouldn't have been in the play. But an underthrown pass is a bad pass and my recollection is there was a guy on the receiver. It would have taken a near-perfect throw to complete and that is hard to do when you are on the run.The smart play would have been to get rid of the ball and punt.

 

[Sabertooth]

Big Ben appears to think he's really arrived. His hubris is going to cost him this season for sure. Also, Willie Parker seems to go down on first contact an awful lot.

What makes you think this?

Just the way he was laughing off the pick. Stuff like his general demeanor during the game. He seems to be acting as if "this game is for you scrubs, not stars like me." I guess I can't really put my finger on it exactly.

I've seen at least a dozen interviews with Ben this preseason. The impression that I get is that the accident has humbled him. He's not nearly as brash as he was last season. He appreciates life and he appreciates being able to play a game for a living. You couldn't be more wrong in what you are reading into one incident.

Well, I am just saying what it looked like to me. I am not a big follower of Ben. Just making a remark. However, as far as the interviews and all that stuff, I saw an interview with Koren Robinson a couple of days before his latest DWI and he was talking about how he was so grateful that he didn't get hurt or worse get somebody else hurt. That and $3.25 gets you a cup of coffee.

 

[Bojang0301]

What was with Omar only getting one attempt? I didn't think I asked this but is he going to make the team?

 

[Irish]

What was with Omar only getting one attempt? I didn't think I asked this but is he going to make the team?

Jacobs is getting cut. He may be signed to the practice squad, but I doubt it. He is really struggling picking up the offense.

 

[Godsbrother]

What was with Omar only getting one attempt? I didn't think I asked this but is he going to make the team?

Jacobs is getting cut. He may be signed to the practice squad, but I doubt it. He is really struggling picking up the offense.

Agreed that Jacobs is getting cut but the Steelers knew he was a project when they drafted him, I think he lands on the practice squad. On the other hand Boyd looked better last night so maybe he'll end up on the practice squad. In any case it looks like the Steelers will only have 2 QBs on the active roster.

 

[Memphis Foundry]

What was with Omar only getting one attempt? I didn't think I asked this but is he going to make the team?

Jacobs is getting cut. He may be signed to the practice squad, but I doubt it. He is really struggling picking up the offense.

Agreed that Jacobs is getting cut but the Steelers knew he was a project when they drafted him, I think he lands on the practice squad. On the other hand Boyd looked better last night so maybe he'll end up on the practice squad. In any case it looks like the Steelers will only have 2 QBs on the active roster.

Boyd has looked better than I expected. If he can learn which passes to float and which ones to zing, he would be a pretty decent QB. Cedrick Wilson should make a serviceable emergency QB to finish out a game if the worst-case scenario happens