The Steelers won at home beating the Cleveland Browns 28-10 in the 5th game of the 2010 season. Below are my recap notes and nuggets I kept on the game along with my observations. I have much more coming on this game and am working through the night. These are initial reactions of mine as I am about to watch the game a second time and begin working up tape selections. Below are the notes I compiled throughout the game. Remember these are initial reactions one time through the game. If you are going to disagree, do it respectfully or go to the other places to be ugly. [flv:http://ll.video.nfl.com/films/s2010/nflcom/w06/101017_ghl_week_6_dc_vo_cle_pit_700k.mp4 Read more [...]

Playing the Cleveland Browns at home off of a bye week combined with the return of Ben Roethlisberger from suspension is a welcome sight. The Steelers also have payback on their minds from the last meeting in Cleveland in week 14 of the 2009 season. Below are what we deem to be 7 keys to the game for the Steelers to beat the Browns in week 6. Ease Big Ben Back In - Let's face the facts. The Browns are unlikely to bust the lights on the scoreboard with their offensive firepower, especially if rookie quarterback Colt McCoy is under center. There is really no need to get fancy with Ben Roethlisberger Read more [...]

The Steelers allowed 2 sacks Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens and we have the breakdowns of both of them below in animated gif form. If you click on either of the images, you can see the full size replay on NFL.com. In the first sack on just the third offensive play of the game, the Ravens show blitz , but only rush 3. Haloti Ngata eventually gets the sack after 7 seconds and it was plenty of time for Charlie Batch to get rid of the bal despite having to move around in the pocket. If you were going to charge anyone on the line with it, it would have to be rookie center Maurkice Pouncey, but Read more [...]

3-0 is not good enough now as the Steelers look to open 4-0 and knock off the division rival in the process of heading off into the bye week and getting back starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the rest of the season. Every game with Baltimore is a war and below are what we deem to be 7 keys to the game for the Steelers to beat the Ravens in week 4. Keep Rice One Dimensional - Ravens running back Ray Rice can take over a game if you let. In his 3 games against the Steelers, Rice has 310 all purpose yards and a few key 1st down conversions. He can run between the tackles as well as outside Read more [...]

Most of Steeler Nation was upset after the 2009 preseason that Steelers running back Isaac Redman was released and jettisoned to the practice squad. Redman had a great preseason carrying the ball, but was not up to par in his conditioning or the finer details of playing the running back position. 3 games into the 2010 season and you can see now why Redman made the 2010 roster. Plain and simple, he has become a complete back. As the video of 5 clips below will show you, he not only understands the game, but his conditioning and willingness to do the little things like picking up blitzers is evident. Read more [...]

The Steelers are half way to playing with house money for the first four games after slipping past Atlanta last week in week 1 of the NFL season. The win was huge and takes a ton of pressure off of the team immediately as they head out for their first road game of 2010. A win in Nashville would be epic and put the Steelers in a fantastic position heading into week 3. Per my usual here, below are 7 keys to the game that I believe the Steelers need to focus on to beat the Titans and a game prediction at the end. No Big Johnson Outside - For me to tell you how dangerous Titans running back Chris Read more [...]

The Steelers beat the Atlanta Falcons 15-9 in the 1st game of the 2010 season. Below are my recap notes and nuggets I kept on the game along with my observations. I have much more coming on this game and am working through the night. These are initial reactions of mine as I am about to watch the game a second time and begin working up tape selections. Below are the notes I compiled throughout the game. remember these are initial reactions one time through the game. I think you saw more reasons today why Dennis Dixon was behind Byron Leftwich in the pecking order. Very shaky at times and got Read more [...]

A new Steelers season is about to begin in less than 48 hours as the Steelers will host the Atlanta Falcons at Heinz Field. Quarterback Dennis Dixon will make his second career start as Ben Roethlisberger begins his four game suspension and Byron Leftwich sits out with a MCL knee injury. Below are 7 keys to the game that I believe the Steelers need to focus on to beat the Falcons. Let Dennis Be Dennis - If we learned anything about Dennis Dixon in his only career start last year versus Baltimore is that he can make plays with his legs. This time around Dixon will not be on as short of leash Read more [...]

Steelers safety Troy Polamalu said Thursday he doesn't expect to wear a brace on the knee he injured twice last year. "I doubt I would wear a brace unless something serious happened throughout this week," Polamalu said. Polamalu didn't wear a brace this preseason, but has been taping up his knee. Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians talks about the scrutiny and criticism that goes along with his job and talks about the reports that he was going to be fired last year. Speaking of Arians, he said on Thursday that running back Rashard Mendenhall will stay in the game for many goal-line Read more [...]

Opening Statement: So much has happened since the final 2009 season game against Miami and the start of the season must be a welcome sight for the Steelers players and coaches. The preseason was a bit of a blur and was overall a success until quarterback Byron Leftwich went down with a MCL injury in the final game against Carolina. The roster has been paired down to 53 and features 8 rookie draft picks and 17 players 30 years of age or over, 10 of which are defensive players. The picture heading into the 2010 season is pretty clear for the Steelers as franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger Read more [...]

Steelers quarterback Byron Leftwich told PPG beat writer Ed Bouchette that he’s shooting for a return to play against Tennessee, the second game of the season. I think that is a little optimistic on Leftwich's part. I would look for a return against his former team, Tampa. Left cornerback Bryant McFadden returned to practice on Monday and likely will start Sunday against the Falcons. McFadden has been out since injuring his pectoral muscle against the Giants in preseason. Mark Madden is finally getting around to commenting on the Ben Roethlisberger suspension length compared to that of Read more [...]

Oh how things can change so quickly. One play of the preseason even. As it stands right now, it looks like Byron Leftwich has some MCL damage. Early reports say it is torn, but that is not confirmed. This 53 man roster prediction of mine assumes he will be placed on IR. If not, I get one mulligan before the cuts are made Saturday. Here is the 53 man prediction from last week and I will note the changes and why I made them. First I added Kraig Urbik back because I feel he has improved greatly over the last 2 weeks. This takes me from 9 to 10 lineman. The next change is the releasing of Joe Burnett Read more [...]

The Steelers beat the Carolina Panthers 19-3 in the 4th and final preseason game of the 2010 season, but may have lost quarterback Byron Leftwich in the process. Below are my notes and nuggets I kept on the game along with my observations. I have much more coming on this game and am working through the night. These are initial reactions of mine as I am about to watch the game a second time and begin working up tape selections. Below are the notes I compiled throughout the game. remember these are initial reactions one time through the game. Byron Leftwich injury looked like a whip to the knee. Read more [...]

It is getting down to crunch time and the Steelers are quickly approaching cut down day on September 4th, when they have to get down to 53 players plus the suspended Ben Roethlisberger. At this point, I am finding it hard to believe that either Frank Summers or Jonathan Dwyer will survive the final cuts. Dwyer is a project and Summers is a project that should be over. If indeed neither stick, the Steelers head into the 2010 season with only Rashard Mendenhall, Mewelde Moore and Isaac Redman as running backs. Combined all three have 700 carries for 3157 yards in the NFL and of course Redman has Read more [...]

I just made it through the 8th time of watching the Steelers game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. This time I wanted to focus in on rookie running back Jonathan Dwyer on plays that he did not carry the ball on. I will state that on one of the carries, it appeared he went the wrong way causing quarterback Byron Leftwich to completely spin making the hand-off. It could of been designed, but I do not think so. If you have the game recorded, watch it. These 7 plays in this video clearly show that Dwyer is no where close to knowing the details, the plays and how to chip and block in the NFL. I Read more [...]