Tomlin Report Preseason Week 4

Steelers (2-1) vs. Carolina Panthers (1-2)
at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA
Thursday, September 2 – 7:30 PM on KDKA
 
LAST WEEK
Panthers: Beat the Titans 15-7 in Tennessee
The Panthers edged out a win and bailed out a struggling offense with a stifling defense and opportunistic plays on special teams. Carolina’s defense pressured Tennessee all night, registering seven sacks and forcing two interceptions. Carolina’s only touchdown of the night came on a 91-yard kickoff return by Mike Goodson near the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Steelers: Lost to the Broncos 34-17 in Denver
• Denver received the ball first and moved down the field for an easy touchdown thanks to two unnecessary roughness penalties by the Steelers defense.
• Ben Roethlisberger started and attempted to answer that score, but only managed to set up a 33-yard Jeff Reed field goal, leaving Pittsburgh down 7-3. Roethlisberger played the entire first quarter and finished 4-of-6 for 67 yards.
• Dennis Dixon took over in the second quarter and led the team into the red zone on his second drive. However, a poor decision on a throw led to an interception in the endzone and an end to that scoring chance. Denver followed the pick with a 39-yard Matt Prater field goal.
• CB William Gay picked off a pass shortly after the two minute-warning to give Pittsburgh one last chance to score before the half, but Andre Goodman gave Dixon his second interception and returned it 77-yards for a touchdown, giving Denver a 17-3 lead going into halftime.
• A Denver field goal and a switch from Dixon to Byron Leftwich highlighted the third quarter. Dixon would exit the game with 94 yards on 9-of-16 passing with two interceptions and another 33 yards on the ground.
• CB Crezdon Butler picked off a Tim Tebow pass early in the fourth quarter and returned it to the five-yard line, setting up a touchdown run by rookie RB Jonathan Dwyer.
• Denver would respond with a touchdown of their own on a pass from Tim Tebow to rookie TE Eric Decker.
• Charlie Batch took over as quarterback on the ensuing drive and led the team down the field thanks to some highlight-reel rushes by Jonathan Dwyer. Rookie WR Antonio Brown would cap off the drive with a seven-yard touchdown catch, cutting the Broncos’ lead to ten at 27-17. Dwyer would finish the game with 89 yards on thirteen carries with a TD.
• Denver cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson would seal a Denver win with a pick-six of Charlie Batch soon afterwards, giving the Broncos’ their 34-17 margin of victory.
• CB Ike Taylor and LB Renauld Williams both contributed sacks in the game.
• WR Mike Wallace led all receivers with 59 yards on three receptions.
• LB Lawrence Timmons and CB Keenan Lewis tied for the team-lead with five tackles each, but were responsible for three of the team’s four unnecessary roughness calls.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES
A Look Around the AFC North
Cleveland (1-2) fell to the Lions in Detroit 35-27 thanks to an inability to stop the opposition’s rushing attack. Lions rushers combined for 154 yards and three touchdowns on the ground with 5.9 average yards per carry. Cleveland also failed the register a sack in the game, leaving them with just one this preseason, despite facing three teams that allowed 138 combined sacks last season.

On a positive note, the quarterback situation is a little more clear thanks to the performance of Jake Delhomme, who looked efficient on 20-of-25 passing for 152 yards and a TD.

Baltimore (3-0) remained undefeated in the preseason after beating the Giants 24-10 at home. The Ravens won with a little defense and a lot of the passing game, which took a major step forward with the emergence of Ray Rice and the arrival of Anquan Boldin. Todd Heap, rookie TE Ed Dickson, Boldin, Rice, Derrick Mason and Marcus Smith all finished with at least four receptions as QB Joe Flacco spread the wealth on offense.

The passing game did take a slight hit, however, with an injury to another free agent receiver, Donte Stallworth. Stallworth broke his foot Saturday night and will miss eight weeks.

Cincinnati (2-2) will head into their fifth and final preseason game (they played in this year’s Hall-of-Fame game) following a 35-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Carson Palmer looked much better this week, finishing 9-of-11 for 95 yards and two touchdowns.

However, the team continues to mystify critics with the release of WR Antonio Bryant. Bryant was suffering from major knee problems, so the release itself wasn’t the issue. What is puzzling is that the team handed him a four-year contract with $8 million guaranteed despite the fact that he was just coming off of knee surgery less than a year ago.

MIKE LIKED…
The performances of three players in particular. Rookie RB Jonathan Dwyer finally was healthy enough to receive his opportunity and cashed in to the tune of 89 yards on 13 carries with two highlight-reel runs on a touchdown drive.

Free agent safety Will Allen started in place of Ryan Clark, who sat out for health reasons, and performed admirably. Tomlin was also impressed with LB Lawrence Timmons who he said was “all over the field.”

“[Timmons] is a guy that’s had a great camp and preseason and played really, really well last night, particularly in the blitz game,” said Tomlin. “They had people accounting for him and he was winning one on ones versus running backs, causing disruption. He is a very talented guy. We need a big season from him.”

STEELERS INJURY UPDATE
CB Bryant McFadden will once again be OUT for this week’s game, but should be ready for the season opener.

LB James Farrior, who received six stitches in his forehead after his helmet came off during a play, might also sit for precautionary reasons.

PANTHERS INJURY UPDATE
No major injuries of note at this point in the week.

MAIN STORYLINE FOR THURSDAY
Which young players will receive their opportunities this week to either make the roster or carve out an important role with the team? Tomlin expressed that he will give some new players a chance at new roles, using Emmanuel Sanders as an example. Sanders will get his shot to return kicks and punts against Carolina.

LOCAL CONNECTIONS
• Head coach John Fox coached with the Steelers from 1989-91 and the University of Pittsburgh from 1986-88.
• OG C.J. Davis, OT Jeff Otah and OT Rob Petitti played for Pitt while LB Dan Conner and DT Ed Johnson played at Penn State.
• LB Mortty Ivy is from Monroeville (Gateway High) and played at West Virginia, while OT Jason Capizzi is from Pine-Richland High, played at IUP and spent time on the Steelers’ practice squad and active rosters.

ACCORDING TO TOMLIN
“You’re not gonna win on the road when you turn the ball over, particularly pick-sixes, and when you’re highly-penalized.” – Discussing his team’s loss to Denver on Sunday, where the team saw two interceptions returned for a touchdown and committed nine total penalties.

“I think the first part of being a tough team to beat is not beating yourself. I think that’s what occurred last night.” – Further explaining his thoughts on the game. The first Denver touchdown was helped by two Steelers unnecessary roughness penalties for fifteen yards apiece.

“That’s one of the reasons why I think preseason football is important. You teach. Guys get an opportunity to go out and execute and with that initial execution there are errors. Hopefully, the snaps that the preseason provides allow those errors to disappear.” – Explaining that some of those penalties and other mistakes can be used as teaching moments for his young players, and that he doesn’t sweat them as much when the occur in the preseason.

“Absolutely. He’s got a short week, so he better recover quickly, because more opportunities will be knockin’- not only for him but for others.” – When asked if CB Keenan Lewis will be able to recover from his mistakes on Sunday. Lewis started in place of the injured Bryant McFadden, but was targeted often and was the offender on two of the team’s unnecessary roughness penalties.

“I take responsibility for that. I wanted to see the ball in [Dixon’s] hands in that situation, probably more so than getting the first down. They were prepared for him to potentially come on the edge and it was a tough situation for him.” – Discussing a failed conversion on fourth-and-one, where Dixon attempted to roll out and rush for a first down.

LOOK FOR…
The starters to play in game four of the preseason, even though some NFL teams will sit out their starters. “I’ve never done that,” explained Tomlin. “We’re gonna play. We’re not gonna play as much as we played [Sunday], but we’re gonna play.”

SPLASH TALK
“I think that’s what the preseason is about. If you don’t peel the back the layers and explore the possibilities of flexibility in terms of what people can provide, you’re missing the boat.” – On why he likes to use different players in different roles. This preseason, he’s used Daniel Sepulveda as a kickoff man, Antonio Brown as a returner, and Isaac Redman as a fullback, among others.

“There were some errors, of course - some critical errors that I think may have been the cause of an interception or two. That’s just the nature of it. Where there’s pain there’s growth, hopefully.” – When asked to evaluate the performances of rookie WRs Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders, who had switched receiver positions for the third preseason game. An interception by Charlie Batch in the fourth quarter (which resulted in a touchdown) appeared to be due to a miscommunication by Batch and one of his receivers. Sanders and undrafted WR Tyler Grisham were both running routes on that side of the field, but neither was in the vicinity of Batch’s throw.

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMM…
It looks as though the Steelers will start looking a little bit more like the old Steelers this season, or at least for the first few games without their starting quarterback. Pittsburgh is your NFL rushing leader three games into the preseason (151 ypg) with the most attempts per game (35.3) in the league as well.

Pittsburgh also ranks dead last in pass attempts with 71. Dennis Dixon has been the beneficiary of 31 of those attempts and contributed 14 rushes of his own.

Dixon might still be alive in the battle for starting quarterback. While his two interceptions on Sunday were gruesome, Dixon has completed 71% of his passes for a gaudy 9.8 yards per attempt. Byron Leftwich has completed less than half of his passes this preseason (45%) with just 6.9 yards per attempt. Nearly half of his 138 yards came on one play (a 68-yard touchdown to Mike Wallace).