Steelers Drop Opener At Denver

As the new season opened tonight, it started the same way the 2011 one ended; with a loss at Denver.  The Steelers made several off season changes including hiring a new offensive coordinator, attempting to beef up the offensive line and releasing several veterans who were Steeler stalwarts but for at least one night, this team looked like a mirror image of its predecessors. 

The team was again reckless as they garnered 8 penalties totaling 51 yards, they allowed 4 sacks and Roethlisberger was hit many more times. The offensive line looked a bit hapless and once again suffered a few injuries. It seems as if it doesn’t matter what year it is, this unit can’t catch a break.  The defense started the game strong but eventually wore down as Peyton Manning got going and proved to the world that he is back and ready to go.

The Steelers came out of the gates seemingly making it a point they were going to run the ball more often this year as it seemed in the first half that nearly every first and second down saw a run play called.  It had minimal success as Isaac Redman was never able to get going, only gaining 21 yards on 11 carries.  Jonathan Dwyer was the main back tonight as he gained a team high 43 yards on 9 carries. Dwyer looked impressive but clearly the run attack was not what it needs to be in order for this team to go places this year.

The passing attack is by far and away the strength of this team and once again Big Ben proved that to be the case. He is still the key to this team’s success sand it appears Haley picked up on that as the game moved forward, granted a portion of those 40 throws made by Big Ben can be attributed to playing from behind at the end of the game but Ben was allowed to be Ben as he made some scrambles and some great throws on the run.

Defensively the team started off fast and even gained a turnover on a fumble recovery by LaMarr Woodly early in the game but as the game went on, the team wore down. They had to deal with the altitude in Denver, they had to face Peyton Manning and let’s not discount that they were without Ryan Clark and James Harrison tonight. 

Larry Foote led the team with 8 tackles followed by Polamalu with 6 but really it seemed as if this team didn’t get it done where it counted. They only sacked Manning twice and didn’t get enough pressure on him at all.  The key to this defense is to pressure the QB and hit him, rattle him and force him into mistakes. Peyton Manning has seen and done it all and it just didn’t work against him. 

In the end the Steelers had a shot down 25-19 with the ball in Big Ben’s hands but he made an ill advised throw that turned into a pick six and ended the hopes of a comeback on this evening. 

Let’s make it very clear, this is only one game, it’s a road game against a very good Bronco team, this loss is by no means devastating. It’s certainly eye opening and shows the Steelers they have some things to work on but there is no reason to think this will be anything more than an isolated loss.

THIS WEEKS’ NEWS, NOTES AND SUPERLATIVES:

Steeler of the Game:  Big Ben-He was 22-40 for 243 yards and 2 TD’s. Yes he threw a critical pick but he proved once again he’s the best player on this team and by far the biggest play maker the team has.

Consider replacing?  Isaac Redman- It’s still very early but he was not impressive in the season opener not even getting 2 yards per carry.

Replace him with? Jonathan Dwyer-Dwyer averaged nearly 5 yards per carry and ran like Jerome Bettis with a little speed. He also added 2 receptions for 22 yards.

Notes:  Mike Wallace was better than one might have expected grabbing 4 balls for 36 yards and a TD.

Emmanuel Sanders looked pretty good tonight and may be a big part of the offense this year.

It appears that Todd Haley may be looking to utilize Heath Miller a bit more than he has historically been used with this team. Miller caught 4 balls for 50 yards and a TD.

NEWS:  Marcus Gilbert has a strained knee and is day to day

On to week number 2 vs. the 1-0 NY JETS