Jamie Van Dusen

Last night the Pittsburgh Steelers played a pretty sound game in defeating the Carolina Panthers with a last second 43 yard field goal to take the game 19-16. It was the second straight game that kicker Jeff Reed sealed the game with a game winning kick. The win gave the Steelers a 3-1 record for this pre-season. None of the Carolina Panthers starters played in this affair. Now the coaching staff is faced with making the final cuts.

The biggest competition left to be decided is between wide receivers Dallas Baker and Willie Reid. Baker had a real good game in leading the receiving core in making two catches for a total of 35 yards. The previous game saw Willie Reid have a strong game and thus forcing the coaching staff into a tough decision. I tend to believe the nod will go to Reid, since he’s been the 4^th receiver the past few seasons and is also able to field returns.

Keyaron Fox continued his strong play and has people thinking he could be the steal of the off season. Fox has made tackle after tackle and has shown himself to be a special teams juggernaut. Fox also had an interception in last nights game. The defence had two takeaways in the game, with Bryant McFadden picking off a pass and taking it back 33 yards. In fact the defence didn’t yield much to the Panthers until the 4^th quarter where they yielded there only touchdown.

Rookie Rashard Mendenhall had yet another fumble this game, which would usually cause concern to the coaching staff, but he actually ran really well and showed the banging running game the Steelers owned when the Bus was here. This kid is learning at the right time and should right the ship in time to start the season. Mendenhall finished with 79 yards rushing on 21 attempts. Gary Russell also had a strong game in coming in off the bench and totalled 43 yards on 14 carries. Willie Parker was very effective in his short stint and finished with 34 yards on just 4 carries. The running game looks to be in full effect for the Steelers entering the regular season. Parker had this to say after the game

“We’re ready,” proclaimed halfback Willie Parker, who had a 26-yard run in the first half. “I know that I feel good, and I can speak for the team. We’ve been practicing, gone through the preseason, and it’s time to put what we’ve been practicing to work.”

Another rookie who continues to show promise and poise is QB Dennis Dixon. Despite a slow start in coming in for relief to Byron Leftwich (6/14 82 yards); engineered the final drive with 1:54 remaining on the clock and got the Steelers into field goal position with just 4 ticks on the clock. This will force the Steelers to make another tough decision when Charlie Batch returns. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see Batch bow out of the season and take on a different role with this team, but then there’s the question of morals and class. The Steelers are a very loyal and class act organization. I wouldn’t be surprised to the Batch, also a class act, make the decision for the better of the team and step aside. It will certainly be interesting to see how this unfolds over the next 6 to 8 weeks.

I will be back later next week to update you all on the cuts and moves the Steelers make. I’m sure we’re all getting excited for opening day…I know I am.

TV Note: For those of you who missed the game, because of the convention, the NFL Network will be replaying all the games from this week starting at 7 a.m. and running throughout the day. This is a perfect opportunity to get your own pre-season going for the regular one.

Jamie Van Dusen

The teams’ bulletin read; “Take Mendenhall’s ball away and get $100 from him. And you get an extra $500 if you bring it to the running back’s meeting room.”

After fumbling twice in the game against the Minnesota Vikings, the Steelers Willie Parker and Hines Ward got together and told Mendenhall he’d be carrying a ball around wherever he goes this week and is anyone can knock the ball out of his hands, it would cost him a $100.

“Hopefully, he won’t have too big of a tab by the end of the week,” Ward said

The drill is to teach the young rookie that fumbles will not be tolerated, but keep the lesson light hearted at the same time.

“It’s for his sake, to get his mind off last game,” Parker said. “Now he has other things to think about. It’s not fun for him, but it is fun for the other guys in the locker room. It’s football. It’s what we do. We just want him to take it a little more serious.”

“We just want to make sure that he’s not fumbling at crucial times,” Ward said. “We just wanted to give him a little extra incentive and motivation.”

When asked if a rookie could afford such a potentially steep bill, Ward said,

“What was his signing bonus? He can afford it.”

Mendenhall, who said he had never fumbled twice in a game in his college or high school career, was taking the assignment in stride. And he hopes to have the majority of his signing bonus still in the bank by the time the Steelers play host to the Carolina Panthers in the preseason finale Thursday night.

As of last night, no one had been awarded the $500 prize.

“Yeah I’m losing a little bit of money, but it will be all right,” he said. “It’s part of being a rookie. You have to do anything that’s asked of you, especially if it’s a veteran like Hines.”

HARTWIG NAMED STARTING CENTER

In other news, the Steelers have named Justin Hartwig the starting center for this year. Hartwig beat out fellow team mate Sean Mahan, who more than likely will shift to the other side of the offensive line.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Hartwig. “It’s good to finally have my role established on the team. I plan on stepping up and being a little more vocal.

 “I put a lot of work in this off-season to get bigger and stronger and get this offence down. My goal was to be on the field, to get out there and understand the offence and make things run smoothly. I am getting a good grasp of what is going on in our offence. I feel pretty confident about it.” 

 STEELERS CUTS

The Steelers cut the following players yesterday (Monday) Quarterback Mike Potts, receiver Jeremy Bloom (from Pittsburgh) and lineman Martavius Prince. They also placed kicker Daniel Sepulveda on the extended IR list. Today (Tuesday) the Steelers released tight end Cody Boyd; in order to get down to the required league minimum.

Jamie Van Dusen

The Pittsburgh Steelers took Saturday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings 12-10, in what was a offensive no show for both teams. The offensive line of the Steelers struggled most of the night and did not give any time needed for the quarterbacks to muster up anything of significance. The running game also was somewhat lacklustre. Rookie Rashard Mendenhall fumbled the ball twice in the game. He has a much better second half running the ball, but the two fumbles will undoubtedly be addressed by the coaching staff. I suppose that’s what pre-season is for. The rookie finished with 79 yards on 15 carries.

Back up quarterback Byron Leftwich had a much better showing, which showed what a few more days of practice would do for him. Coach Tomlin was quite pleased with how Leftwich handled himself.

“It was priceless the situations we were able to get Byron Leftwich in and he delivered for us,” said Tomlin. “Playing from behind, some hurry-up ball…all and all it was a good night. It was part of his growth and development of being a Steeler. He took advantage of it. I thought he had poise. I thought he delivered the ball to some guys in some critical situations. Nothing we haven’t seen him do before, but we have never seen him do it in a Steelers uniform.”

Ben Roethlisberger started the game but appeared to have a hard time finding his timing and accuracy. He completed 10 of 17 passes for only 65 yards. The Steelers tried a little bit of trickery with Parker lining up behind center and Roethlisberger lining up on the right side at wide receiver. Parker got the snap from Justin Hartwig and turned it into a five-yard gain. Parker pulled in a six-yard reception across the middle for the first down. Parker continued to get the work on the drive, but was only able to manage three yards on two carries. After a six-yard completion to Hines Ward the Steelers went for it on fourth-and-one but Roethlisberger was stopped for no gain.

The defence stepped up to the plate after being questioned by pro bowl linebacker James Harrison. Time after time the d stopped the run. The DB’s and safeties also did an admirable job and were rewarded with their first pick of the season, when Ike Taylor intercepted a pass from Vikings QB Gus Frerotte. Lineman Aaron Smith had an extremely strong game and Steeler fans can only hope that they are able to re-sign him to a Farrior type deal. This is one guy they don’t want to lose.

Jeff Read hit four field goals in providing all the offence for the Steelers. It was his 47 yarder with a few seconds remaining that sealed the victory for the Steelers.  

I will be back later this week with notes on who will be cut when the Steelers trim their roster down to the 75 and then to 53 by Saturday.