Week 2 Observations @ Jaguars....

[Chicoman]

The Good:
Kenny Pickett - 2 pre-season games 19 for 22 170 yds 3 TD's. How long will Tomlin keep this kid sidelined during the Regular Season? IMO let him start week 1.
Terrell Edmunds - He made some great stops tonight in run support. He might not have the instinct Fitzpatrick has but he is playing good. I saw some mention moving him to ILB and making Kazee our starting safety. If it means letting Devin Bush ride the pine I'm all for it!
Myles Jack - Great off-season pickup. This kid can play ILB. I wish we could clone him or his brain and put it in Devin Bush's head!
Pat Freiermuth - He looked good in his time tonight....caught a couple nice passes from Pickett inside 2 minutes.
Jaylen Warren - ran hard tonight and showed good hands out of the backfield tonight. He was the best RB on the field tonight
Damontae Kazee - This kid belongs on this roster.....he's a good Safety! Nice pass breakup tonight.
Tyyer Vaughn - He's done quite well in his limited playtime in both games.....maybe he makes the Practice Squad? our WR's depth might be too much for him.
Mark Robinson - This kid has one hell of a motor....might need a year or so to develop but we are very think at OLB. Saw him playing some ILB tonight too.
Carlins Platel - Not many people have noticed because he's playing in garbage time but this kid has made some great tackles late in both games. Again tonight....

The Bad:
Devin Bust - They can't cut this bum soon enough! HE SUCKS! Move Edmunds to ILB and let someone else (Kazee) perhaps play Safety
Dan Moore, Kendrick Green, James Daniels, Kevin Dotson - These guys are a liability right now and they make up half our O-line. They will get one of our QB's Injured for sure....I just hope it's not Pickett! James Daniels can't pass block for **** and Kendrick Green is actually worse at LG than he was at Center...and that's hard to believe! Steelers really need to go out and draft a stud LT in next years draft! Our O-line is going to be absolutely awful this season too!

One more pre-season game to go when Detroit visits The Burgh next Sunday!

 

[black and gold apex]

This defense has to go aways to be considered a great defense. The OL will kill a lot of drives this year. How many holding calls??? Why do we tackle soooo poorly.

 

[Litos]

James Daniels has been a huge disapointment during all camp + preseason

 

[madinsomniac]

Imo, Carlins Platel hasn’t been great in coverage thus far.. i think if a dark horse db is pushing from this group, its chris steel…

Im very glad Robinson keeps flashing… i really think the staff still has Buddy ahead of him

Guys in Rudolph’s position, an upcoming free agent where a draft pick has leapfrogged them and they were expecting to have a bigger role are usually trade bait.. i think he wont be here past the deadline if he isn’t traded before tge season

At this point, where the young oline guys aren’t cutting the mustard, you absolutely need to bring in a vet on that left side to shore it up…

Tyler Vaughn and Cody White are better than guys who only have a shot at the PS… one or both are going to get some interest elsewhere

 

[stuntmanmike]

James Daniels has been a huge disapointment during all camp + preseason

Ya pretty surprised by this development totally disappointed in the line, Daniels especially, and the coach…. it’s pure slop. Bring back munch!!

 

[madinsomniac]

Ya pretty surprised by this development totally disappointed in the line, Daniels especially, and the coach…. it’s pure slop. Bring back munch!!

Changing oline systems too much isn’t a great recipe for success… pick a style and stick with it… under Cowher that Kent Stephenson/ Ron Erhardt system was used almost the entire tenure with some wrinkles and additions occasionally… Tomlin started with that and this is like the fifth or sixth overhaul since…

 

[Black & Gold Bleeder]

any buddy johnson sightings? Glad robinson is flashing.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Robinson is a project. He mostly played RB in college and is still learning LB. He'd likely give up a bunch of plays if he had to play in regular games. By next year he should at least be a Spillane upgrade as a run stuffer.

The Jags have a really good front 4 so that is part of why the OL looked bad but still, it's very concerning. The starting OL should play all 60 minutes in the last game.

Devin Bush - all we can hope is he's saving it up for the regular season.

 

[slashsteel]

Robinson is a project. He mostly played RB in college and is still learning LB. He'd likely give up a bunch of plays if he had to play in regular games. By next year he should at least be a Spillane upgrade as a run stuffer.

The Jags have a really good front 4 so that is part of why the OL looked bad but still, it's very concerning. The starting OL should play all 60 minutes in the last game.

Devin Bush - all we can hope is he's saving it up for the regular season.

I prefer he not save anymore of the suck, I have seen enough.

 

[Punxsutawney]

Save a few years when Pouncey, Decastro and Villanueva were all in their primes under Munchack, the OL play has been a weakness throughout the Tomlin era.

I had fairly high hopes for Moore and Daniels going into the season, but both have looked bad in the preseason. There's no other way to put it, but at least we have "it's just preseason" to fall back on, though not much reason for confidence up front.

Pickett may not need absolutely great blocking to operate. He seems to have pretty natural feel and composure under pressure in addition to mobility. The ball just looks "right" coming out of his hand, as tiny as it may be.

Trubisky is obviously the better athlete, but seems to hesitate more, which says something, given his experience advantage over Pickett.

 

[BamaSteeler52]

At this point I think I would keep Pickett and Rudolph.

 

[TDX27]

As bad as the O-line is playing, they should be checking the waiver wires here in a week but I think they are going to stick with what they have. I saw somewhere this week that the thought out there is something happened to Daniels. He may be injured and not saying anything as he is not as good as he was. Who knows but this O-line is terrible and you know it's terrible when Chuks might be playing as your best guy on the line right now because he is barely average.

 

[slashsteel]

Save a few years when Pouncey, Decastro and Villanueva were all in their primes under Munchack, the OL play has been a weakness throughout the Tomlin era.

I had fairly high hopes for Moore and Daniels going into the season, but both have looked bad in the preseason. There's no other way to put it, but at least we have "it's just preseason" to fall back on, though not much reason for confidence up front.

Pickett may not need absolutely great blocking to operate. He seems to have pretty natural feel and composure under pressure in addition to mobility. The ball just looks "right" coming out of his hand, as tiny as it may be.

Trubisky is obviously the better athlete, but seems to hesitate more, which says something, given his experience advantage over Pickett.

They both need to improve their pass blocking. I think they are both capable of doing that. Hopefully that comes to pass sooner than later.

 

[alancac98]

Save a few years when Pouncey, Decastro and Villanueva were all in their primes under Munchack, the OL play has been a weakness throughout the Tomlin era.

I had fairly high hopes for Moore and Daniels going into the season, but both have looked bad in the preseason. There's no other way to put it, but at least we have "it's just preseason" to fall back on, though not much reason for confidence up front.

Pickett may not need absolutely great blocking to operate. He seems to have pretty natural feel and composure under pressure in addition to mobility. The ball just looks "right" coming out of his hand, as tiny as it may be.

Trubisky is obviously the better athlete, but seems to hesitate more, which says something, given his experience advantage over Pickett.

Well, Tomlin said it straight out - you can go with a great OL or give the QB weapons. Tomlin prefers weapons!

 

[BamaSteeler52]

Well, Tomlin said it straight out - you can go with a great OL or give the QB weapons. Tomlin prefers weapons!

Well Tomlin is stupid... Weapons don't mean **** if the OL or DL sucks. The game has not changed it still starts with success and winning at the LOS. Tomlin never had and never will get it.

 

[madinsomniac]

To be fair, an Oline is by far the easiest to fix, but you absolutely need a stud anchor and you aren’t finding that in free agency

 

[Shane Falco]

I thought Bush actually played fair. He was playing a lot of B and C gap and doing a descent job and containing the gap and picking up on the backs coming out of the backfield. Daniels looks slow off the ball. No leverage, very limited agility. Maybe he should be parked for LeGlue who was holding his own. Moore looked overwhelmed and overpowered. I’m glad to see them get their *** kicked in the trenches. Hopefully this will help with any necessary adjustments. Green was ok with the run, slaughtered with the pass. Dotson was pedestrian but the better of the 2. It was nice to watch Ogunjobi. Nice push off the line, commanded some double teaming. Was more effective with Alulalu and Watt in. Can’t wait to see him in action with Heyward as well. Olines will have to pick their poison.
Trubisky better be ready to run. Lots of check downs but looked like the receivers were pretty well covered. Would’ve liked to have seen him connect with Johnson. That was a touchdown or a big gain at least.
Pickett looked good in the 2 minute drill.
Rudy played fine (except the safety).
Snell is hot and cold. Warren at this point is better.

 

[BamaSteeler52]

To be fair, an Oline is by far the easiest to fix, but you absolutely need a stud anchor and you aren’t finding that in free agency

The key is wanting and knowing how, Tomlin posses none of this.

 

[xjx]

Tomlin wants splash plays.

 

[BamaSteeler52]

Tomlin wants splash plays.

Tomlin is too stupid to realize splash plays still need consistent wins at the LOS.

 

[madinsomniac]

The key is wanting and knowing how, Tomlin posses none of this.

They just get preoccupied with other things too often… like last year when they got tunnel vision with Harris… they could have traded down, picked up Creed Humphrey, and gotten a Rb later… as we hopefully see with Warren, an impact runner can be found later or undrafted far easier than an impact Olineman… get a guy who can handle assignments without help and you make the average guys on either side better by default…

Instead they zero in on a guy in a more glamorous position of need and often overdraft them

 

[Roy92040]

My observations were: 1) we have a lot of depth at WR. 2) QB situation will take care of itself. 3) O-Line needs help, like today. 4) Someone better than Sutton should be playing DB. 5) Bush needs to sit until he can play his position. 6) I don't know what the RB situation is like because the O-Line is so bad.

 

[bermudasteel]

Nothing more to add. The OL gave me nightmares...

 

[SteelerFan448]

They just get preoccupied with other things too often… like last year when they got tunnel vision with Harris… they could have traded down, picked up Creed Humphrey, and gotten a Rb later… as we hopefully see with Warren, an impact runner can be found later or undrafted far easier than an impact Olineman… get a guy who can handle assignments without help and you make the average guys on either side better by default…

Instead they zero in on a guy in a more glamorous position of need and often overdraft them

I've held off because I told myself I'd let it go after last year, but the Steelers easily could've secured two or three lineman in last year's draft. For a team so desperate, it was pretty inexcusable to pass on Humphrey twice and not pick up Trey Smith on day 3.

QBs
-The Steelers have a good group here. Teams just don't go three deep at the position and the Steelers have three guys who can play.

RBs
-Not much to watch last night, I just like how Warren offers quite a bit in the passing game.

WRs
-Tyler Vaughns may not be a roster player, but he's come up big in the fourth quarter. If nothing else, you have to love his playmaking ability in crunch time. Also, Chase Claypool made a contested catch. That's why the Steelers drafted him.

OL
-This group stinks right now. Moore just isn't delivering in pass protection. Green isn't starting material if he continues to get overpowered and Dotson hasn't shown signs of his rookie form. Daniels has been terrible in pass protection and I don't think you can even evaluate Cole with the guys playing like trash on either side. As mentioned before, Okorafor is a below average tackle and he looks like the star of this line.

DL
-I don't know what to make of this group. There's talent and stuff each guy does well, they just collectively don't make it happen against the run. I suppose the guys behind them don't help either.

LBs
-Mark Robinson is a throwback. You love his physical play and he brought it out last night. Bush was better, but no where near the level he should be playing at.

DBs
-I agree with the original post that the safeties look good. Collectively, this is a group that lacks star power outside of Fitzpatrick, but has a bunch of guys that do things well.

I know it's preseason, but once again two of this team's major issues were offensive line and run defense and neither has shown improvement. I think with all hands on deck, the run defense has a chance. The line is a bigger concern and Khan should be proactive in finding help at LT or LG. I don't think the right side is great, but those contracts tell me they're locked in for this season.

 

[stuntmanmike]

any buddy johnson sightings? Glad robinson is flashing.

Buddy can’t cover his shadow