Steelers Video Rewind (Part I)

Now we get to the good stuff. 

I underestimated just how much I was going to get sucked into the Olympics coverage when I said I would do the Steelers rewind over the weekend.  Between the basketball, volleyball, swimming and other random sports, I didn't even watch one minute of the PGA this weekend.  Can't remember the last time I completely blew off a major. 

And while we're on the topic, suck our backwash, France. 

I didn't totally abandon the Iggs, though.  I made it through the the starting series for both the offense and defense.  So I'll cover the #1s today, and then come back later with the guys further down the depth chart.

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On the starting offense, I wanted to focus on the two guards to see if one guy looked like he had an advantage.  I ended up watching all the linemen since, um, they happened to be in the same place on the replays. 

The big picture takeaway is that all three members of the interior line looked very, very solid.  It is certainly true that MJG has a power advantage over Herremans.  He has a squatter, more powerful build that gives him almost automatic leverage. 

But don't discount Herremans' speed advantage over Jean-Gilles.  The Eagles don't pull as much with their guards as you might think they would, but they constantly rely on them to get to the second level in the running and screen games.  You can't just be big if you want to play inside on this line.

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While both guys, again, were solid, a couple plays illustrate their differences:

• First drive, 2-6-PHI 35, the Eagles ran Buckhalter behind MJG and the big fellow just absolutely buried his man at the point of attack.  Awesome power block.
• Next play, though, is where the Eagles ran a screen to Buck.  All three interior linemen were supposed to slip out, so we got a good comparison shot of the three racing against each other.  Herremans left Jackson and MJG standing still.  The latter two guys never made it downfield and the screen went nowhere.  To be fair to MJG, he got bumped by a blitzer who ran through him to McNabb, but he still looked a little lumbering. 

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Both MJG and Herremans looked good in pass protection.  The interior guys are often blocking three-on-two, but regardless, the pressure wasn't coming up the middle.  When there were problems, it was from the edges.  The tackles had a few issues.

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On the play where Runyan fell down and then got called for tripping, MJG did a great job coming off his interior double team to get a knockdown shove on the guy racing over Runyan.  That was a very heads up play. 

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It wasn't all good news, of course.  First-and-10 on the start of the Eagles' second drive was a run up the middle.  Both guys were supposed to slip off and get to the second level.  MJG couldn't get through the traffic and Herremans just badly whiffed on the LB he was going for.  Their two guys combined for the tackle. 

MJG also cleaned two guys off the pile later than was probably legal.  On the one hand, you like the hustle and aggression, on the other, those 15 yarders are killers.  He needs to clean that up a bit.

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Other things I noticed about the offense:

• The first and 10 play on the Eagles' first trip into the red zone was the pass in the flat to Buckhalter after Booker ran off the coverage.  It only went for three yards, but that's because second-year linebacker Lawrence Timmons made a truly fantastic play to come off his coverage of LJ and run down Buckhalter after the pass was made.  Not many guys in the league are making that play.  That was impressive.
• McNabb really did seem to be focused on not taking sacks in the red zone.  He threw a couple balls away down there where he typically would have tried to buy more time for someone to get open.  Now whether that's because it was "only" the preseason or because avoiding negative red zone plays is something they've been working on, we won't know for awhile.
• On the McNabb sack, the Steelers ran two separate stunts.  The inside guys picked up theirs but Tra Thomas whiffed on his. 
• Finally, on Booker's second run that set up the third-and-goal pass to Davis from the three-yard-line, the key block was made by Brent Celek, who appeared to dominate a defensive end one-on-one.  That could make a big difference in the run game this year if he can keep that up.

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On the defensive side, I pretty much ignored the secondary -- since Samuel wasn't out there -- and focused on the front seven.  Thoughts on the:

First Drive

We've seen this stuff before.  It looks in real time like the Eagles are getting dominated at the point of attack, then you watch it in slow motion later and it's clear that there were specific breakdowns, not general collapse.  Examples:

• Second play (Lito's facemask play), both Gocong and Mikell were lined up right outside the DE at the very spot the run ended up going.  Both guys let themselves get engaged and then locked up inside.  This was especially bad for Q since he seemed to have outside contain. 
• Third play, run left, Cole absolutely held his ground but it was Gaither this time who couldn't get off the block from the pulling OT.  Bradley showed good speed to run the play down, but Gaither can't get swallowed up like that now that he's on the outside.
• Fourth play, Gocong again set up just outside JP on the LOS, Pittsburgh ran a counter and Gocong got badly sucked inside by the backfield action.  JP was also blocked one-on-one by a TE, but the real problem was Gocong's bad read on the counter step.

And then, just like that, the switch flipped and the Eagles remembered how to play football.  The next two plays netted zero yards, with Bradley making a nice play getting off a block and holding his ground in the middle on the first one and Gocong attacking the fullback with his shoulder and blowing up the second one. 

Which then got us to the worst play of the day.  Now look, I know everyone loves Brian Dawkins.  I do too.  But some of the excuses people are making for him on that touchdown are downright ridiculous:

• "The CB blitz was too obvious" -- Well of course it was obvious.  The Eagles wanted Roethlisberger to do exactly what he did:  see the blitz coming and hit Santonio with a quick pass, which should then have been tackled for a short gain.  This would have forced a field goal.  It's a very solid call on third-and-10.
• "Dawkins shouldn't be matched up against a #1 receiver" -- He didn't have to cover Holmes.  With the CB coming in unblocked, Pittsburgh had almost no time to let routes develop.  All Dawk had to do was come flying in and make the tackle, the way he's done thousands of times before.  Instead, he came in tentatively, didn't attack the ballcarrier, and then looked frighteningly slow trying to recover on the play. 

Guys, let's not kid ourselves.  That was Trotteresque.  And I mean old Trotter. 

If that play didn't concern you, then you really are an optimist. 

Second Drive

I realize the Steelers made some substitutions after the first series, but the Eagles' defense looked much better the second time around. 

I'll admit it.  I was especially impressed ... with ... Stewart Bradley.  The guy is absolutely a man in the middle.  He also seems to have good speed and looks very fluid in his pass drops.  I'm not sure I saw a blocker win an engagement with him all night. 

The only problem with this three and out is that I would like to have seen Quintin Mikell really attack the ball on that pass Batch threw down the seam to Holmes.  He broke it up, but we need turnovers this year, not just passes defensed.

Third Drive

Another three-and-out, but at least we got to catch a glimpse (for one play) of the 4 DE nickel package Jim Johnson is trotting out this year.  Playing at the right tackle spot, Darren Howard actually did  get some penetration.  He wasn't there in time, but it was more than the starting DTs could manage while they were out there. 

JP showed nothing on this or any other play to suggest he's anything more than a very valuable third-down guy.  If Victor Abiamiri really is out for the year, the Eagles need to figure out a new Plan B. 

Oh, and Bradley broke up the pass on that third-down nickel play.  Just one more nice effort by him, coming off his first coverage, reading the quarterback, and diving in front of the ball. 

Omar came over and jumped on him in congratulations.  I guess these guys weren't overstating how much they like each other.

Other observations from the starting defense

I want to talk a little bit about Lito here.  Obviously he had that stupid 15-yard facemask penalty (which is really going to hurt his YPSP for the preseason), but let's look at a different play. 

It's still the preseason so I'm not doing the full video song and dance here, but check out this play and then come back to the commentary below:

A few things to note here, the first being that JP was blocked one-on-one by a tight end and got completely locked down.  That's not good from your starting LDE. 

However, what I really want to look at here is the coverage.  Notice that Lito is the one who makes the tackle, so you figure he had the coverage.  If one of the FO game charters were scoring that at home, I assume they'd hang that one on Lito and give him a 19-yard completion to mess up his YPA.

But watch that play again, particularly the replay from the pocket.  Look at how Lito is playing that coverage as if he has inside help.  He's staying to the outside to take away a flag-type route, relying on someone else to cover the middle zone.  Unfortunately for Lito, that someone else never materializes.

Now watch the video one last time and see if you can figure out what's supposed to happen there.  It looks to me like the linebackers correctly play their short coverages, but why are two guys covering the tight end over the middle?  Seems like one of those guys should be somewhere else. 

My guess?  It's hard to read the numbers on YouTube, but #37 Sean Considine looks to me like he misread the routes and didn't get the depth he was supposed to in the middle of the field.  That's why the middle was so open.  And why the coverage didn't work.

And probably why Lito threw Hines Ward to the ground with so much oomph.

He was pissed that someone thought that was his fault. 

Again, that's just my guess based on how things played out, but it illustrates the difficulty of assigning blame on some of these secondary-type things when we don't actually know what the call was. 

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So Quintin Mikell still lacks ball skills.  Brian Dawkins is now aging in dog years.  And Sean Considine is (allegedly) doing the one thing a "heady" type ballplayer shouldn't be:  making mental mistakes.

Boy, we sure are loaded at that safety position.

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More when I finish the video.

Comments

[Kulp]

On the video... that was definitely Considine's fault. You could see on the replay angle from behind the QB that Considine gets sucked in on the play action and bumps a guy underneath who is already covered.

[Andrew2]

The good news is we've got some options at LDE. In the next game I'd like to see Clemons, Howard and McDougle fit in there, see if they can compete with the ones.

Can't wait to read what you see on the second and third team defense. From my first viewing, it sure looked like Joe Mays and Andy Studebaker are PLAYERS.

[Eric]

Isn't Howard almost exclusively a RDE?

[Josh]

By the way, you might want to take a look at the LEB Sports site...apparently the Eagles are ranked 3rd in NFC East offense. I'm thinking they're right about Cowboys at #1, but I think our offensive line (if we stay healthy) is #2. Have a look: http://thelebsports.com/general/nfc-east-rankings-offense/511