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PreSeason Game 2 vs Chiefs.........Observations.....

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Chicoman

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Well it's always good when the Steelers win but what impressed me the most tonight was the pressure TJ Watt & Bud Dupree were able to generate on the edge. I don't think we've seen pressure like the generated tonight since the days of Woodley & Harrision. I like what I'm seeing from the young 1st & 2nd year guys on this roster too........this was a sloppy game but several players stood out.


Stock up:
Mason Rudolph - Just starting to show his potential.....is he the future,,,,,only time will tell.....10 for 15 for 77 yards tonight. He has an uncanny ability to extend the play and buy time.
Jaylen Samuels - Really started slow last season but wow has he improved this season. Going to be a nice compliment to James Conner.
Dionte Johnson - Dropped an early pass from Rudolph but as the game went on he really showed what he's capable of. He should be our #3 WR starting the season. Might be a more polished route runner coming out of college than Juju Smith-Schuster.
James Washington - Make no mistake about it here.....James Washington should be the #2 WR to start the season. Moncrief just doesn't have what it takes to be a starter
Dionte Spencer - Showed what he can do on punt returns.....for the first time in a long time I was excited to see a punt return
Benny Snell - I've been hard on him so far....I still feel he goes down too easily with contact but he did convert twice in short yardage on 4th down......couple good runs
Bud Dupree - He showed it tonight but can he do this during the regular season....it remains to be seen but we really need him to
Artie Burns - Similar to Bud Dupree.....needs to show he can produce in the regular season
Ulysees Gilbert III - Showed some pretty good pass coverage skills tonight downfield.
Tuzar Skipper - With the injury to Ola.....a spot is open.....Tuzar didn't disappoint tonight.....on 2 plays I saw he did a very good job holding the edge and containing a RB between the tackles. Had a fumble recovery too. I'm personally rooting for this kid. How can you not like this kid....read about him here https://Invalid Link - Check SN Hom...g-football-journey-leading-him-to-pittsburgh/
Isaiah Buggs - He's making waves out there.......nice to see we have some depth behind Heyward who is getting up there.
Devlin Hodges - I'm excited to have this kid on the Steelers roster. Rudolph's improved play makes Dobbs expendable and Hodges has more upside potential than Dobbs. Steelers should try to trade Dobbs for a 5th Rounder to anyone who wants him!
Justin Layne - After looking pretty bad last week he made a nice special teams tackle and a few nice plays late in the game. He will develop into a good DB for us.


Stock Down:
Donte Moncrief - Loved him in college, wanted the Steelers to draft him....he's just not a complete WR worthy of being a #2 on an NFL roster. He's a one trick pony.....toss it deep and let him go get it. He better not start over James Washington!
Xavier Grimble - dropped a perfect pass from Rudolph in the First QTR that would have gone for a pretty big gain as he had no one near him across the middle......we can't have that from a guy who's suppose to be our #2 TE behind McDonald.
Johnny Holton - Holy crap....this guy looks really slow back there returning kickoffs. We've gotta get someone better back there!
Joshua Dobbs - Critical INT in the endzone.....He overthrew Johnson who was running a crossing route...he makes that throw....that's a TD....instead he took points off the board! He's too erratic for my liking!
Tevin Jones - Was hoping to see more of him.....he's not a bad WR but the Steelers have Juju, Washington, Dionte Johnson, Donte Moncrief, Ryan Switzer.....and who do you take as the #6 guy? IMO Dionte Spencer showed enough in the return game tonight to warrant that last WR spot.
Eli Rogers - Made a nice catch tonight however in a critical situation with Rudolph scrambling rolling to his right and buying time....Rogers made a critical mistake of not working back to the QB. I just feel like Ryan Switzer has better hands and is a better athlete than Rogers.
 
If Bud Dupree played with a fraction of what he did tonight completely different defence. 20 plus sacks between him and Watt.
 
Nice write-up overall, agreed with a lot of what you wrote.

But not sure what you're basing this on:

Chicoman said:
Donte Moncrief - Loved him in college, wanted the Steelers to draft him....he's just not a complete WR worthy of being a #2 on an NFL roster. He's a one trick pony.....toss it deep and let him go get it. He better not start over James Washington!
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Sure he had an unfortunate fumble, can't let that happen. But other than that, don't think he was even targeted with another pass and didn't play more than a series or two. From what I've read from camp & Ben's comments, they love Moncrief and really excited to see what he can do in this offense. I'll stick with that for now, haven't seen anything one way or another to think his stock is down, heading into the season. They need all three of their WR's to flourish, JuJu, Moncrief and Washington along with Vance and maybe even another guy or two, to truly be able to replace AB's production. Looking forward to seeing that happen and for Ben to really spread the ball around. Moncrief and Washington can be a huge part of that.
 
Wasn't able to see the second half, but their biggest need is finding a replacement for James, because Grimble isn't it.
Gentry played well last week, did he play at all last night?

I actually think the defense will be a pleasant surprise this year and may even hold a 4th quarter lead.
 
Quick question,never saw the game. I know Spencer handled the punt returns. Holton the KR. If Spencer made the team,I am assuming he would do both?
 
Steelmann said:
Quick question,never saw the game. I know Spencer handled the punt returns. Holton the KR. If Spencer made the team,I am assuming he would do both?
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IF Spencer makes the team I presume it will be to handle all return duties. Holton was a mild disappointment last night, given that he flashed in that first game. Didn't seem to be running hard enough on returns. And they may want to keep Dionte Johnson fresh for WR duties. Dionte made some boneheaded decisions fielding the ball on punts, trying to do too much, could have been catastrophic in a real game, fumbling near the goalline. To be expected of a rookie, but he sure looked jittery out there. And don't forget about Switz, who's also probably still in the running to handle returns. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

As of now, it does seem Spencer is our most dynamic returner, shows no fear and has short area quickness to elude that first wave of tacklers.
 
Watching the game now. Dupree is playing like a pro bowler. Burns is doing excellent job in coverage and making tackles underneath. They played him at RCB in the first and LCB in the 2nd half.

Matakevich and Skipper look like playmakers. Buggs is looking good. Hargrave made some plays.

Davis recovers a Fumble and comes up to make some plays, and knocks a guy out of the game with a clean hit. Edmunds looking fast. Dangerfield working hard. I'm happy with the safety play thus far.

I'm getting excited about the D for this year!
 
Cope said:
Watching the game now. Dupree is playing like a pro bowler. Burns is doing excellent job in coverage and making tackles underneath. They played him at RCB in the first and LCB in the 2nd half.

Matakevich and Skipper look like playmakers. Buggs is looking good. Hargrave made some plays.

Davis recovers a Fumble and comes up to make some plays, and knocks a guy out of the game with a clean hit. Edmunds looking fast. Dangerfield working hard. I'm happy with the safety play thus far.

I'm getting excited about the D for this year!
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The only thing I was disappointed in was how Mike Hilton looked at nickel. Looks like he really regressed in coverage. When they had him in as 3rd Safety he looked better though, versatile guy. And he also had that FF and a couple pass breakups. Hard hitter for his size.

Turns out Edmunds forced that fumble and not Burns on Hyde, but Artie looked pretty good out there. Good form tackling. Edmunds is on the ascent and could be a potential star.
 
Into the 3rd period. Damn Hilton. Looking good. LEt up the long TD and long completion down the seam in the first half, but making play after play in the 3rd QTR.

Spence! We have a returner!! Wow, if he makes the team as a returner, it will come at the expense of Eli or Switzer.
 
ZonaBurgh said:
Wasn't able to see the second half, but their biggest need is finding a replacement for James, because Grimble isn't it.
Gentry played well last week, did he play at all last night?

I actually think the defense will be a pleasant surprise this year and may even hold a 4th quarter lead.
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Grimble is Grimble - he can block and catch the ball. The problem is, IMO, his focus...I've gone a looked at some old footage from the Michigan games - hate to say it, but, Gentry reminds me of Gronk---let's see how he translates...
 
Steelworth said:
The only thing I was disappointed in was how Mike Hilton looked at nickel. Looks like he really regressed in coverage. When they had him in as 3rd Safety he looked better though, versatile guy. And he also had that FF and a couple pass breakups. Hard hitter for his size.

Turns out Edmunds forced that fumble and not Burns on Hyde, but Artie looked pretty good out there. Good form tackling. Edmunds is on the ascent and could be a potential star.
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I think the play you're referring on Hilton (on the TD) was strictly zone. Hilton played his part in the zone - the safety did not make the play on Hardman in the end zone...
 
I thought he got beat a couple times down the seam during the first half, but maybe that just happens to guys sometimes and I was just focused on it. Mike Hilton has made enough plays for this team that I'm not too worried.
 
bermudasteel said:
And like I said in the other thread - DJ got ROBBED on his first TD catch - that WAS NOT OPI!!!
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Which made it particularly impressive that he bounced right up, put his head down and went back to work. Didn't seem fazed by the call, which he must have known was utter bullshit. Great to see such poise from a rookie. Came right back and caught the beautiful TD next series. The kid is showing the stage isn't too big for him. Awesome, hope he keeps it up.
 
Tibs said:
Which made it particularly impressive that he bounced right up, put his head down and went back to work. Didn't seem fazed by the call, which he must have known was utter bullshit. Great to see such poise from a rookie. Came right back and caught the beautiful TD next series. The kid is showing the stage isn't too big for him. Awesome, hope he keeps it up.
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Good point, he could have whined his way into an unfocused fit, but like you said he kept his head down & just made the next play. No wonder why Drake said he fell in love with him. Pretty savvy route runner for a rookie as well.
 
Steelmann said:
Quick question,never saw the game. I know Spencer handled the punt returns. Holton the KR. If Spencer made the team,I am assuming he would do both?
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He handled both of these duties quite well in the CFL and in the last couple of years was in the 1000 yard REC area.
He is capable of sub 4.4 speeds, has great burst once he makes a decision and reads his blocking well. He takes it towards the sidelines without a lot of spin moves and is uncanny at cutting it back against the grain, better than most. I wasn't sure how the smaller field would translate for him to continue to be successful with this tactic but he seems to be able to adjust his speed to either turn the corner on approaching tacklers or make quick jump cuts and change of direction without losing a lot of velocity.
The guy he reminds me of is Dante Hall (KC Chiefs) KR/WR with a lot less spin moves.
The other thing he has going for him is no significant injuries. Start looking over your shoulder Eli
 
I've heard some media guys saying Hilton wasn't having a good camp, but he was awesome last night, dude isn't going anywhere.

Spencer and Johnson wow, both quick and elusive.

Artie Burns made some plays, even made a good open field tackle on the child abuser.

Watt was in the backfield all night and did well working his way down the line when runs went away from him.

Dupree looked very good, we need that Bud all the time.

Oh and that offensive PI on Johnson was pure trash!!!!

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Paul G said:
He is capable of sub 4.4 speeds, has great burst once he makes a decision and reads his blocking well. He takes it towards the sidelines without a lot of spin moves and is uncanny at cutting it back against the grain, better than most. I wasn't sure how the smaller field would translate for him to continue to be successful with this tactic but he seems to be able to adjust his speed to either turn the corner on approaching tacklers or make quick jump cuts and change of direction without losing a lot of velocity.
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I heard them say on the broadcast (it may have been after NFL Network went to the Dallas game so I streamed it on Reddit, thanks Sarge) that he had a record of 496 all-purpose yards in one game. Did I hear that right? Over 100 yards in PR yardage, over 100 yards in KR yardage, over 100 yards receiving and then like 30 yards rushing to top it off. That's, uh, pretty good.
 
Steelworth said:
I heard them say on the broadcast (it may have been after NFL Network went to the Dallas game so I streamed it on Reddit, thanks Sarge) that he had a record of 496 all-purpose yards in one game. Did I hear that right? Over 100 yards in PR yardage, over 100 yards in KR yardage, over 100 yards receiving and then like 30 yards rushing to top it off. That's, uh, pretty good.
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Spencer set a CFL single-game record with 496 all-purpose yards: 133 yards receiving, 165 kick-off return yards and 169 punt return yards and the remaining yards came on a missed field goal attempt that he returned.
After the game he praised his teammates for their blocking and sent the game jersey to his Mom.
Great kid , good attitude
 
Oh and the hitting a defenseless wr call that went against KC was trash also

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Just watched the OPI against DJ on the TD play, man the kid is good, saw a little of AB there with his capacity to pump the brakes make the catch and accelerate in a split second towards the goal line, then getting tackled and fighting through it to break the plane and get 6 on the board.

Regarding the ref call all I can say is Bullshit.

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