Steelers Defense: at New Orleans

The Steelers found their first win of the pre-season, the offense shined and a few faces on defense shined, as well.

I gotta be honest, it’s getting harder and harder to sit and watch an entire pre-season game. I tried, though. I just can’t do it.

Anyways.

The Steelers found their first win of the pre-season in the Big Easy. They beat the New Orleans Saints 27-14. I don’t want to talk about the offense too much, but it looked like Big Ben and Antonio Brown looked like their normal selves, and that’s always a good thing.

Now, let’s move onto defense.

The Steelers defense opened the game strong against the likes of Drew Brees and C.J. Spiller. They forced the struggling Saints offense to a three and out. Mike Tomlin continues to keep the starters playing through the first two quarters, as he wants the defense to develop better communication and continuity.

As we saw at the beginning of the last year, i.e. Week 1 against the Patriots, the Steelers struggled with communication, blown coverages, missed assignments, alignments, etc. I’m happy to see Tomlin addressing this.

One player that I’d like to point out is safety Sean Davis. Although he only had three total tackles last night, Davis was all over the place. This kid definitely has a nose for the ball, and still a lot to learn. It’s going to be fun watching him develop.

Some bad news coming out of New Orleans comes at the expense of Cam Heyward, who left the game with a lower leg injury. Later, it was reported that Heyward suffered a high ankle sprain, when asked about the injury, Heyward said “I’ll be ready for Week 1.”

No offense to Heyward, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Unless it’s an obvious season ending injury, players are usually overconfident about the timetable for their return. I remember last season, Ryan Shazier suffered an arm injury, and he played it off as something not serious, then we find out that he wouldn’t play for multiple games.

So, let’s hope Heyward is right, because when him and Stephon Tuitt are on the field, the defense plays better all around.

Another player that I’d like to point out is, rookie LB, Tyler Matakevich. In the last minutes of the fourth quarter, Matakevich dropped into zone-coverage. The Saints QB, I can’t remember his name, didn’t see Matakevich drop and threw the ball right to him.

The cool part about Tyler’s interception was not the interception itself, but the fact that he was right where he was supposed to be. He knew that he was supposed to drop into zone, fulfilled his assignment, and made a play.

If he was not in his assigned zone, the Saints pass would’ve been completed. It’s plays like this that could make or break a season. I’m not trying to paint Matakevich has the next James Farrior or Lawrence Timmons, I’m just trying to give appreciation to a guy that fulfilled his duty.

Next: Steelers player spotlight: Vince Williams

Although the Saints offense has been struggling throughout the pre-season, I think our defense played pretty well. They forced a few three and outs against Brees, and only allowed two touchdowns. Hopefully Tomlin’s experiment works, and all the time playing together will carry over into the regular season and beyond.

Here we go, Steelers! Here we go!