Steelers win the battle for Penn’s Woods

Mendenhall gets a roaring cheer as he’s announced as the kick returner. Akers, with the wind at his back, booms a kickoff out the back of the end zone.

The Steelers come out with a commitment to the run. Parker hits for a solid 4-yard run on his first carry since his broken leg. Parker around the outside close to the sticks on the next run, but a 15-yard facemask gets us the first down and more. Parker dashed back around the left side on the next play for an 11-yard run and that was it for Fast Willie. Mendenhall came in and busted a solid run. You could feel a pass coming.

Ben runs a sweet play-action, steps up to avoid pressure and hits Hines over the middle to move the ball into the red zone. Two running plays that went nowhere sets up a 3rd and 10. The corner slides in to blitz and Ben spots Holmes singled up against Brian Dawkins and tosses him a quick-hitter that Holmes takes to the house.

7-0
8 plays, 80 yards, 4 1/2 minutes. Great start to the season.

And then it was time for the defense to have their shot. The West Coast offense of the Eagles nipped at the Steelers defense as they made their way down the field on short passes and running plays. As the Eagles approached the red zone, Farrior came up with a huge sack on second down to force them into a third and long. McNabb threw a pass to no one and the refs called a phantom pass interference call on James Harrison, even though there was no chance anyone caught the ball. Faced with adversity, the defense held, capped off by a great play by Lawrence Timmons in man coverage against Michigan product Jason Avant. Akers doesn’t miss from that close.

7-3

Akers booms another kickoff into the end zone, but Mendenhall brings it out to the 26 for a solid return.

By the way, we need a good nickname for Mendenhall.

Mendenhall runs for 1 and Homestead Charlie hits Davis for a short gain to bring up third down. Batch throws a nice pass for Holmes who consequently almost gets his head taken off by the safety. Punt. Ernster didn’t look bad here.

Philly keeps the first team offense out and drives down the field, taking advantage of some lax coverage by Willie Gay for two gains of around 20 yards each.

End of the 1st Quarter

I have to say, Ryan Mundy looked awesome on this drive. Maybe that was a curse, because he also got hurt on this drive. It looked to me like a high ankle sprain, but I could be wrong. More news on that to come. The Eagles cashed in on a 3rd and goal from the 3 on a play-action pass to the fullback who was wide open.

10-7 bad guys.

Akers kicking against the wind is nowhere near as good. Tyrone Carter fields a bouncing kick and manages a good return. Run-Run-Pass-Punt. That’s a motif for the Steelers. Get used to hearing it.

Houston product Kevin Kolb comes in for Philly. He may very well be the future face of the franchise. Delay of game on the new guy. Ouch. Kolb completes 4 passes for 23 yards, but an illegal formation penalty nullified one pass and the Eagles couldn’t make a first down, forcing a punt.

The Steelers punt return by committee selected Mewelde Moore who caught it on the fly and returned for 9 yards to the Philly 45.

Mendenhall just owned the next drive as he picked up 25 yards in 3 carries to get the Steelers down to the 20. Tomlin had seen enough of Mendenhall and put Moore in. A mixup between Batch and Moore forced Batch to scramble out of the pocket where he took a thumping hit that broke his collarbone.

JD says: “He’s out 4 to 6 weeks”

Dennis the Menace comes in, completes a short pass to Willie Reid, then hands off to Gary Russell twice, but Philly’s D said no. Jeff Reed comes on and blasts it through.

10-10

The Eagles respond to the Steelers tying the game by going 3-and-out, and the Steelers get the ball back with 2 minutes to go. Prime time for Dennis to run the 2-minute drill. He hits Sweed over the middle with a high pass that gets Sweed cracked by a defender, but he holds on for a short gain. Great catch by Limas. Moore runs for a few. Third down and the Steelers spread the field, but everyone knew Dixon was going to try and run. Including Philly. No gain, punt.

The Steelers sat back in prevent and thankfully Kolb wasn’t able to connect on enough passes to get them down the field into scoring range. The half ended with a solid sack by Nick Eason.

Halftime

Half the stadium left at this point, so things were a lot quieter as the teams came out of the locker room. Kolb and Tony Hunt (Penn State grad) carried the team down the field but two incomplete passes with the ball on the Steelers 35 forced a punt.

Holding on Trai Essex doomed the next drive to a punt. Typical preseason bore here, just waiting for someone to break the tie. The teams trade punts again.

Kolb fumbles the snap on a 3rd down and the Steelers fall on the ball, giving Dixon the chance to lead a scoring drive.

Fourth Quarter

Dixon guns one to Sweed along the sidelines that he pulls down to a chorus of “SWEEEEEED” from the fans. I think that one will stick. A failed attempt at a reverse to Jeremy Bloom, a run by Russell and an incompletion lead to another Reed field goal.

13-10

A.J. Feeley comes in for Philly and makes a good scramble that gets called back on a facemask penalty and does nothing for the rest of the drive. Punt.

If you were watching at home, I wouldn’t have blamed you for watching more of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies at this point.

The Steelers get the ball at the 50 and bring in Mike Potts, whose job it is to hand off. Justin Vincent picks up some nice gains and gets the Steelers down to the 32. After a failed 3rd down, Coach opts for the field goal team.

50 yards into the open end at Heinz Field?
No problem.
16-10

Preseason bore until the 2-minute mark. The Eagles get the ball and look to start a drive for the win. Feeley moves them down to the Steelers 33 with 48 seconds to play. Uh-oh.

Choke city. Two penalties on the Eagles send them back around the 50, but a Pass Interference on the Steelers moves them back up to the 25. Feeley completes a short pass to get down to the 17 with 30-some seconds left. If you were still watching, your stomach was sinking. If you weren’t you were in ignorant bliss thinking the Steelers had it wrapped up.

But Feeley blows it with 3 consecutive incompletions, turning the ball over on downs.

Victory formation.

Game.

Offensive Players of the Game:
Mendenall
Sweed
Kemoeatu
Defensive Players of the Game:
Mason
Fox
McFadden

Overall, this was a great way to start the season. The first-team offense looked solid and the defense will come around. The O-line looked great and I really like the move of Trai Essex to guard. I think he’ll fit in a lot better there as he was always a little undersized for a tackle. Mendenhall looked great in his first real experience with contact. Sweed made some great catches and showed he can take a hit and hold on to the ball.

Biggest part of the night: no fumbles by the Steelers. Coming out of camp, you always worry about guys being able to hold on to the ball when they’re getting drilled by defenders, but we didn’t put it on the ground once tonight. Great job all around. Solid preseason victory.