NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Sunday night the Steelers fell in Denver for the first time in the preseason, dropping a rather lackluster game 34-17. Below are the good and the bad from a game that the Steelers and their fans would like to rather forget.

The Good

1. The Steelers franchise QB was the best of the bunch, as Ben Roethlisberger was 4-for-6 for 67 yards. While the other three QB’s bumbled and stumbled at points in their game, Roethlisberger was the only Steeler QB to really have the offense under control. His first pass to Mike Wallace was a thing of beauty, and about the only downfall to his night was the team not scoring on their first drive. Ben looks ready, it’s a shame he’ll be gone four weeks.

2. Another running back stepped up, as Jonathan Dwyer, the Steelers rookie back, played the best he has at any point in camp. He rushed for 89 yards on 13 carries, a 6.8 yards per carry average with a 40-yard gain and a touchdown. The running game had 175 yards on 30 carries, and it’s a shame that some of the better carries came once the game was out of reach and a lot of people turned the game off.

3. Good to see some guys in the defensive backfield, Crezdon Butler and William Gay pick off passes. Gay picked off a Kyle Orton pass, while Butler ran back a Tim Tebow pass 40 yards to the Broncos five to set up a score. Last season the teams backfield had way too many drops, and hopefully two picks is a good sign for things to come.

The Bad

1. Let’s start with the obvious, which is the two pick 6’s which turned what could have been a close game into a blowout. The first was Dennis Dixon’s mistake, which turned a 10-3 game into a 17-3 game with :11 seconds left in the half. Then while the game was likely over, Charlie Batch threw a second pick six that Syd’Quan Thompson took back 47 yards for a score that put the game totally out of reach. While Roethlisberger is out, the backup QB’s cannot make mistakes like they did in this preseason disaster.

2. It seemed like the team came out and played out of control, putting up four personal foul penalties on the night. Two went to Keenan Lewis, who likely earned a pretty strong talking to from Mike Tomlin and the other coaches. Again, if this team is going to win early in the season without Ben, stupid mistakes like free yards on penalties cannot be allowed.

3. There’s got to be concern when Byron Leftwich is in the game about the fact he can’t get away from pressure whatsoever. That happened again on Sunday night, when pressure was in on him, he was a dead duck. Same thing happened in the first preseason game against the Lions. While Dixon was sacked twice, he does a decent job getting away from pressure. The same can’t be said for Leftwich, who can’t escape anyone.

In 2009, the Saints were one of the most penalized teams in the NFL, racking up 89 penalties for a total of 787 yards in the regular season and 18 for 151 yards in the playoffs. That's compared to their opponents' combined total of 86 for 717 yards in the regular season and 13 for 99 yards in the playoffs. Those are certainly stats that we would all love to forget.

But it's kind of difficult to do that after having watched the first three preseason games. While they had only 4 penalties against New England for a mere 29 yards, that number has slowly, but surely, inched up over the course of the last two games. There were 9 for 97 yards against the Texans and 11 for 90 yards against the Chargers.

This is certainly cause for concern, particularly when you look at the blemish all those penalties left on their otherwise glowing season in 2009. Coach Sean Payton has been very vocal in his displeasure about the problem, saying after the Chargers game on last Friday night.

"We had 11 penalties. A couple of those, things we can certainly clean up. But there's a lot of hidden yardage there lost in the return game."

Now granted it's only preseason, so these stats won't count for much more than as a measuring stick to determine where improvements are needed. However, because that is the one area that does not need to be repeated as the defending Superbowl Champs make a run at back-to-back titles, there has to be a conscious effort on the part of the coaches and players to cut down on the number of infractions at the risk of literally throwing games away.

Whether they result from a lack of discipline, miscues, or being overly aggressive, penalties are ammunition for the other team.  It's early yet, so there is still time for the team to work on developing and implementing policies to discourage players from getting penalties, especially senseless ones.  But with the start of the regular season just a couple of weeks away, they had better get it together fast or this is going to be a very long season for a lot of people.

Jclombardi reviews Packers camp reports & headlines (updated).

Guest senior writer jclombardi @ http://lombardiave.com  

Practice schedule:  1. Sun., Aug., 29–10:45 a.m. in full pads. 2. Mon., Aug. 30–10:45 a.m. in full pads. 3. Tue., Aug., 31–10:15 a.m. in helmets. 4. Wed., Sept. 1–No practice. 5. Thu., Sept. 2–Preseason game: Packers at Chiefs, 7 p.m.

Other Key Preseason Dates: 1. Aug. 31–Roster cutdown to maximum of 75 players. 2. Sept. 4–Roster cutdown to maximum of 53 players.

Camp Reports: CB Shields has shot at nickel job.  Colledge to start at LG. Masthay continues push for punting job. Sunday practice roundup.

Headlines: Colledge to start at left guard.   Packers face decision on Harris.  Masthay appears to have a leg up in punting battle.  Packers' Tim Masthay continues strong push for punting job.  Zombo could bail out Packers.  Notebook: Guard Officially Goes To Colledge.  Notebook: Promise On Special Teams.  Red-hot Rodgers shows MVP potential. Packers' hard-working Philbin not flashy.  Vandermause column: Defense makes noise against Colts.  Packers' QB Rodgers as reliable as always.

Favre Watch: Favre has up-and-down game, but Vikings win 24-13. Favre has up-and-down home debut as Vikings beat Seattle.

In Minnesota, a slow start Saturday derailed Seattle’s hopes of beating the Vikings and gaining momentum toward the regular season as the Vikings beat the Seahawks 24-13.

Despite failing to score an offensive touchdown all game, Seattle (1-2 preseason) took a 13-10 lead into the last 15 minutes of play.  In the final minutes of the game, Minnesota (2-1 preseason) amassed 107 yards over two possessions.  Each were capped off by touchdown passes from Vikings backup quarterbacks.

Facing fourth-and-four on Seattle’s 25-yard line with 7:16 remaining, Sage Rosenfels found newly acquired wide receiver Javon Walker down the right sideline for the go-ahead touchdown.

On the Vikings’ next drive, rookie Joe Webb connected with running back Ryan D’Imperio for a 7-yard score.  A Ryan Longwell extra point gave Minnesota an 11-point lead with less than three minutes to play.

Seattle’s lone touchdown came in early in the second quarter thanks to one of the team’s highly touted rookies.  On first-and-ten from the Seattle 25 with 12:57 remaining in the second quarter, free safety Earl Thomas plucked a tipped ball out of the air – a pass intended for wideout Bernard Berrian by Brett Favre – and raced down the left sideline 87 yards for a touchdown.

While Thomas shined, his teammaters didn’t.  Of Seattle’s 11 offensive possessions, six resulted in punts.  One resulted in a missed field goal; the other, a Charlie Whitehurst interception.  Defensively, the Seahawks allowed 358 yards of total offense and 21 first downs.

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