Innholdsfortegnelse for 2018 Regular Season Preview i Steelers Digest

Seventy-four points; 1,151 total net yards of offense; 143 offensive plays; 277 yards rushing with a 5.7 average per attempt; 58 percent conversion rate on third down; nine touchdowns and one punt. The team that finished the regular season ranked No. 4 in the league in defense allowed 505 passing yards. All of that is a statistical description of Super Bowl LII. That No. 4-ranked defense belonged to the Philadelphia Eagles, who gave up 33 points, to go along with 613 total yards, and didn’t force a single punt. In fact, the Eagles made just one defensive play in the whole game: With the Eagles trying to protect a 38-33 lead, the Patriots were looking at a second-and-2 from their own 33-yard line. Philadelphia defensive end Brandon Graham, who led…

Q. In your news conference before the game in Green Bay, the word you used to describe Ben Roethlisberger’s training camp was “awesome.” In particular, what are some of the things that made it “awesome?” A. Pinpoint accuracy. You can’t talk about quarterback play without talking about accuracy. I think that’s the single most important attribute. Forget arm strength. It’s like a baseball pitcher; if he throws it 100 miles per hour, you know it. If he throws it 90 miles per hour, you know it. But how does he work within that talent. Ben’s accuracy has been excellent through this training camp process, and that’s the No. 1 thing. The other thing is he came in here in great shape, and he’s done a great job actively participating in…

The Steelers fielded a top-5 defense last season and set a franchise record with 56 sacks, but it all unraveled against Jacksonville. What was revealed in the Jaguars’ 45-42 playoff victory last January at Heinz Field wasn’t atypical. The Steelers periodically had surrendered rushing yards in bunches and big plays with regularity even before inside linebacker Ryan Shazier had gotten hurt in early December. The defense sometimes was dominating but at times vulnerable and too often inconsistent in 2017. The immediate response was to seek better communicators in free agency and the draft in the offseason, and to talk at length about a renewed commitment to tackling in the springtime (head coach Mike Tomlin dismissed much of the latter as simply what players and coaches say when they’re asked to…

From the notebook of a sportswriter who worries he may have fallen for what he saw in a preseason game: • Yes, it was the all-important third preseason game, so perhaps it should be taken seriously, but I believe the defense definitely showed the type of grit in that game which can at least begin the process of becoming championship caliber. • Keith Butler took the brunt of my criticism the previous week after Green Bay scored 51 points, but in the third game, with game-planning involved, the Steelers’ first team played into the second half. Upon its exit, the Titans were scoreless with four first downs, 51 yards and 30 rushing yards on 13 carries. • “When you have those two up front you’re bound to play good defense,”…

WHAT WENT RIGHT • The Steelers cut a 14-0 deficit in half, and all it took was three straight runs by James Conner, with a facemask penalty against the Packers thrown in for good measure. Conner ran for 8 yards on first down, then for 24 on second-and-2, which was when the facemask penalty occurred, and then it was 26 more yards on the next play for the touchdown. That gave Conner 58 yards and a touchdown on a three-play possession. Matt Wile’s PAT made it 14-7 with 10:42 left in the first quarter. • On the kickoff following Conner’s touchdown, Terrell Edmunds stripped the ball away from Ty Montgomery and then recovered it at the Packers 25-yard line. • Two plays later, the ball was in the end zone…

Sunday, Sept. 9 PITTSBURGH AT CLEVELAND Time: 1 p.m. Site: FirstEnergy Stadium Television: CBS Series record: Steelers lead 74-58 (including playoffs) Last meeting: 2017 at Pittsburgh; Steelers 28, Browns 24 Series trend: The Steelers have won the last six meetings, although the last three were decided by four points. Scouting report: Football fans have gotten an inside look at the Browns this summer through the HBO show “Hard Knocks,” and what they’ve seen is a team determined to turn things around after going a combined 1-31 the past two seasons. First overall pick Baker Mayfield is expected to start the season as a backup behind former Bills starter Tyrod Taylor, one of three significant new faces on offense along with former 49ers running back Carlos Hyde and former Dolphins wide…

The Pittsburgh Steelers pride themselves on stopping the run, but last season a leaky unit turned into a dumpster fire after Ryan Shazier went down in the 11th game. Before Shazier went down, the Steelers allowed 4.0 yards per carry. After he went down, they allowed 5.1 per carry. It added up to their worst per-carry yield (4.397) since 1954. Fixing the run defense became the offseason priority, according to team president Art Rooney II, and it was echoed by Vince Williams and Cameron Heyward, two leaders up front, throughout the offseason. Their remedies? Well, the 31st-ranked tackling team in the league, as ranked by Pro Football Focus, went out and signed PFF’s No. 1 tackling safety, Morgan Burnett, and its No. 8 tackling linebacker, Jon Bostic. And those two…

WHAT WENT RIGHT • On the first third-down situation of the preseason, Coty Sensabaugh intercepted a Nate Sudfeld pass intended for wide receiver Greg Ward and returned it 7 yards to give the Steelers the ball at the Philadelphia 37-yard line. • An Eagles possession began with a 22-yard run by Jay Ajayi, who ran through four tackles before Sean Davis finally got him on the ground. But with the Eagles facing a second-and-10 at the Pittsburgh 39-yard line, Mike Hilton dropped Ajayi for a 4-yard loss, and then on third down Morgan Burnett and Jon Bostic combined on a tackle that ended with a 2-yard loss on another Ajayi run. • The Steelers took a 7-0 lead when, on a second-and-8 from their own 29-yard line, Landry Jones drew…

WHAT WENT RIGHT • Two plays after Ben Roethlisberger got the Steelers a first down with a hard count that drew Sharif Finch offside, Roethlisberger connected with Justin Hunter deep down the right side for a 32-yard touchdown. Hunter beat cornerback Adoree’ Jackson and did a nice job of getting his second foot down in bounds to complete the play that originally was ruled an incomplete pass. But Mike Tomlin challenged the play and the call on the field was overturned. The Steelers took a 7-0 lead with 1:28 left in the first quarter. • After taking over on downs early in the second quarter, the Titans offense was stymied by a Steelers defense that authored a quick three-and-out. Vince Williams sacked Marcus Mariota for a 7-yard loss on first…