The Pittsburgh Steelers droped to 0-3 on the preseason Saturday night with their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at Heinz Field, but the first team offense and defense played well for the most part in the first half. Here is my weekly list of winners and losers and make sure to add yours below in the comments.
WINNERS:
Cortez Allen – Allen saw his first preseason action of year after missing the previous two games and most of training camp following minor knee surgery. Not only did the former fourth-round draft pick look good fully recovered, he also led all Steelers with six tackles and added a pass defensed to boot.
Ben Roethlisberger – Roethlisberger looked ready for the start of the regular season and finished the game 13-of-19 for 166 yards and a touchdown pass to Jonathan Dwyer that included him extending the play under heavy pressure. The quarterback almost had another touchdown pass to wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, but the receiver couldn\’t hold onto the perfectly thrown football when he landed in the end zone.
Derek Moye – Moye is really pushing hard for the fifth roster spot and helped his cause Saturday night as he registered three catches for 41 yards. Several of those yards came after first contact and he might have had another catch that would have been close to the goal-line had quarterback Bruce Gradkowski delivered it to his back shoulder.
Alan Baxter – Baxter has been a pleasant surprise and he registered two sacks in the game and a forced fumble. In addition, he added a special teams tackle and you always like to see backup linebackers hitting the stat sheet in that category.
Markus Wheaton – Wheaton continues to impress and had three more catches of which one was 34-yard touchdown from Gradkowski. He finished the game with 54 yard receiving
Ziggy Hood – Hood really showed up in this game as registered four total tackles and a sack.
LOSERS:
Josh Victorian – If Victorian is going to make the team he has to improve his tackling. Saturday night it hurt the Steelers on special teams as whiffed on the 109-yard kick return for a touchdown by Knile Davis that allowed the Chiefs right back into the game. If that wasn\’t bad enough, the young cornerback also was flagged for pass interference and the penalty negated the interception by linebacker Jarvis Jones.
Maurkice Pouncey – While Pouncey blocked much better in this game, he was flagged once for a false start and another time for holding. The holding call negated a first down run by running back Felix Jones.
Chris Carter – Carter remains invisible for the most part and only recorded one tackle in the game. He now has two tackles on the season and could be in jeopardy of losing his roster spot to Baxter.
