There really wasn\’t much to get excited about Monday night in the Pittsburgh Steelers preseason loss to the Washington Redskins as there was a lot more bad and ugly for a second week in a row. Here is my list of winners and losers in the game and the loser list isn\’t near as long as it should be.
Make sure to add yours below in the comments.
WINNERS:
Emmanuel Sanders – Sanders only caught two balls in the game for 39 yards, but both catches showed how good of hands he has. In addition, the Steelers former third-round draft was noticed blocking well, which has long been a solid trait of his.
Jonathan Dwyer – Dwyer was far from perfect in this game as he had a few bad decisions when carrying the football. He did, however, rush for 68 yards on 14 carries with three of those carries going for 12 yards or more. Yes, his fumble was inexcusable, but I feel he showed enough to be listed on the plus side.
Jarvis Jones – Jones looked like a first-round draft pick Monday night and his quickness along with a proper read resulted in him forcing a fumble on a pitchout to his side. He still needs to develop counter moves to use in rushing the passer, but he was a physical presence in the game nonetheless.
Markus Wheaton – It was a good night for the 2013 draft class and Wheaton showed not only his speed and ability to get open, but good concentration in making the catches he needed to. I didn\’t notice any mental mistakes from him in this game and he successfully caught all three punts that were kicked to him without issue.
Shamarko Thomas – Thomas was always around the football in the box and delivered two crushing tackles which resulted in a fumble on one of them. I sure wish that he would get his head up.
Michael Palmer – I know of a couple big tackles that Palmer that perhaps saved a touchdown on two punts, so the stats man must of credited both of them to Terence Garvin, who wears the same number as Palmer. While I haven\’t looked closely just yet, on the surface it appears as though the tight end had a better than average night blocking.
LOSERS:
Offensive Line – Sans perhaps Ramon Foster, the play of every offensive lineman on the roster Monday night was far from acceptable. All of the starters except for Foster and Gilbert drew a penalty flag and center Maurkice Pouncey was no match for Redskins nose tackle Barry Cofield. The second team offensive line was just as bad as Guy Whimper had no business playing guard and Kelvin Beachum had his hands full at left tackle. There were four sacks allowed in the game and it felt like it should have been double that.
Bruce Gradkowski – Gradkowski was far from accurate in the game and his receivers bailed him out on a few of his throws. In addition, he is responsible for getting fullback Will Johnson knocked out the game thanks to him leading him right into a hit.
Robert Golden – I sure would like to know what Golden was thinking on the touchdown run by running back Roy Helu Jr. from 30 yards out.
David Paulson – For every good block it seemed like Paulson made, which mostly seemed to include him being on the move, he had two bad ones when used as an in-line tight end. This is the same Paulson from last year with the only change being that he looks old enough to drive now.
William Gay – Yes, this week it was indeed on Gay as Leonard Hankerson screwed the cornerback into the ground with a great double move.
Mike Tomlin – Tomlin did not have the team ready to play this game and outside of some good efforts from a few of the draft class, this was yet another case of Steelers beating Steelers.
