The offseason is over. Football is back. The Pittsburgh Steelers are back in Latrobe at Saint Vincent College and training camp is underway. As we are every year, we will be right there providing live feedback and updates, and will be supplementing ourselves throughout the day, every day.
The Steelers are coming off a frustrating season to say the least, posting a 13-3 record with a first-round bye only to be dumped in the Divisional Round by a team that beat them twice, even though they hadn’t even been to the playoffs in a decade.
They’ve added the ingredients that they think they need to fix what ails them, adding new players and coaches, while getting rid of others. Now is when they start mixing up those ingredients and trying to create something powerful.
We still have a lot of questions about this team, and we’ll be monitoring the practices and preseason games looking for answers. As we always do.
Question: How would you rate Joshua Dobbs’ performance last night?
The Pittsburgh Steelers split four quarters of work between three quarterbacks last night, and at least in terms of passes thrown, nobody got a larger share than second-year man Joshua Dobbs. The 2017 fourth-round draft pick three 13 passes in comparison to the 12 thrown by rookie Mason Rudolph and Landry Jones’ four attempts.
On the stat sheet, the numbers look pretty good. He completed nine of his 13 attempts for 91 yards and a touchdown, though he also had an interception. The touchdown pass was excellent, while the interception was a poor decision spurred on by a late throw.
Dobbs’ first possession resulted in a three-and-out when he threw short of the chains on third and seven, completing a low four-yard pass to Justin Hunter. He nearly saw his next possession end in similar fashion, only he was spared when the Eagles were penalized for a helmet hit in making the tackle on Damoun Patterson on a two-yard reception on third and four.
That 15-yard penalty helped jumpstart the drive, which ultimately ended in the end zone, and included an 18-yard keeper from the second-year quarterback that set up first and goal. The remainder of the drive stayed on the ground, with Fitzgerald Toussaint eventually scoring.
He led the team to a touchdown drive in the two-minute offense as well, ending with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Patterson. On the play before that, he kept the drive alive with a checkdown for 17 yards to Stevan Ridley on third and five after avoiding pressure.
Did he look like a quarterback who is capable of being the backup on a Super Bowl-caliber team? I would say no. There are too many inconsistencies in his game, including ball placement and throwing mechanics, as well as decision-making, all of which were on display.
