Steelers Knocked Off Pedestal

Well, if the defending Super Bowl champs needed anything to get them going in camp, a good ass-kicking should do it. The Steelers got it handed to them by the Arizona Cardinals yesterday - even if the Cardinals kept their starters in longer than the Steelers. There weren't too many things that made me get excited. Big Ben did shake off a "would be" sacker and fired a bullet on the run for a completion. Brett Keisel made back-to-back plays that made me take notice and Santonio Holmes looked about where he should be for all the practice time he lost. What I didn't like far outweighed what I did like. Duce 'Sweatsuit' Staley continues to frustrate me. He looks tired, weak and slow to me when he runs. Where is the passion that he once had when it took 2-3 people to tackle him? I seriously think he needs to drop about 15 pounds. Duce needs to watch Rocky III and get "the eye of the tiger" back! Willie Reid did not impress me AT ALL as a punt returner. Let's hope last night was a lesson in catching the ball and they weren't really concerned with running it back. For all the hype I've heard about his return ability - I was disappointed. Also, the way Sean Morey plays special teams - Willie Reid better start to shine because being drafted by the Super Bowl champs in the 3rd round does not guarantee you a spot on the team. They will keep 6 receivers: Ward, Wilson, Holmes are locks. The other 3 are up for grabs. Nate Washington should make the team and I'd like to think Quincy Morgan will. That leaves one spot open with Lee Mays, Morey and Reid fighting for it. Number 28 is too small and doesn't like contact from what I saw. The drafted safety Smith sticks his head in and likes to pop people - he had a decent first game. There was a tight end who almost lost the ball after a catch and then dropped a perfect pass later in the game. He won't make the team. Boyd really really really needs to learn how to take something off the ball when he throws it or our receivers will have broken fingers! Willie Colon will make the team also. He's a bit of a project but he will turn out to be a player by year 3. I can't begin to say how disappointed I was in the pass defense. Kurt Warner made them look bad. He had plenty of time to throw also which is troubling. We'll shake the rust off - we did a lot of partying this off-season. I'm sure I'm forgetting other things I wanted to mention - but it is only the first preseason game. The point I want to stress is that it may better that they lost this game than to go out and win by 30. Time to get the heads out of the clouds and get back to basics.