In case you didn’t hear, the Philadelphia Eagles played a preseason game yesterday. The Pittsburgh Steelers appear to have been, at least, in attendance.

(My mother always told me if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. With that in mind – See you next week!)

Wait… You’re still there?

Fine, I will wade through the detritus of those wasted three hours for you. Let’s start with what went right. Give me a second, I am really going to have to think about this.

The Good

Let’s start with Sammie Coates. The one catch, toe-tapping his feet in bounds (which was initially called incomplete, but reversed on Tomlin’s challenge) was a thing of beauty, and is a flash of the kind of upside Coates has. He had another catch, an end around, and he kept the ball secure, which all are good signs. We’ll discuss the two picks made in front of him later.

Pouncey didn’t get hurt. That’s good news.

Eli Rogers looked pretty good as a slot receiver, and caught nearly everything thrown at him. The return game looked like maybe it wouldn’t be a total disaster if we chose not to put AB back there.

Tyler Matakevich had a tackle for loss and looked good overall I thought, albeit in the last dregs of the game. I’d like to see him get some snaps against some of the better players.

Shamarko Thomas didn’t look lost, that’s a positive. Maybe he’s finally figuring things out.

All good things. Small, tiny things, but still good things.

What else was good?

Well, Cobi Hamilton made some catches, and some drops, but I guess if you didn’t want to rate his performance as “meh” you would have to call it good.

Richardson and Toussaint didn’t fumble, and looked serviceable out of the backfield as receivers, as well as running the ball.

Arthur Moats had a sack, that’s good. (Always like to see Mr. Moats getting it done.)

It was good that at no point in the game did I stop and say “Oh damn, Big Al just got smoked”. I didn’t even notice him, and that’s a good thing.

What else? Hmmm, let me think…

One more good thing, and please give me a moment to cover my ears, and run from the keyboard before you lambast me for saying this: Landry Jones did some things that weren’t bad. The fact that they weren’t bad, essentially means they were, at the least, tolerable, and possibly even good.

I thought the throw to Coates was a nice piece of work; he had to move around, get away from pressure and make the play (and he did.)

One of few #Steelers #Eagles bright spots as Jones escapes pressure, connects with Sammie Coates on a tip-toe catch pic.twitter.com/IVrwsoXSiq

— 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 (@steelcityundrgr) August 19, 2016

He moved the offense. There is a reason that two of his interceptions were in the end zone. It’s not as if we started in the Eagles end of the field. So Landry, despite what the more exuberant members of Steelers Nation might think, wasn’t all bad. (And before I get hate mail, I will elaborate on more of what I mean by that statement, in a future article!)

The Bad

Now it’s time to look at what went wrong.

I hear some of you out there saying “What went wrong? What didn’t?” but since I already covered what I thought went right, let’s focus on what went wrong: briefly, and I do mean briefly, because I really don’t want to keep thinking about this game, and I’m sure none of you do either!

Let’s start with Sammie Coates, since he’s where I started with what went right: at least one, if not two of Landry’s interceptions could fall on the shoulders of Sammie Coates.

First turnover of the night #Steelers vs #Eagles preseason pic.twitter.com/tgzASMhF5V

— 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 (@steelcityundrgr) August 19, 2016

First, the pick-six: Coates has to attack that ball. He has to have his quarterback’s back. He knows he’s not going to catch it, but he needs to make a play on the ball, knock it down, at least prevent it from being picked.  (The same could be said of the interception on the ball thrown to him in the end zone, although to be fair that was a really solid play by the Eagles defender.)

Sammie was better than last week, but he needs to help his quarterback out. It builds trust. It will get him more targets if Ben (or Landry) knows if the ball isn’t perfect, he’s not going to give up on it.

The Ugly

Scoring… No points. Zero. Nada. Zip.

That’s bad.

I think the only time a goose egg is good, is in the game Hearts.

The pass defense was not good at first; we gave up yards on third down, but eventually got some stops, so it wasn’t all bad.

Dustin Vaughan didn’t throw any picks, but he also didn’t throw many complete passes: for those who are saying you would prefer Vaughan to Jones, remember, Vaughan is going against third and fourth string guys. Put him against starters, and a good number of those “just a bit outside” passes are going to be headed for the house – the wrong way.

Where are our tight ends?

Jesse James got manhandled on Jones’ fourth pick, and while Landry should have stepped up in the pocket to try and avoid the heat, which he doesn’t consistently remember to do, James still got abused, resulting in a pick. James finished with 2 receptions for 7 yards, and that was it from the tight ends. (Grimble dropped a pass in the bread basket earlier in the evening.)

Even disregarding the lack of production, the blocking wasn’t good, and we need our tight ends to block. Of everything I’ve seen in the last two games, this is perhaps the most position I’m most concerned with on the team.

Lastly, Landry Jones wasn’t good.

He might have been better than last week, and I think you can argue that 2 or 3 of the picks were not all his fault, but he still threw them. He still makes mistakes, and yes, he’s not Ben. Nobody in the league is Ben. If Ben goes down, we are not going to be hoisting a Lombardi in February. (Again, that statement can be made for any, and all, of the 32 teams in the NFL. If they lose their starting QB, they aren’t going very far.)

Landry isn’t Ben, and I am starting to think maybe that’s his biggest crime.  (I have to stop now, constantly defending Jones is making me throw up a little in my mouth.)

Conclusion

Next game is in New Orleans – Steelers/Saints.

Maybe we’ll see some of the starters get a few snaps?

Maybe we’ll see more of the same?

Maybe some of these young guys will start to realize that all they are doing is working their way off the roster and on to the street?

Who knows?

All I know is it’s one more week ‘til the season starts, and regardless of what we are seeing in preseason, I am excited for what the season holds.