The Steelers stunk up the joint in Cleveland. The powerful offense that says its goal is to score 30 point a game was actually outscored by the Browns’ offense, 18-14. It was a really bad performance by Mike Tomlin’s team, which has dropped too many games to inferior teams over the years. The Steelers are lucky they got out of Cleveland with a win.
• TJ Watt made quite an impression in his first preseason game as a Steeler. He was even better when it counted, recording two sacks and picking off a pass in his regular season debut. It’s hard not to like this kid. He has a big motor and wants to learn all he can. The Steelers liked Watt so much they made him a starter early in training camp. So far, so good.
• Props to the Steelers’ defense for putting pressure on the quarterback. They recorded seven sacks on the day, and probably could have had a few more. The Steelers’ secondary has been criticized, and rightfully so. They’ll be a lot better if the guys up front can pressure the quarterback. You have to like the results after Game One.
• Coach Mike Tomlin said there would be consequences for Le’Veon Bell missing all of training camp. Bell was a non factor against the Browns and never got untracked. Tomlin was right, there were consequences.
• Penn State beat Pitt, which makes me happy, but the Nittany Lions didn’t blow out their rivals like most of us thought they would. While the Penn State offense showed it can make big plays at any time, quarterback Trace McSorley was off and left a lot of plays on the field. A win’s a win, especially against a rival like Pitt, but Penn State can play much better. And they will need to be better when they open Big Ten play in two weeks.
• It’s hard to not like IUP’s 2-0 start. The Crimson Hawks scored 38 points against East Stroudsburg and should have scored a lot more. Quarterback Lenny Williams is picking up where he left off before his horrible injury from last year. IUP has a chance to be really good this year and so far they are not disappointing.
• Indiana High is off to a rough 0-2 start. I feel for quarterback Luke Thomas who has been running for his life under center. The Little Indians need to find a way to protect their junior quarterback. They also need to find a way to stop the run, something that has been a real problem for this team for the past couple of years. This week’s game at Blackhawk is very winnable. Hopefully Indiana will turn it around when they play at Geneva College.
• You gotta love college football. Oklahoma went in to the Horseshoe and beat Ohio State. Georgia took half their state with them and beat Notre Dame in South Bend. I had both games on and was pleased to see both home teams go down. It’s been a wild opening two weeks in college football. And to think, the season doesn’t even get interesting until we turn the calendar to November.
• First Clint Hurdle got his contract extension as manager of the Pirates. Now, Neal Huntington will be back as general manager after the team announced his contract extension. Both will be helpless to do their jobs if Pirates’ ownership doesn’t commit to putting a winner on the field. I’ll believe it when I see it.
• The Pirates got swept in St. Louis. To add insult to injury, former Pirates’ relief pitcher Juan Nicasio picked up two saves.
• The Pens report to training camp in a matter of days. Where did the offseason go?
