Steelers at Redskins Preseason Recap - Shanny Awards

Fletcher in the NFL discussion. Maybe he wasn’t in long enough to warrant it, but he didn’t waste any time proving once again he’s the most important, and most prepared, part of our defense, if not the whole team.

Fletch is still a beast

because even though Monty was nominated for worst technique, he’s still a huge upgrade over Rabach. A testament to how bad our line was last year.

and no love for Mo Hurt on the rising stars runners-up? come on man.

O-Line – Say want you want about Licht, but the dude played well. He is ideal for the ZBS, and looked very comfortable next to Williams and Monty. He showed a nice slide step, and was able to reach his defender without giving up too much ground. He also did an excellent job of staying on his blocks. TW did excellent IMO. Both his run and pass blocking were exceptional. His feet looked even better(and they were great to begin with). I was trying to focus on the nterior guys, and the angle often messes me up, but overall I ythough Chester played well too. I saw him downfield on blocks, which makes me happy. Mo Hurt has good feet for big man, and does well on run blocking. Brown is back to his old form. This may be hard to say after one preseason game, but he was abusing some of the stud Pitt LB’s. No surprise here(maybe Steveo can eat some crow). Also, for an undrafted rookie, Smith played well. He had some problems with getting too high on a few plays, but oherwise, he was a pleasant surprise.

WR/TE – First let me say, Fred Davis looked awesome. Freakin ripped, and fast. Ran excellent routes. He did drop that one ball where he got sandwiched, but I’m not holding that against him. He also has improved his blocking. If he’s not our starter, something is wrong with our coaches. Hankerson was a disapointment. I know it’s way to early to say this, but he didn’t look very fast coming in and out of breaks, and just flat out dropped a ball in his bread basket. I liked Austin. He has really improved since last season in the route running dept. His hands were always good, and they continue to be. From what little I saw of Paul, he looked good. Man, is he a big target. I was most impressed by Gaffney. He ran crist routes, and cought everything. He will be a major weapon for this offense.

RB – Hightower looked great. He hit the holes with authority, and finished his runs well. He was excellent in pass pro too, and showed off his receiving skills out of the backfield. Royster, like I expected, showed the patience thats made him good at PSU. He’s not going to blow you away, but he sets up hjis blocks well. He just lacks the burst I’d like to see getting through the hole. I thought Young did a great job at FB. Not so much for KW.

DL – These guys were nightmares. I loved the way Haslett kept moving them around. Very smart. Jenkins was as advertised. I one-man wrecking crew. Bowen is FAST off the ball, and very powerful. Coefield is going to be tough to handle all season. Kerrigan looked out of place, but it was his first game, so that is to be expected. He didn’t look natural at all in pass drops, but I assume it will improve over time. He was thinking too much, and it showed in his game speed. White and Jackson both played well(and fast). I didn’t see White in coverage too much, but the kid has a motor, and can really hit the edge. He set the edge well against the run too.

LB – I thought Riley, in limited action looked good, especially in pass coverage. He was getting great depth on his drops. I would have liked to see him more with the first team.

CB/S – Wilson likes to play physical at the LOS. This will pay off huge when we get OJ and Landry back. You could see where it hurt us with Horton back there. I thought Reed played well at S. I also thought Barnes was exceptional. He really looks like he could start. His technique is so much better. I was also impressed with Gomes. He played excellent in the box. Kid likes to hit.

I wonder how dumbied down the game plan was. I believe it is smart to call some plays that can give the guys confidence, but, if the other team is extremely vanilla, the regular season results may not match.

Most important was the energy displayed by all the guys. If Shanny’s can keep that up, much of the talent will show itself.

Both his drops were when he was wide open. The first on the crossing pattern and he had the defenders well behind him. He wasn’t about to get whacked. The second on the curl near the goal line was the same. Sloppy technique. So I’d put him in the “Worst Technique” since he’s been considerably more hyped than Capers and the rest above.

I think this is also a great testament to the various comments I heard about how well the team was working together during the lockout. Sure, I am glad that Shanahan has them going well, and in a 2nd year in a system, that’s more to be expected, but I think there was a lot of good work done in the practices run by the players. We might see this throughout the season, which would be a good thing.

I know the Giants were rusty, and Eli missed two passes badly (no INTs though, yay) so I’m not trying to get into that argument, but Grossman had at least three throws off his back foot that were nowhere near their target. He was surprisingly crisp on most throws, and the one where he led Moss to the outside was very nice, but “flawless” is a touch of exagerration. Preseason will never, ever shut up a player’s critics ‘cause it doesn’t mean jack.

We hardly knew you

Give me hope for the future. Let me watch YOUNG guys struggle and succeed as it becomes apparent there is a good plan in place.

Slow & steady my friend.