Santonio Holmes Looks to Be Scary Good

It's preseason, so there's no reason to freak out too much over the Steelers loss to the Bills, but here's what jumped out to me from the game.

• Steelers fans have been noticing Santonio Holmes for two years but this is the year taht evberyone else will get to notice the third-year receiver. It's not hard to imagine Holmes going for 1,200+ yards with an outstanding yards per catch average. In two games this preseason he's looked unstoppable.

• It's hard not to get excited about the idea of James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley coming off the edges. For the second straight week, Pittsburgh generated a pretty solid pass rush just by lining up and beating people off the edge--something that hasn't been true in recent years.

• Rashard Mendenhall hasn't looked spectacular, and he hasn't looked awful, but his late-third quarter run was a thing of beauty as he dodged an unblocked defender then turned up field for a big gain. That being said. it's hard to imagine Mendenhall serving as the goal line back this year. He may be bigger than Willie Parker, but he stops his feet, runs upright and takes choppy steps that don't allow him to drive the pile forward. Gary Russell would seem to be a good fit for that role, but that would mean Pittsburgh would dress four tailbacks (Parker, Mendenhall, Melwede Moore and Russell) which seems unlikely.

• As far as the center battle, at first glance it doesn't look like Justin Hartwig did a lot to earn the job in his first start. Hartwig was called for a holding penalty, but more importantly, he spent way too much of the game in the Steelers backfield. Like Sean Mahan, he had trouble getting much push, and he seems to have bad feet. Not to be outdone, Mahan also had trouble driving men off the ball.

• The offensive line overall looked pretty bad. In addition to Hartwig's hold, Willie Colon was flagged for holding on a takedown when he was completely smoked by a defensive end on Ben Roethlisberger's interception. Chris Kemoeatu was hit for an illegal procedure penalty. While Colon may have gotten beaten badly on the interception, Max Starks also had similar problems when he replaced Colon--he was beaten one-on-one to force a Byron Leftwich fumble.

• Backup tight end Jon Dekker left with a knee injury, which is a reminder that the Steelers No. 3 tight end may be playing somewhere else right now. You have to think that Pittsburgh is scouting the preseason to see if someone is going to cut a blocking tight end, because there really isn't an obvious answer on the roster.

• Lawrence Timmons does seem like a difference maker. His blitz on Matt Baker for a pressure was a thing of beauty--the Steelers haven't had an inside linebacker who could bring that kind of explosiveness and power on an inside rush since Kendrell Bell's rookie year. But after trying to keep an eye on him last night, what he reminds me most of is a young Chad Brown. Remember that before Brown slid outside, he was an outstanding pass rushing inside linebacker. And like Brown in his younger years, Timmons' biggest problem will be shedding blocks in the running game. A couple of times offensive linemen got their hands on Timmons and drove him out of the play, although overall it looked like an outstanding game for Timmons.

• After showing great hands the first week, Limas Sweed seemed to fight the ball last night. He dropped one pass, then double-clutched his first catch. And he followed it up by dropping a tough ball thrown behind him. While the ball was thrown behind him, it seemed to be somewhat by plan, as Dennis Dixon saw that the linebacker was sitting on the route and would have crushed Sweed if he threw it ahead of him. Hopefully it's just a bad night for Sweed.

• The play everyone will remember from Dixon's night was his 47-yard touchdown run, but his arm was just as impressive. Willie Reid was covered like a blanket, but Dixon made a 55-yard hurl look easy. Then on the next play he threw a perfect strike on an out route to Micah Rucker, even if Rucker dropped it. And Dixon seems to have a good sense of when to run and when to throw. One good thing for Sweed, on the touchdown run, Sweed was blocking 30 yards downfield, which made the difference between a long run for Dixon and a touchdown.

• I know there are a lot of reasons to be frustrated with Anthony Smith, but it was good to see him close to the line of scrimmage. If you're being chartiable to Smith, the argument could be made that he's been playing out of position the past two years. At his best, Smith is a big hitter who's solid in run support--more of the strong safety role, especially since as Mike Tomlin has described, he has trouble keeping receivers in front of him. That means he's a backup as long as Troy Polamalu is healthy, but it seems to be the role that fits his skills much better.

• Rookie tackle Tony Hils seemed to have a better game at left tackle. He didn't generate much push in the running game, but he did a much better job in pass blocking, as he didn't look overmatched at all against the Bills backups.