Steelers Rookies Need Stick-Um

The Panthers didn't play their starters, and Ben Roethlisberger was wearing a baseball cap after two drives, but that doesn't mean there wasn't plenty to analyze from the Steelers-Panthers game.

• Rashard Mendenhall did fumble again, on a somewhat fluky punch out on a spin move. It's obviously a concern, but it is encouraging to put the mechanical running of the first few weeks behind him. Mendenhall is now running with conviction. He still needs to lower his pad level, but he showed some of the burst that will make him a nice compliment to Willie Parker--if he can fix the fumbling.

• Limas Sweed is more of a concern. He made an outstanding near catch on a bomb from Byron Leftwich--he outjumped a cornerback man-on-man and hung onto the ball, but unfortunately hit butt landed out of bounds before his foot landed in bounds. But late in the second quarter he dropped one of the easiest gimmies a wide receiver will ever get--a short pass with plenty of room to run. He later dropped a tougher slant that was thrown slightly behind him. By my count, that's now five drops for Sweed.

• Anthony Smith's season seemed to change the day that Mike Tomlin defended him during a press conference. I don't know if Smith was fired up by Tomlin's firery defense, but I do know that Smith looks way more comfortable playing close to the line as a strong safety than he did as a free safety. On Thursday Smith knocked Panthers quarterback Matt Moore out on a blitz, made a nice tackle for loss on another blitz, and seperated Dwayne Jarrett from a pass with a vicious hit. Smith doesn't have much of future as a starter in Pittsburgh as a strong safety (Troy Polamalu's not bad at that role), but he has shown that he is a useful backup.

• Considering how little the starting offensive line played, and the Panthers decision to bench most starters, I took a night off from watching the Steelers offensive line, although Kendall Simmons did look better than Willie Colon. On Willie Parker's one long run, Colon struggled to block his man, so Simmons laid a lick on Colon's man, then pulled to block another man to help free Simmons. Heath Miller also had an outstanding block on the run.

• The battle for the final linebacker spot is going to be very intense. Donovan Woods did about everything he could to argue for a spot -- he had a sack, flew around the field and also had an amazing diving through the air quarterback pressure that almost resulted in an interception. Patrick Bailey's probably not even on the radar for the final linebacker spot, but he made a pair of tackles on kick coverage, which should put him in the discussion right there--the Steelers have had some problems with kick coverage. But the news wasn't as good for Arnold Harrison. He left the game with an apparent knee injury, which could lead to a injury settlement in the next couple of days.

• If you're wondering about the Steelers depth, do realize that while the team is lacking in depth on the defensive line and at wide receiver (until Limas Sweed remembers how to catch), there are a number of positions where the depth has dramatically improved. Nowhere is that more obvious than at linebacker. Last year, Pittsburgh had Clint Kriewaldt and rookies Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley as the primary backups. This year, Timmons gives the team a very solid backup at pretty much every position while Keyaron Fox is a dramatic upgrade over Kriewaldt.