Steel City Blitz Quick Hitters for August 18th, 2014

It’s a quick turn-around for the Steelers this week. They play at Philadelphia on Thursday at 730pmET. The game will be televised live on the NFL Network.

-I’m going to rain on the Ryan Shazier parade a bit and that’s tough to do because he was sensational on Saturday night. The one thing I saw that concerns me is that he struggled to get off attacking offensive linemen. His speed is his asset but when these big guards and tackles latch on, their strength will over-power him a bit. Some of that is on the front three who need to keep guys off the backers but some more experience and technique work should help Shazier.

-Rob Golden did nothing to discourage me from thinking he gets a roster spot. He had a pass deflection on fourth down near the goal line, recovered a fumble and had an interception.

-If you didn’t see my piece yesterday on the lack of depth at quarterback, here it is again. A lot of people have asked me “What team does have good depth at QB?” It’s a good question but let me put it this way, don’t you think it could be better? I do.

-Every once in a while I make a mistake (daily if you ask my wife) but I forgot the Steelers had brought back long snapper Luke Ingram following the injury to Greg Warren. I anticipated Bryce Davis doing all of the long snapping duties on Saturday night but he shared time with Ingram.

-Shamarko Thomas is a having a very nice preseason. He forced another fumble and continues to make big hits and key stops.

-Ralph Paulk of the Tribune-Review sees the same issues at QB that we do.

-Very good article by Ed Bouchette on Steelers’ tackle Kelvin Beachum.

-Rookie free agent defensive end Josh Mauro had two sacks against the Bills. I loved the kid coming out of Stanford but I figured he was at least a year away and would spend time on the practice squad. I’m thinking he has to have a roster spot.

-Video for today is… Big Ben’s replacement at QB? Check out this kid.

Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteelDad and the website @SCBlitz. Check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/steelcityblitz and on Fancred.com. You can hear him weekly during the season on Trib-Live Radio.

Photo Courtesy post-gazette.com