Poor Dennis...

[3duxmebroma]

Thought the Steelers' play calling was bad tonight. From the get-go, too often it was run on 1st,
run on 2nd, leading to several 3rd and 5 or more and everyone knows DD's got to pass. That put
DD in too many of those situations...and in ot, that was the 3rd down play that got the decisive int.
In the start of the Indy-Houston game today, Houston did a lot of run-fakes, passes on 1st down,
qb roll-outs, which in the 1st half had Indy on their heels...would like to have seen that with
DD tonight - varying the plays and attempting to surprise the Ravens at least a little.

[dthomas=ddixon]

Sorry, but Defense didn't get it done for the Steelers tonight. They had the lead & let the Ravens back in it. The Steelers D had been doing well and then coughed up yardage for Rice. You cannot expect a brand new QB go on the road for his first start after only taking reps with the 1st string since Friday. Dennis was amazing.

Totally. He gave the D the lead in the 4th, not much more he can do. They were so conservative with the play calling & didn't really give him a chance to do much. Dixon played a lot better than most expected & you know all his teammates are proud as hell of him. You could see Big Ben say it to him, "I'm proud of you."

[duckfan96]

One thing I noticed...the announcers were sayin that they should do stuff that plays to DD's strengths. Roll outs especially. They did them a few times and they worked. If Rothlisburger (sp) is out again the play callers should take note of that. All in all he did pretty good for his first start. I dont think I have watched a pro game where both D's blitzed so much.

[MFRDuckFan]

Mendenhall did a pretty good job of keepin' Ray Lewis off of Dennis. I know they had to keep the play book simple, but really didn't pick plays to his strengths. Let's hope there's a next time real soon!

[uo2010]

Sorry, but Defense didn't get it done for the Steelers tonight. They had the lead & let the Ravens back in it. The Steelers D had been doing well and then coughed up yardage for Rice. You cannot expect a brand new QB go on the road for his first start after only taking reps with the 1st string since Friday. Dennis was amazing.

Allowing only 17 points in regulation and making a stop in OT does not qualify as "not getting it done". The D held up their end up the bargain. The problem is that the Ravens knew that Pitt was going to run the ball. The stacked the line and brought the house and Dixon consistantly missed open recievers in the second half. There are a lot of viable excuses why Dixon didnt get it done, but that doesnt change what happened. A pro QB should have been able to make many of the throws that Dixon missed. O well, its his first start and hopefully it wont be his last.

[woundedknees]

Beats a 5 pick outing such as Sanvichez has produced at times...

A couple of untimely offensive penalties on plays that would have resulted in huge gains (A certain 31 yard scamper by a young quarterback comes to mind.) hurt the Steelers in regulation.

[uo2010]

Beats a 5 pick outing such as Sanvichez has produced at times...

No doubt. But it would be interesting to see what Sanchez would do surrounding by the super bowl talent in Pitt in his second year in the league. The Jets don't have near the offensive weapons or D that Dixon got to work with.

[MFRDuckFan]

Sorry, but Defense didn't get it done for the Steelers tonight. They had the lead & let the Ravens back in it. The Steelers D had been doing well and then coughed up yardage for Rice. You cannot expect a brand new QB go on the road for his first start after only taking reps with the 1st string since Friday. Dennis was amazing.

Allowing only 17 points in regulation and making a stop in OT does not qualify as "not getting it done". The D held up their end up the bargain. The problem is that the Ravens knew that Pitt was going to run the ball. The stacked the line and brought the house and Dixon consistantly missed open recievers in the second half. There are a lot of viable excuses why Dixon didnt get it done, but that doesnt change what happened. A pro QB should have been able to make many of the throws that Dixon missed. O well, its his first start and hopefully it wont be his last.

If this same scenario had happened to the Ducks with Costa at the helm, would you stand by the same statement? I believe most people would agree that it was up to the defense to hold the lead and help out your new QB by stopping the offense with 6 minutes left. I don't know any team that would rely on a first game starter to be perfect and win the game for them. That doesn't make sense to expect that, especially on the road. For some reason, the Steelers defense got a bit porous against the run in the 4th quarter and Rice was able to really get some yards. Dennis excelled in this situation and as you stated "the Ravens knew that Pitt was going to run the ball", but Dennis still put up 17 points on them.

[Brophdog88]

Beats a 5 pick outing such as Sanvichez has produced at times...

No doubt. But it would be interesting to see what Sanchez would do surrounding by the super bowl talent in Pitt in his second year in the league. The Jets don't have near the offensive weapons or D that Dixon got to work with.

From Peter King' Monday Morning Quarterback for SI.com in his things I liked about week 12
d. Dennis Dixon. More good than bad in his first NFL start. Throws a good-looking ball, if not very accurate. You can criticize Dixon all you want, but remember it was his first start, on the road, in a hostile environment in a rivalry game....he played very well, and put his team in position to win, giving them the lead in the 4th quarter. Pitt just had to get one stop, on 4th and 5, and it would have been game over....but they didn't, instead letting Baltimore get down inside the redzone, when it was 4th down, that is on the Defense

[ducksrock]

Beats a 5 pick outing such as Sanvichez has produced at times...

No doubt. But it would be interesting to see what Sanchez would do surrounding by the super bowl talent in Pitt in his second year in the league. The Jets don't have near the offensive weapons or D that Dixon got to work with.

From Peter King' Monday Morning Quarterback for SI.com in his things I liked about week 12
d. Dennis Dixon. More good than bad in his first NFL start. Throws a good-looking ball, if not very accurate. You can criticize Dixon all you want, but remember it was his first start, on the road, in a hostile environment in a rivalry game....he played very well, and put his team in position to win, giving them the lead in the 4th quarter. Pitt just had to get one stop, on 4th and 5, and it would have been game over....but they didn't, instead letting Baltimore get down inside the redzone, when it was 4th down, that is on the Defense

Agreed....DD held up his end of the game (plus some) and the D and Special Teams (both offensive and defensive) didnt...That was my summary of the game....