Preseason Nuggets

Preseason is finally upon us! The long wait since February is over. Every few days, you can catch a preseason  game on television.

Who's doing well? Who is winning the position battles? Who is losing their edge?The single best thing you can do for your fantasy team is watching preseason games, but if you don't have time, read our preseason nuggets.  Find out how the preseason is going and who is doing well by checking this page often.

Steelers:
The Steelers offense looks sharp. The acquisition of Bruce Arians as OC has made a tremendous impact. They are running a wide open spread offense and utilizing the WRs a lot more than before. Their first few drives looked crisp and sharp. Big Ben was accurate and utilized his big arm on some downfield pass plays. Look for Santonio Holmes, Cedric Wilson, and Nate Washington to have big years if Hines Ward can't go. I would move up Holmes on my cheatsheet, he was getting open despite Ward not playing and defenses keying on him. The new open offensive scheme should give Parker a lot more room to run this year, and he should have a big year. One of the backup RBs distinuguished himself, Carey Davis was running hard and fast. He is a big guy and brought back memories of the Bus. Keep an eye on Davis to see if he makes the team and how he does the rest of the way.

Pittsburgh's defense also looked great. They stiffled the New Orleans offense and barely allowed them to move. They bottled up Reggie Bush and limited him to meaningless plays. Their pass coverage looked great as well, breaking up all of New Orleans pass plays. New Orleans had the number one offense last year, but they sure looked awful.

New Orleans:
To be honest, Brees and the boys looked awful. The number one offense from last year could not move the ball nor convert third downs. If it wasn't for a last ditch effort by backup QB Fife, they would not have scored. One of the New Orleans wide receivers looked great, Copper. He caught everything that was thrown at him. Robert Meachem, another NO wide receiver was killed on a few plays, welcome to the NFL. He was going to be held out of this game, but they put him in to get his feet wet. Looks like he has some potential. Reggie Bush was still dancing and trying to 'juke' people. The problem is that he was doing this in the backfield before reaching the line of scrimmage, bad idea. If he was doing this in open space, it would be another story. He needs to learn how to run in the NFL, so that he can be a legitimate RB, not a gimmick player. He started this game because Deuce was held out.

In game two, against Buffalo, NO first team offense looked much better, but was still unable to get into the endzone. Brees was crisp and accurate. They had a much better tempo and came out to prove they can play. Bush ran much better and actually had a couple good inside runs, but still danced too much. He is going to have to get over this sooner or later. Rookie Lance Moore played well and caught just about everything that was thrown at him. Meachem on the other hand, strugled with some drops after those hits from Pittsburgh. But eventually Meachem caught a TD from fellow rookie QB, Palko. Palko actually looked pretty damn good. He will probaby end up being the number two QB after Brees. This kid can play. He has the "it" that everyone wants in a QB. Showed a lot of poise after the interceptions as well. Palko is extremely athletic and scrambled on a naked bootleg for 19 yards. He also has a rocket left arm. Palko also seems to have really good footwork,always ready to throw. Should do well if he sticks around. Deuce looked authoritative as always. Antonio Pittman, the rookie RB looked decent, but could do better. He had a few nice runs leading up to the TD pass from Palko to Meachem. His blocking looked great when he was in pass protection. He is battling Stecker for the 3rd RB spot. Keep an eye on him through one more game.

New Orlean's first team defense looked really bad. They gave up a lot of big plays to Pitt and just looked confused. They probably need more time to gel and get their scheme straight. It looks like NO will be trying to beat people with offense this year, their defense is just not up to par. By game two, NO defense stepped up and played better, but they were still giving up big plays. However, the first team did not give up a TD.

Dallas:
Wow! The Cowboys looked eye-poppingly good. Their offense was clicking on all cylinders and they drove down the field with authority. Romo distributed the ball to 6 different receivers on only 10 completions. Looks like the TEs in Dallas will have a big year, Witten, Fasano, and the 3rd guy (Curtis?). They definitely are utilizing the TEs more than previous. Jones and Barber ran well and ran strong. Barber seems to have a chip on his shoulder and runs with authority. Even Tyson Thompson ran well and even scored a touchdown. I would put Dallas right at the top of their division at this point.

Dallas' defense looked amazing as well. They stifled the Colts and did not allow them to do anything. Peyton Manning was confused and just barely completed a few passes. The Colts had to do a lot of punting, this despite going for it on 4th down a number of times. Wade Phillips is bringing a lot of pressure on opposing QBs and it looks like Dallas' defense will finish in the top 5 or 6 this year. A great performance all around. The Colts finally scored in the closing minutes against guys that will never make it in the NFL, props to Dallas' defensive unit!

Buffalo:
JP Losman looked really good. Evans, Parish and the rest of the WRs played very well together. We didn't get to see much of Marshawn Lynch, but he did get the ball on 1 or 2 plays. Didn't do much, but we did see him. Everyone in camp is really high on him. He has the perfect build 5' 11" and about 220 pounds. RB Wright had a few good runs and ran hard, breaking tackles and scoring on a nice run. Great offensive line play also aided Losman.

Their first team defense played very well, holding the NO offense to a fieldgoal. Not bad. They all ran to the ball and gang tackled. Looked pretty sharp.

Stay tuned for more as games are played.