THE 50-YARD LINE

Here we go Steelers, here we go! Your Pittsburgh Steelers dropped their preseason opener to the NY Giants on Saturday night, 18-13. Now that Mrs. Black-N-Gold has calmed down, she takes a look at what there was to like and dislike in this game. She continues to remind herself that it's only preseason.

Likes

1)RB LaRod Stephens Howling gave the fans alot to howl about as he saw the majority of first quarter action due to the injury to Le'Veon Bell. Howling is no stranger to the Heinz Field turf since he played his college ball at Pitt. He carved up the Giants for 40 yard on 7 carries, to lead the Steelers in rushing. I really hope to see Bell in the next game as Howling may be a good change-of-pace back but he is clearly not the answer to the Steelers recent running woes.

2)Rookie WR Justin Brown lead the Steelers in receiving with 4 receptions for 32 yards. The kid looked good and with Plaxico Burress lost for the season, there is room on the depth chart for the 6th-round pick out of Oklahoma. Hope to see more of him in the preseason.

3)The Steelers recovered 2 fumbles, 1 by LB Adrian Robinson was for a touchdown. But, alas, they were gifts from the Giants. All the Steelers had to do was fall on the football, which they did, to their credit.

Dislikes

Where do I begin? It was like watching a tape of the 2012 season because it was deja vu all over again. There were missed opportunities with dropped interceptions, missed tackles, 7 penalties including 2 personal fouls by LB Jason Worilds. These from a guy trying to win a starting job?!? The offense continued to get bogged down in the red zone and settled for field goals. Even with a new special teams coach, they continued to be not so special. There was poor clock management. Early in the second quarter of the first half, the Steelers had used all of their timeouts. At one point, they got a delay of game penalty when they tried to get the Giants to jump offsides. Maybe Heinz Field needs a bigger play clock.

I tried to lead with some positives because, I know, it's only preseason. The problem is, no matter how many games Coach Mike Tomlin gets under his belt, his teams continue to look ill-prepared. This is a bad habit that the coach and his players need to break, asap.

Get back to the drawing board, guys. You get another shot on Monday versus the Washington Redskins. Let's Go Steelers!!!!!!