In preseason week one, the Eagles got off to a hot start and looked very good against the Ravens. The Steelers got off to a miserable start and looked poor against the Redskins… What a difference a week makes. Both teams looked like polar opposites as the Steelers dominated both sides of the ball in a 21-0 first half rout.
On offense, Pittsburgh did the majority of their damage on the ground as they rushed for 93 yards. However the killing blows all cam through the air as Ben Roethlisberger threw two TDs and Byron Leftwich tossed another. The Eagles defense did record three sacks in the half, but that’s sort of typical of how the Steelers and Roethlisberger work. He gets beat up, they don’t have a great offensive line, but the guy makes plays. The Eagles just didn’t get stops when they needed to.
For the Eagles offense. it’s just been a terrible night for Michael Vick. He threw three picks in the half, with two being 100% his fault. The last one was a tipped ball downfield, but the firs two were just bad throws. It’s a total departure from what we saw from him last week and all through camp, although it’s not all that different from what we saw in the preseason last year. You’ll recall Vick turned the ball over five times in about 3 quarters of preseason play. He obviously bounced back during the season…
As I said at the top, teams do fluctuate back and forth in the preseason, but you certainly don’t want to see them fluctuating this far down… Eagles trail 21-0 after a seriously miserable first half.