Tasser: Steelers’ loss highlights positives and negatives

National television wasn’t kind to Steel City football this past weekend. Three days after…National television wasn’t kind to Steel City football this past weekend. Three days after Pitt got drubbed by the Cincinnati Bearcats in a mistake-filled Big East opener on ESPN, the Steelers couldn’t avenge last season’s playoff defeat, as they lost to the Denver Broncos on NBC Sunday Night Football.

Peyton Manning diced through the Steelers’ secondary, announcing to the rest of the NFL — and specifically the Indianapolis Colts — that his right arm, neck vertebrae and endorsement skills — he calls audibles in his Buick! — are still in peak condition.

Despite Denver’s dominance in the 31-19 victory, we learned more about the Steelers than we did about the Broncos that game. For Denver, the only question — and it was big — was how Manning would play after a year off. For the Steelers, however, many smaller questions were answered in the loss. And believe it or not, Steelers fans, being 0-1 is not the end of the world.

Week 1 Silver Linings

1. The defense will be better than it appeared on Sunday.

The Denver offense looked like a well-oiled machine as Manning seamlessly carved through the Steelers’ defense with the super-efficient no-huddle, I-am-the-offensive-coordinator style that he ran so beautifully in Indy.

Denver fans must have loved how Manning dictated play after dealing with a year of Tim Tebow’s I’m-a-fullback-masquerading-as-a-quarterback-and-a-preacher-at-the-same-time act. The Steelers couldn’t generate much of a pass rush, and Manning kept the defense  off-balance and continually ran plays away from Troy Polamalu.

But the presence of James Harrison and Ryan Clark will obviously help solve this issue. Harrison, easily the league’s most terrifying player, will continue to wreak havoc on left tackles, and Clark’s presence in the secondary will enable Polamalu to focus on what he does best: drift all over the place confusing quarterbacks and using his athleticism to disrupt running and passing plays alike.

2. Jonathan Dwyer looked good.

I’m not saying that the Steelers’ run game looked good, because it didn’t.

But Dwyer averaged 4.8 yards on nine carries, caught a couple of passes out of the backfield and showed good speed and nice tackle-breaking ability. In short, he seems to have a lot of potential.

Isaac Redman didn’t look bad but was the beneficiary of poor line play, resulting in an awful stat line.

When Rashard Mendenhall returns, he will be pushed for time by both of these two.

3. Ben looked like Ben.

Out on the the field, Ben Roethlisberger didn’t seem as though he was trying to decipher the “Rosetta Stone,” what he coined new offensive coordinator Todd Haley’s playbook this offseason. He appeared to have it down pat.

His rapport with Antonio Brown and Mike Wallace has carried over from last season, and he remembered that Heath Miller is an effective pass-catching tight end. He threw crisply and improvised when play started to break down — skills we have come to expect from Big Ben.

But as in many games, he also made a big mistake, giving his critics more material in the process. It seems that in a two-minute drill, Roethlisberger either makes a series of spectacular plays or kills the drive before it gets started. The pick-six at the end of the game was most definitely the latter.

Despite this tendency, over the course of the season, Roethlisberger will win the Steelers a fair share of games.

Week 1 Cloudy Skies

1. The offensive line was truly offensive.

Boy, was that ugly. I came into the year thinking the line would be improved from last season — and, boy, was I wrong.

Granted, the Broncos have a talented defense, but the Pittsburgh backs had no holes to run through, and Roethlisberger had no time to pass.

Simply put, it was a sieve.

Sometimes when Roethlisberger gets creative, the line’s ineptness works to the Steelers’ advantage, but there was no cohesiveness and an overabundance of false start penalties. What good are three lightning-fast receivers when the quarterback doesn’t have the time to let them run deep?

Pittsburgh has some truly great weapons on offense, but without a serviceable line — and at this point the line can’t even be considered serviceable — all that speed and athleticism is for naught.

2. The play calling was iffy.

Haley is supposedly an offensive genius. He certainly has a diverse track record — from his shotgun spread attack in Arizona to his high-powered running game in Kansas City.

But all I saw Sunday was a lack of creativity in the offensive play calling. The sequence of run, run, pass only works so much. I’m all for establishing the run, but what good is it to run twice in a row and then face a third-and-8 or third-and-7 situation? And where were the play-actions?

Granted, a good play-action is difficult to run without an effective rushing attack. But still, when you run on first down five series in a row, it could be time to change something up.

I’m willing to give Haley’s system time, but Roethlisberger isn’t Tom Brady — throwing three- and four-yard passes and trying to force the run isn’t going to win games.

Hopefully the Black and Gold can sort these issues out before taking on the Jets next week.