WEEK ONE COMIN’ OUR WAY

Steelers regular season football kicks off on September 7. That’s right…week one is comin’ our way quick.

Tomlin summed up the game against the Browns in a way only he can:

“It’s Cleveland, it’s AFC North football, it’s at Heinz and it’s our opener. If that doesn’t turn you on you don’t have a pulse.”

From Jim Wexell, Steel City Insider:

After allowing 7.3 yards per carry while playing 70 percent of the available first-team snaps through the first three preseason games, the Steelers’ nickel defense — seemingly the new base defense — allowed only two yards on one carry in the finale against Carolina.

The nickel defense overall — after allowing 507 of the 625 total first-team yards in the first three preseason games — allowed only 20 of Carolina’s 72 first-team yards.

Was there an adjustment?

“Let me take the credit right now,” defensive end Brett Keisel said with a laugh. “Everything’s good now that I’m back there!”

Keisel had more to say about game planning and what modifications may be needed. Read the entire article (free) HERE .

Tomlin comments on Keisel’s game play:

“It was above the line.

I still think we’re just getting a sense of what Brett is capable of from the snap standpoint. That will have a lot to do with his utilization in the game, along with the performance of others.

I think that’s just growing organically and I’m not opposed to it growing in any direction. And I’m sure Brett is not opposed to it growing, particularly if it means him playing more than he played last weekend. He’s going to be an asset to us and I just look forward to continuing to watch him round himself into form.”

Will we see Manziel…

That seems to be the question in the minds of Steeler Nation.

“I think so,” defensive end Brett Keisel said when asked if he expected Manziel to play, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I think they’ve seen enough of him to know that he can do certain things maybe the other kid can’t. I think there will be certain packages. We’ve had to deal with that before. We’ll prepare to see him at one point or another.”

Said Keisel: “We’ll look at him, we’ll look at some of the stuff they do differently with him in there. With a guy like that, you need to. He’s got a lot of ability, a lot of hype.”

From Mark Sessler, Around the NFL .