We all knew this was going to happen. I personally could have seen it coming from a mile away, and on Saturday night it became real. Dennis Dixon looked quality during his time on the field. He moved the ball with his arm going 6 for 7 and 128 yards, and then did it with his legs rushing out of the pocket 6 times for 31 yards. All in all it was a composed night for the once injured Duck.
Now that doesn’t mean AT ALL that Dixon is immediately going to take over the number one spot on the depth chart, and quite honestly it shouldn’t. No matter how much I want it to happen, it looks to be that the Steelers look and feel enamored enough with Byron Leftwhich being the starter. To me, that doesn’t make sense. He’s immobile, and the Detroit starters proved that fact as much when they had their way with the slow and rocky offensive line.
Don’t get me wrong, Leftwhich was once a proven starter, but that’s been well over 4 years now when he was with the Jaguars, and he wasn’t brought back to their team for a specific reason(his ankle/injuries), and David Gerrard had his coming out party. With all of this building up, and especially the lack luster play from the offensive line, it doesn’t make sense to not at least give Dixon an opportunity to run the first team offense. I’ve even had the suggestion thrown out on twitter to give him the opportunity against a very good Giants club and see what happens.
Dixon has a very decent arm, he has above average vision, and has awesome scramble ability. Leftwhich has an arm, but it’s a very slow release, he’s got little to no pocket movement, and won’t scramble because he just simply can’t.
Really though, it’s not us(the fans) that will eventually get this to happen. Dixon has to continue to impress Tomlin, Arians, and the higher ups involved with calling the shots.
I don’t know, I just figured you’d put the guy with the ability to do things on the field(with an offensive line that doesn’t provide much protection). We’ll see, and I’m excited at what these pre-season games will show us.
Does Dennis Dixon not look like an old "flash?"
Mon, Aug 16, 2010
Sports