Post-Giants thoughts

For a preseason opener, it wasn't a train wreck, at least not early.

The Steelers gave up a long touchdown and had a punt blocked, but both were correctable things.

Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu both took the blame for the 57-yard TD pass from Eli Manning to Victor Cruz. The Steelers were in a cover 2 there and Clark and Polamalu said they both got out of position trying to disguise what they were doing.

That's something that has not been a problem and likely won't be one in the future.

@ The fact that the running game clicked early, to the tune of 56 yards on 11 carries in the first quarter, was a good sign.

LaRod Stephens-Howling, getting a surprise early look with Le'Veon Bell sitting out, was especially effective cutting back against the grain.

@ Several young defensive players stood out.

Among them were Al Woods, who had been playing a lot of nose tackle with Alameda Ta'amu out, but recorded nine tackles, two for losses, a sack and a hurry working at defensive end.

Woods was very active, though he was working against the New York JVs.

Veteran Brian Rolle also had a nice game from his inside linebacker position, recording four tackles, a sack, two hurries and a tackle for a loss.

Rolle is undersized at 5-10, but he's put together solidly.

Rookie Jarvis Jones also showed up as you would hope a No. 1 pick would. Jones had two tackles, including one on a screen in which he beat three blockers on third down to get to the running back.

Had Jones not made that shoestring tackle, it would have gone for a big gain and first down. He also recovered a fumble.

He does, however, need to work on his pass rush. You can see his strength show up, but he needs to develop some moves to get to the quarterback. Strength alone might have worked in college, but there are plenty of strong guys in the NFL.

I thought second-year safety Robert Golden was also solid, though you'd like to see him hold onto the football after making a nice read and jumping a pass at the line of scrimmage.

@ Offensively, the young receiving group of Justin Brown, Markus Wheaton, Derek Moye, Reggie Dunn and J.D. Woods all had their moments.

With Plaxico Burress now out of the picture, there are now likely two spots, maybe even three, open for those guys.

Wheaton, a third-round pick, obviously has one locked up.

That's going to be a nice battle for those final one or two spots.

@ The run defense, regardless of which unit was out there, was very good.

@ Conversely, the rest of the offensive reserves weren't very good, as expected.

The backup offensive line on this team is really poor, which is disappointing in many ways.

It seemed like late in the game, even Kelvin Beachum and John Malecki, two guys who will make this team, were being beaten.

But we'll chalk that up to the utter chaos that was happening around them. Both of those guys have looked better than that in training camp.

@ David Gilreath, with so many talented young wideouts in camp, it wasn't a good time to muff a punt - or field one inside your own 5.