Roethlisberger does not play; Tomlin starts Leftwich at QB in first tune-up
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Lawrence Timmons wraps up Detroit's Jahvid Best in the first half before the rains came to Heinz Field just before halftime Saturday night. -
Dennis Dixon dazzled with his legs and his arm, accounting for more than 160 yards of offense.
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The Steelers' first preseason game included a lightning delay of one hour, 13 minutes and at least a one-week delay until anyone gets to see Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin ended a mystery Saturday night that began to take shape in April when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Roethlisberger for at least the first four games of the regular season.
When would Roethlisberger play in the preseason and how much? The early answer: Not at all. Tomlin started the quarterback who is likely to start the regular season -- Byron Leftwich.
Leftwich completed 6 of 10 passes for 43 yards before giving way to Dennis Dixon as the Steelers defeated the Detroit Lions, 23-7, at Heinz Field.
Dixon completed 6 of 7 passes for 128 yards and one touchdown for a perfect passer rating of 158.3. He also ran six times for 31 yards. Charlie Batch replaced Dixon with 4:12 left.
"With the number of snaps that we anticipated the first offense running, it just wasn't appropriate to play him," Tomlin reasoned as to why he did not play Roethlisberger. "He wanted to play, he was ready to play, he's had an awesome training camp so far. It just wasn't in the cards for him based on those circumstances. We're not interested in sending Ben Roethlisberger out there with the second group the first time out."
Roethlisberger left the locker room after the game without commenting.
An intriguing sidebar to the decision at quarterback was the Steelers' obvious attempts to run against the Lions. They have been resolute about returning to their once-powerful ground game since team president Art Rooney strongly suggested they do that this season.
They ran 16 times in the first half and threw it 11 times. They ran it from the shotgun, they ran when they might have thrown the ball last season. Isaac Redman was the star of this ground-breaking effort. Dubbed "Red Zone" last year for his ability to score near the goal line, Redman did it all Saturday night.
First Published August 15, 2010 12:00 am
