You've probably heard a thousand times how the pre-season games are meaningless. You can't put any stock in the outcome, and you can't judge the players by their performance with nothing on the line.

That may be true, but when your team has lost 15 out of their last 21 regular season games, a victory feels good any time of the year. Now I don't want to get too hyped up about this victory, (I did that after the Steelers beat the Bears in their first preseason game last year), but I do want to say I am happy about the way things looked.

It's funny, but if you read my commentary from last years preseason opener , this game was amazingly similar. The stars of last years show were Mike Vrabel, Joey Porter, and Deshea Townsend. The Offensive Line was in disarray, and a losing streak had just been broken.

On this night, a year later, Vrabel had a sack, and showed a glimpse of the pass rushing ability that made the Steelers draft him. Porter was around the QB all night, and came up with a big sack. Townsend had a couple of picks, and returned one for a TD that broke the game wide open. Injuries forced our Offensive Line into disarray, and the team won a game after losing 7 of their past 8.

The thing that separates this game from last year, was the overall play of the Offense. Kordell Stewart looked sharp and confident. Plaxico Burress seemed to be unstoppable. Malcolm Johnson continued to prove that he can be a big time target this year. Amos Zereoue showed what he can do when given the opportunity. Shar Pourdanesh was very sharp, and may have finally given the Steelers a Right Tackle they can count on.

There were lots of positives that came out on this night, and one of the most impressive was the lack of penalties. It was pretty frustrating last year to watch drive after drive killed by a holding penalty, or a false start. Seeing how this was a preseason game, I expected to see the rust come through early and often. The Steelers had 3 penalties all night. This is an attribute to Coach Cowhers disgust with these type of infractions. If he can continue to instill that kind of discipline throughout training camp, the teams fortunes may finally be on the verge of turning around.

Unfortunately, it will take a little more than one game to erase the memories of the past 2 years. There are too many question marks. Although Kordell looked sharp, it was a road game. Let's see what he does in front of the hostile fans at Three Rivers. And even if he shines in Pittsburgh, will he perform consistently?

Dermontti Dawson played in the first series last night, which was a good sign that he is feeling pretty good. But can he hold up for the whole year? We all know what happened to the running game while he was gone. And apart from Dawson, will our O-Line finally get some stability this year?

Probably the most pressing question is whether free agent acquisitions Kimo von Oelhoffen, and Chris Sullivan can successfully replace departed Joel Steed, and Orpheus Roye. If our Defensive Line can't play, it's going to be a long year. Fortunately, although we won't soon forget Steed and Roye, they have thus far proven more than adequate replacements.

Maybe these replacements, and the great play of our first team Offense is the reason we beat Dallas last night. Or maybe the play of Vrable, Townsend and Porter took the first step in putting the Defense back on the map. Or maybe it was just a meaningless game that we can't put too much emphasis on. Whatever, it felt good to beat the Cowboys, and it felt even better that the Steelers gave us some hope that things could be different this year.

by SteelerGil (July 31, 00)