Dennis Dixon shouldn't be a Pittsburgh Steeler.
Dixon was on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy in 2007. He had thrown for over 2,100 yards and rushed for nearly 600 yards at Oregon. He had thrown 20 TD passes and rushed for another nine touchdowns.
He was on his way. Then, he blew out his knee.
There went his season and his draft stock.
The Steelers were smart enough to take a chance on him on draft day. Today, I wonder if they were smart enough with their play calls with Dixon running the offense against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night.
Everyone should be impressed with Dixon's performance against the hated Ravens, and they shouldn't place the blame for the loss on his throw in overtime.
I can't help but feel that they didn't use his ability to run during the game.
He showed off his speed with his fourth-quarter touchdown run that briefly gave the Steelers the lead. Dixon also had a longer run called back.
Even if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was going to start up until the end of the week, there still was time to allow Dixon the ability to use one of his strengths.
In the first half, the Ravens appeared to sit back were prepared to stop Dixon from running. When the Steelers showed they weren't going to have Dixon run the ball, the Ravens brought the heat in the second half.
Maybe with an extra quarterback draw, a roll out or something to give the Ravens to think about in the second half might have opened things up some more in the later stages of the game.
I'm sure the coaches thought they were doing the right thing in not wanting to put too much pressure on him, but Dixon sure looked good running the ball.
And he looked like he wanted to win the game.
It just didn't work out for him.
Dixon was on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy in 2007. He had thrown for over 2,100 yards and rushed for nearly 600 yards at Oregon. He had thrown 20 TD passes and rushed for another nine touchdowns.
He was on his way. Then, he blew out his knee.
There went his season and his draft stock.
The Steelers were smart enough to take a chance on him on draft day. Today, I wonder if they were smart enough with their play calls with Dixon running the offense against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night.
Everyone should be impressed with Dixon's performance against the hated Ravens, and they shouldn't place the blame for the loss on his throw in overtime.
I can't help but feel that they didn't use his ability to run during the game.
He showed off his speed with his fourth-quarter touchdown run that briefly gave the Steelers the lead. Dixon also had a longer run called back.
Even if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was going to start up until the end of the week, there still was time to allow Dixon the ability to use one of his strengths.
In the first half, the Ravens appeared to sit back were prepared to stop Dixon from running. When the Steelers showed they weren't going to have Dixon run the ball, the Ravens brought the heat in the second half.
Maybe with an extra quarterback draw, a roll out or something to give the Ravens to think about in the second half might have opened things up some more in the later stages of the game.
I'm sure the coaches thought they were doing the right thing in not wanting to put too much pressure on him, but Dixon sure looked good running the ball.
And he looked like he wanted to win the game.
It just didn't work out for him.
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