The Todd Haley era on Steelers offense opened last night in preseason vs. the Eagles. By all reports, the Steelers offense looked different, featuring a short passing game and a more even mix of passes and runs.

While that is good news, it must be tempered with the bad.

The objective of any preseason game, coming even before evaluating talent under “Live Fire” circumstances, is to avoid injury.

On that front the Steelers were not so fortunate:

• Fullback/tight end David Johnson was injured on the game’s first series
• Rookie left tackle Michael Adams was injured on the game’s second series
• Reserve running back Jonathan Dwyer also was injured

Little is known about the extent of the three injuries, but David Johnson’s looks to be the worst.

All three Pittsburgh quarterbacks looked strong. Ben Roethlisberger played for one series which consumed 10 minutes off of the clock. Byron Leftwich finished out the second half, and rookie Jerrod Johnson played the entire second half, and looked fairly good – judging by the stats sheet.

Another rookie to make an impact was Chris Rainey, who took a short pass and ran it 57 yards to the house.

The Steelers ultimately fell 23-21 to the Eagles in a game that saw the lead change twice in the fourth quarter.

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