Game 10: Packers 13, Steelers 9

Steelers TV crew is Bob (Volcano) Pompeani and Edmund (Who?) Wilson.

Mike Tomlin's charges continue to take preseason very seriously, trying to set a physical tone early. The Steelers actually zone blitz on the first play of the game, dropping Casey Hampton into coverage. Largest. Pass Defender. Ever. Packers 3-and-out with Troy Polamalu hitting Brett Favre as he throws for an incompletion.

Big Ben starts, despite somebody stepping on his foot or something. Maybe he shouldn't have. Cullen Jenkins beats Marvel Smith on 3rd down, slaps the ball out of Ben's hand and falls on it for the turnover. Sack/fumble/recovery trifecta for Jenkins.

Packers get nowhere after the turnover. There's a confusing 2nd down play the Pittsburgh TV crew didn't even get on camera, apparently a fumbled snap. Polamalu breaks up the 3rd down pass to force another Packer punt.

THE HELL? We skipped a play earlier; now NFL Network has cut out a whole possession, skipping almost four minutes of the first quarter. NFL.com tells us the Steelers got a first down and punted, and Nate Washington actually held on to a pass this week. Najeh Davenport got clogged for no gain on 3rd-and-1. Daniel Sepulveda, a great college punter who'll be a stern test of my "Never Draft A Kicker!" edict, hits a sloppy punt but gets 50 yards after the roll.

The Packer team song? How 'bout "Road To Nowhere," as they 3-and-out for the 3rd straight time, with Donald Driver dropping Favre's pass on 3rd down.

Charlie Batch now at QB for Pittsburgh. He opens with a freakin' 60-yard pass OFF HIS BACK FOOT that Washington nearly hauls in with a circus catch. We get the one-millionth 3rd-down pass short of the 1st down this weekend, and cue the punter.

FOUR 3-and-outs now for the Packers. Darryn Colledge is flagged for holding, then Favre throws a pass for Greg Jennings so bad I have no idea what he was even trying to do. Apparently deciding to give up with over 48 minutes still left to play, the Packers run on 3rd-and-a-mile and get nothing.

Davenport bowls outside for 21 behind a Kendall Simmons block. Jenkins rings up his second sack, dropping Batch for -8, but Batch answers with a 41-yard TD pass to Walter Young, who benefits from a Travis Fisher-quality tackle attempt by Atari Bigby and a terrible angle taken by Marviel Underwood. The point after is blocked, so let's hear it for Steelers special teams coach Bob Ligashesky, what do you say?

Aaron Rodgers now at QB for Pittsburgh. At the start of the 2nd quarter, his third down pass is poor, low and nearly intercepted by Ricardo Colclough. FIVE 3-and-outs for Green Bay now.

Batch hits Santonio Holmes with a 49-yard bomb. That ball hung up some and it was another horrible play on Bigby's part that Holmes got to catch it. The bomb got Pittsburgh down to the Packer 12, but Brady Poppinga stuffed a Kevin Barlow run, and the Packers had the main options covered in the end zone on 3rd down, so the Steelers settle for a Jeff Reed FG and a 9-0 lead.

The Packers FINALLY get their first 1st down, 4 minutes into the 2nd, but that's all for the time being. Brandon Jackson only gets 1 on 2nd-and-6 and Rodgers' deep pass for Robert Ferguson is incomplete.

Brian St. Pierre at QB for Pittsburgh. Barlow gains 17 around end, but gets stuffed on 2nd down two plays later, and on 3rd down, KGB smoked Max Starks and took down BSP.

After a nice 20-yard scramble by Rodgers, Green Bay gets nothing going, with a brutal drop by Bubba Franks on 3rd down. Jon Ryan's punt goes out of bounds at the Steeler 3.

St.Pierre gets the Steelers some room with a 3rd-down completion to Willie Reid for 14, but can't scramble out of trouble on the next 3rd down. Sepulveda looks great, nailing a 59-yard punt to pin the Packers back.

Packers put together a drive in the final 2:00. Noah Herron runs for 14 and makes a catch for 13. Rodgers hits James Jones over the middle for 25. Ruvell Martin gets them inside the 20 with a catch, (thanks also to Rodgers moving well in the pocket) and appears to catch a TD with 0:15 left, but he's ruled to have stepped out the back of the end zone before making the catch. Packers settle for a Dave Rayner FG and go into halftime down 9-3.

It's the 3rd quarter now, and the Green Bay broadcast takes over, with Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon.

Nothing doing for Pittsburgh out of halftime, as Will Blackmon breaks up a 3rd-down floater from BSP to Matt Spaeth.

Rodgers appears to have a connection with Ruvell Martin, hitting him for 9 and 19 during Green Bay's first drive of the half. A 15-yard face mask puts Green Bay in scoring range. Shaun Bodiford's 18-yard catch puts them inside the 10. Rodgers finishes off an excellent drive with a 2-yard fade to Carlyle Holiday over Anthony Madison. Packers now lead, 10-9.

Pittsburgh gets one first down but is done thanks to a brutal Willie Reid drop and a BSP throwaway under pressure on 3rd down. The TV crew intersperses its on-the-field coverage with a booth interview of - coach Mike McCarthy's father.

An 18-yard DPI on William Gay gets Green Bay out of a hole. Brandon Jackson weaves through the middle for 17. First real impact play from him tonight. He makes another one two plays later, slanting inside behind some good blocking for 14. The Steelers knock down a 3rd down pass at the line to force a long FG attempt, which Mason Crosby hits from 52 to give Green Bay a 13-9 lead.

Oh God, did I just hear Kevin Harlan say Aaron Rodgers has looked "tight"?

Pittsburgh's 2nd half looking a lot like Green Bay's first half. BSP running for his life, gets sacked by Justin Harrell on 2nd down. 123-kick for the Steelers, who had 1 first down this quarter.

Packers cross midfield but Rodgers is flushed out of bounds for a loss on 2nd down, and Holiday slips and falls on his cut for a 3rd down incompletion and a punt.

Gary Russell might be the best RB the Steelers have suited up tonight. He rushed for almost 50 yards before Larry Birdine (from Oklahoma, not French Lick) charged unblocked right up the middle to sack BSP. Steelers intended to go for it on 4th-and-13 but relented after a false start.

It'll do Mike Mayock's heart good to see Ingle Martin in the game for Green Bay. Corey White is the tailback. Martin scrambles for a first down. They chew about five minutes off the clock behind White and punt with 4:40 left.

Sideline reporter Jessie Garcia gives a hilarious explanation for those ugly green dots that are on the QB's helmets now. Her explanation was fine; the reason is hilarious. The dot is so the referees can identify which helmets have the radio units the coaches use to talk to the QBs. There's a new rule this year that the holder on placekicks can't have that helmet on. It's to prevent teams from gaining an unfair advantage and calling fake kicks over the radio at the last possible second. It takes paranoia at the genius level to think this kind of stuff up. OK, was Mike Martz the one who raised this issue?

Meanwhile, the Steelers dink and dunk their way out to midfield before turning the ball over on downs.

Paul Thompson gets to run out the clock for the Packers at QB.

Not quite; Pittsburgh gets the ball back at the 20 with 0:26 left. They get knocked back to the 10 on a holding penalty. They can only get out to their 35 before time expires.

Like the Chiefs, the Packers are a team best known for an offensive player, but whose identity has to come from its defense to do well this year. Cullen Jenkins along with Kampmann and spot duty by KGB make the Packer d-line a real threat. And it needs to be, because it looks like their secondary has significant issues. Speaking of which, there's the whole Panther offense. They are going to struggle to run if Brandon Jackson continues to look like just-a-guy. And this has to be the year they take Favre aside and tell him "we're starting the other guy." Aaron Rodgers looks like the better QB at this point.

Pittsburgh didn't leave me much to go on. Mike Tomlin still has the team playing aggressively. Batch may be the league's best backup QB. Santonio Holmes looks ready to contribute with regularity.

10 down, 55 to go. Up next: Big Dead @ Raiders.