Steelers notebook: Jones impresses under the lightswww.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/steelers-notebook-jones-impresses-under-the-lights-701368/ By Gerry Dulac / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Landry Jones has certainly proven one thing in his short tenure with the Steelers -- he plays better than he practices.
Jones, a record-setting quarterback at Oklahoma, never showed much at training camp at Saint Vincent College, overthrowing receivers and, at times, looking wildly inaccurate.
But there has been little, if any, resemblance to that player when Jones has been given a chance to play in preseason games. And he was given plenty of time to play in Thursday night's preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers.
Jones played the entire game and looked like a quarterback worthy of a fourth-round draft choice, passing for 133 yards and one touchdown in the first half. But Jones was disappointed the way the game ended, throwing three interceptions in the second half, including back to back in the third quarter.
"At the end of the day, you got to take care of the ball and not put your team in that," Jones said. "I just made some errant throws. It happens. I made some really bad decisions and, like I said, I can't put our team in that position."
With Ben Roethlisberger and Bruce Gradkowski watching from the sideline, Jones finished 16 of 35 for 189 yards. However, his passer rating was 36.5.
The Steelers have traditionally kept three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster and this year should be no exception. Jones, though, sounded as if he wasn't so sure.
"It was good to get in there and play for the whole game," he said. "I'm grateful the organization gave me the opportunity to play the whole game. We'll see where it goes."
The touchdown came on the opening series when he marched the offense 80 yards in eight plays, culminating the drive with a 13-yard touchdown to tight end David Paulson -- a play in which he found Paulson over the middle among three Panthers defenders.
In the second quarter, on third-and-5 from his 25, Jones stepped out of pressure and found receiver Derek Moye for a 32-yard gain to the Carolina 43.
On the first play of the following series, Jones connected again with Moye deep over the middle, this time for a 23-yard gain. Then, with time running out in the first half, Jones needed eight plays and a converted third-and-10 to set up Shaun Suisham's 37-yard field goal with four seconds left.
"I thought I moved around in the pocket well," Jones said. "There is a time to do that and a time to sit in there, and I was able to make some plays down the field."
Jones, though, did not look the same in the second half.
His first mistake came in the third quarter on third-and-2 at the Carolina 9 when his pass in the right flat for Moye was intercepted by cornerback Josh Norman and returned 70 yards to the Steelers 22, setting up a 40-yard field goal.
On the following series, he badly overthrew tight end Michael Palmer and safety Colin Jones made the interception.
"Some positive, some negative," said coach Mike Tomlin about Jones' performance. Then he added, "We'll see how he responds to that."