Happy Friday to all of you and welcome to Memorial Day weekend.
How about a quick flashback to the five questions I asked you to answer a year ago?
The Pittsburgh Steelers have now concluded their first week of 2017 OTA practices and while we probably didn’t learn a lot of new things from the three practices, it was good to see wide receiver Martavis Bryant back practicing with the team once again. Additionally, while a few players appear to still be recovering from offseason surgeries, it doesn’t sound as though any of them are in any real jeopardy of starting training camp off on the team’s Active/PUP list. That obviously can change quickly, however, and besides, I dont remember the last time the team started a training camp without at least two or three players on that list. Next week the team will have their second round of OTA practices and hopefully we’re treated to a few more interesting interviews and practice reports.
I’m sure several of you watched Thursday night’s game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators. Man, I was on the edge of my seat from the middle of the third period and on and I must admit that once Ottawa tied the game late in the third period that I thought for sure the Penguins would wind up losing. I also would have given you great odds prior to the game that Chris Kunitz wouldn’t score two goals. The Nashville Predators are now up next for the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals and it will be disappointing if Pittsburgh doesn’t win the series.
On a personal note and while I won’t go into great detail, my wife recently had her Florida driver’s license suspended thanks to a mistake made by the Nevada DMV. Now, my wife has never had a ticket or an accident in her life and is as squeaky clean as they come. In short, she’s furious right now and has already spent several hours on the phone trying to get her Florida situation straightened out. It’s a pain when you have to fix an error that wasn’t your fault.
OK, it’s Friday and that means I have five new questions for yinz to answer and I hope several of you do just that in the comments below. Please have a very safe holiday weekend and think twice before you drive if you have consumed any alcohol.
Peace and love, peace and love!
1 – Over or under 20 sacks by the Steelers’ outside linebackers in 2017?
2 – Between cornerback Artie Burns and safety Sean Davis, which second-year player are you most excited about heading into 2017?
3 – True or false: Joshua Dobbs will pass Landry Jones up on the Steelers quarterback depth chart at some point during the 2017 season.
4 – How many rushing touchdowns will the Steelers have in 2017 that aren’t scored by running back Le’Veon Bell?
5 – Are you Team Scott Orndoff or Team Phazahn Odom?
Bonus: How many games will it take for the Penguins to win the Stanley Cup?
Last week’s five questions recap courtesy of David Orochena:
Question 1 – There is some skepticism of whether the front office knew before the draft that Ladarius Green may be cut before the OTA’s. Nearly 35% of respondents said, “no”, they did not know pointing to the lack of a tight end being drafted. It would have been interesting to see who the Steelers would have picked had David Nojoku still been on the board for the 30th selection.
Question 2 – The only unanimous selection to be a tight end on the week 1 53-man roster was Jesse James with 29 votes. Xavier Grimble wasn’t far behind with 27 votes and David Johnson had 24. Those three were the consensus to be the three tight ends on the initial roster. But the hidden answer was whether folks thought the Steelers would carry three or four tight ends. Almost 70% of the respondents believe only three would be carried; prior to that most thought four. Does this mean that a young wide receiver like Demarcus Ayers is kept in Pittsburgh? Will Todd Haley tinker with the offensive schemes in same way?
Question 3 – Most believe that Jesse James will have more receptions than JuJu Smith-Schuster by a 65% to 35% split. Some attribute this to Jesse being the “next man up” in the traditional tight end role of racking up short completions to make first downs. Other to JuJu being caught up in a numbers game being one wide receiver with three or four others cutting into his opportunities. Let’s hope both get 50+ receptions with multiple touchdowns.
Question 4 – We favor a change to the overtime rules by a large margin – 80%. While a lot of folks prefer the college rules some had other ideas. Two even favored eliminating overtime in the regular season. We were against a coin flip determining the winner.
Question 5 – Keion Adams was viewed by 70% of respondents as having the toughest path to making the 53-man roster.
Bonus question –It was a close vote. Seven answerers said Murray should start in goal last Friday night while five said the Pens should keep with Fleury. Matt Murray, it was and is; Penguins advance to the Stanley Cup final. In Mike Sullivan, we trust.
