I almost forgot it’s Friday. By the way, Happy Friday to all of yinz.
Ok, the Pittsburgh Steelers preseason is now over and we’ll know what the team’s initial 53-man roster will look like by this same time Saturday. A few names of players being released are already starting to leak out but don’t look for the Steelers to officially confirm any of them until Saturday evening.
As usual, the second half of the preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers was pretty brutal to have to watch outside of the final drive. At least we were treated to a prize after suffering through the first 28-plus minutes of the second half.
Ok, it’s Friday and that means I have five questions for you to answer and hopefully several of you take time to do just that in the comments.
Have a great holiday weekend and please stay safe.
Peace and love, peace and love!
1 – Do you think the Steelers will ultimately keep five total safeties on their 53-man roster because of the Thursday night injury suffered by Jordan Dangerfield and with Mike Mitchell currently working his way back from his early training camp injury?
2 – Name the one player who you think absolutely should be on the initial 53-man roster who ultimately won’t be.
3 – Will new cornerback Joe Haden play for the Steelers in 2018?
4 – Are you keeping tight end Xavier Grimble on the 53-man roster if you are the Steelers?
5 – True or false: The Steelers will sign defensive end Stephon Tuitt to a contract extension prior to the team boarding their plane to Cleveland.
Recap last week’s Friday night questions per David Orochena:
Question 1 – The consensus of the Steelers Depot Black & Gold focus group is that the Steelers will retain nine linebackers. There was unanimity on keeping Bud Dupree, James Harrison, TJ Watt, Ryan Shazier and Vince Williams. Three are very safe Anthony Chickillo, Art Moats & LJ Fort would be retained by 95.7% but would be candidates to lose the position battle if only eight linebackers kept. Steve Johnson was the longshot with only 17.4% in favor of keeping him.
Question 2 – Brian Allen will not make the Steelers initial 53-man roster according to 78% of respondents. Most believe he is destined for the practice squad. The acquisition of Joe Haden would probably drive this figure even higher.
Question 3 – Joe Haden was not an option last week. Ross Cockrell was favored by 61% to play opposite Artie Burns while Coty Sensabaugh got 37% of the votes. Venture to say that both would be near zero and Joe Haden plugged across from Burns. The question now is whether Cockrell or Sensabaugh is cut. Wow, from starter to cut; thin margins for success or failure for these two.
Question 4 – Landry Jones blew our median response of 8.5 completions. Michael Mosgrove came closest with his prediction of Jones completing 18 passes. Either we don’t have much confidence in Landry as a group or did not think he would play that much.
Question 5 – Team Knile just barely edged out Team Neither 38-34 percent while Team Fitz lagged with 28%. A Team Watson entry would likely have won this race.
Preseason is over; the team will make cuts to 53-man roster tomorrow and is preparing for their season opener.
I will try to keep track of results through the entire 2017 season beginning with tonight’s questions.
Last year Phil Brenneman II won honors. Yours truly was 2nd with Kevin Schwartz, PaeperCup and Matt Manzo finishing off the top 5 prognosticators. Phil answered the Friday Night Questions in all 21 weeks of the regular season and playoffs last year. Consistency and accuracy was the key to his success; you have to play to win. Good luck!
