Happy Friday to all of you once again and welcome to the weekend.
The 2017 NFL season got underway Thursday night and we were treated to the New England Patriots losing at home to the Kansas City Chiefs 42-27 at home. Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith had a very solid game as did rookie running back Kareem Hunt, who fumbled on his very first NFL carry. Defensively, Justin Houston looked very healthy for the Chiefs. Kansas City, however, did suffer a meaningful injury Thursday night as safety Eric Berry has now been lost for the remainder of the season after tearing his Achilles. You really hate to see that happen to any player and especially to him.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will get their 2017 season underway on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns and that’s a game they’re expected to win big. It would be nice to see them do just that and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger usually plays well against the Browns on the road. Sunday will mark the first time that Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant and Le’Veon Bell have all been on the field together since Week 8 of the 2015 season. That’s something to really get excited about.
As usual, I have five questions for all of you to answer in the comments below and I hope several of you have time to do just that.
Have a great weekend and if you are currently in the path of the hurricane, please stay safe.
Peace and love, peace and love and Go Steelers!
1 – Of tight ends Jesse James and Vance McDonald, which one will have played the highest percentage of total offensive snaps by I of the regular season and what will that top percentage be?
2 – How many sacks will Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt, Javon Hargrave and Tyson Alualu combine to have during the 2017 regular season?
3 – What will the Patriots 2017 regular season record be?
4 – What will the Steelers 2017 regular season record be?
5 – Which two teams will play in this year’s AFC Championship game?
Bonus – Which player currently on the Steelers 53-man roster will Bell replace on Saturday when he is activated from the exempt list?
Recap last week’s Friday night questions per David Orochena:
Question 1 – Although the Steelers briefly had five safeties when they acquired J.J. Wilcox; Jordan Dangerfield was waived injured the next day. 62 % got this answer correct. 21 folks received one point. Well done!
Question 2 – Readers named nine different players who they thought should be on the roster but would not make it. 62% of us selected players who did make the roster, so should be happy. Those players were Justin Hunter (8), Mike Hilton (5), Xavier Grimble (2), Arthur Moats (1), Matt Feiler (4) & Brian Allen (2). Nine folks had correct answers: Ross Cockrell (4); Senquez Golson (4) & Demarcus Ayers (1). Phil Brennenman II only receives half credit since he hedged and picked two players and only one was correct. Everyone else got one point.
Question 3 – We believe Joe Haden will play for the Steelers in 2018 by a decisive 26-7 margin. A couple people hedged with one saying it will either be Le’Veon Bell or Joe Haden that stay with the tam but nor both – guess this is a salary cap issue. No points awarded for this question.
Question 4 – Where is the love for Xavier Grimble? Only six folks opted to keep Xavier on the roster out of 34 votes cast. Larry Kraus; Alan Tman; Steeler-Drew; Michael Mosgrove; SkoolHouseRoxx and me all get a point for believing in Xavier.
Question 5 – As of this writing; Stephon Tuitt has not signed a contract extension but the team has not left for Cleveland yet – they may not be boarding a plane at all if they go by bus but we’ll use departure from Pittsburgh as the deadline. There are signs that he will sign but it must be done before the team leaves Pittsburgh on Saturday to earn a point. 25 folks said True it will happen; and 9 said False.
There is a 10-way tie for first place with question 5 still pending. So, Jeff Kotova, Brad Wealand, Alan Tman, Steeler-Drew, Josh Cummings, Reader783, Michael Mosgrove, Jeff Papiernik, Shane Mitchell & yours truly share top billing with 2 points each on the Steelers Friday Night Five Questions leaderboard!
