2018 NFL Week 3: Steelers Friday Night Five Questions

Happy Friday to yinz and welcome to the third weekend of the 2018 NFL regular season.

Well, the Pittsburgh Steelers enter their Monday night game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers still winless on the season and I surely didn’t see that coming. Now, the upcoming game against the Buccaneers that most of us thought would be an easy win for the Steelers looks anything but that as we sit here Friday night. While I don’t personally consider this game against the Buccaneers a must-win game being as it’s out of conference, it surely wouldn’t hurt my feelings to see them leave Tampa with their first W just the same.

I know I probably shouldn’t have, but besides me having a few nickels on the Cleveland Browns minus 3.5-points Thursday night, I found myself rooting for the home team to beat the New York Jets in the second half even if they didn’t cover. It was interesting to see Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield get on the field and bring his team back from 14-points down. The Browns defense is good enough to keep Cleveland in some games this season and it looks like Mayfield might just be good enough to keep the offense in a few as well. They might not end the season in the AFC North basement after all and their Week 8 road game against the Steelers looks a lot more interesting as well now that Mayfield is likely their new starter moving forward.

As usual, I have five questions for yinz to answer on this September Friday night and hope several of you can do so.

Have a fantastic and safe weekend and we look forward to covering the Steelers Monday night road game against the Buccaneers for you from top to bottom. Peace and love, peace and love!

1 – Buccaneers quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has already thrown for 819 yards in the first two games of the season. Will he exceed 320 yards passing Monday night against the Steelers defense?

2 – I think Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster could be in for another nice game Monday night against the Buccaneers. Will he have a touchdown reception longer than 29 yards Monday night in Tampa?

3 – Steelers running back James Conner has averaged 128.5 yards per game in total offense in the first two games. Will he be over or under that average Monday night against the Buccaneers?

4 – True or false: At least two of these things will occur during the Monday night game between the Steelers and Buccaneers: (safety, missed kicked extra point, onside kick, blocked punt, failed two-point conversion attempt)

5 – Multiple choice: Which team will record at least 3 sacks Monday night? a) Steelers b) Buccaneers c) Both d) Neither

Recap of 2018 NFL Week 2 Friday Night Five Questions

Question 1 – Unfortunately, 78.4% of Steelers Depot respondents correctly predicted that Tyreek Hill would get more than one offensive explosive plays (defined as 20 yards or longer). Hill burned Artie Burns for 36 yards on the Chiefs first offensive play of the 2^nd half. Hill also scored Kansas City’s last touchdown at the beginning of the 4^th quarter with a 29-yard catch. Besides those two explosive plays, Hill had three other shorter receptions and one punt return for just 6 yards.

Question 2 – James Washington caught at least three passes, but penalties negated two – one on Pittsburgh and the other on Kansas City. So, officially the Catcher in Chief is credited with one reception versus Kansa City. It was a clutch play on 3^rd and 10 from the 14-yard line that tied the game at 21 apiece with 18 seconds left in the first half. Only 37.8% of respondents got this right.

Question 3 – Stevan Ridley only played three offensive snaps so there was no opportunity for the 67.6% of respondents who took the over on Ridley getting 4.5 touches. He ended up with two touches, a 2-yard run and 5-yard reception on a fruitless drive that ended with Jordan Berry punting the ball in the 3^rd quarter.

Question 4 – The over/under for total points scored in the Steelers/Chiefs game had the closest vote: 51.4-48.6%. The slight majority who took the over on 53.5 points were rewarded with a 79-point basketball score.

Question 5 – 81.1% of respondents tapped in a “gimme” as Joshua Dobbs predictably did not play a single snap against the Chiefs. The minority were not necessarily betting on a Ben Roethlisberger injury to force a Dobbs appearance; there were the optimistic few who thought he would appear in a victory formation.

Steelers Depot headquarters in Las Vegas has directed a weekly bonus of 5 extra points awarded for getting all 5 questions correct. Four of 74 respondents swept the board. Kudos to DirtDawg1964, Johnny Loose, GreenBastard and B&G.

Six new entries enter the leaderboard. There have been 97 different screen names to answer questions in the 1^st two weeks. With no wins yet, there will be a dip in number of respondents. Those that persevere and keep answering will climb the ranks. LET’S GO!

The Leaderboard after Week 2:

*new to leaderboard