2018 NFL Week 15: Steelers Friday Night Five Questions

Happy Friday to all of yinz and welcome to Week 15.

The annual college bowl season gets underway on Saturday and as usual, we’ll have small previews of each and every game as we slowly start shifting some of our site focus to players that are likely to be selected in the 2019 NFL Draft.

The Pittsburgh Steelers will host the New England Patriots on Sunday and it’s an important game for them. A win on Sunday combined with a loss by the Baltimore Ravens would give the Steelers some much-needed breathing room in the AFC North with two weeks remaining. Additionally, should the Houston Texans also lose on Sunday the Steelers will still have a tiny shot at a first-round playoff bye if they can beat the Patriots as the Kansas City Chiefs have already lost in Week 15.

I am headed out to another doctor appointment on this Friday evening to go over some more health problems. I should live through the weekend, however, so there’s that to be thankful for. As usual, I have five questions for yinz to answer ahead of the Steelers game kicking off on Sunday at home and hopefully several will do just that in the comments below.

Have a great and safe weekend and peace and love to all of yinz!

Go Steelers!

1 – The Patriots are averaging 28 points per game this season. Will the Steelers hold them under that average Sunday at Heinz Field?

2 – Who will have more receptions Sunday? Antonio Brown or JuJu Smith-Schuster? How many will the leader record?

3 – Will Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski register at least 90 yards receiving on Sunday against the Steelers?

4 – Will the Steelers running backs combine to have more than 15 carries on Sunday against the Patriots?

5 – Will at least one interception from Sunday’s game from either quarterback come via a pass thrown more than 30 yards in the air past the original line of scrimmage?

Recap of Week 14 Friday Night 5 Questions

Question 1 – Only two people predicted the Steelers would lose to the Raiders. Steel Realist Paul & RangerBrigade picked up the points and are the only folks eligible for the 5-point bonus if the rest of their picks are correct.

Question 2 – Jaylen Samuels & Stevan Ridley combined for 32 yards rushing plus Samuels added 64 more receiving. The 96 combined yards was well below 125 total yards between the two back-up running backs. 61.5% of respondents correctly said they would not achieve that amount.

Question 3 – The Raiders only recorded one sack but it was significant. On the Steelers 3^rd drive of the game, Ben was sacked on a 3^rd and 9 play from the 15-yard line. Chris Boswell ended up missing a 39-yard field goal attempt on the following play. This is the play Ben was injured though he did stay in to lead the Steelers on a 9-play 53-yard drive to end the first half with a touchdown. 59.6% of respondents correctly said the Steelers offensive line would not keep a clean sheet.

Question 4 – Only three Steelers were credited with sacks. However, Derek Carr’s fumble was counted as a team sack by the NFL so the Steelers totaled 4 sacks. 63.5% got this correct.

Question 5 – Up until the final offensive play of the game, Pittsburgh’s longest play from scrimmage was a 23-yard reception to Jaylen Samuels. On that final play, Ben Roethlisberger completed a pass to James Washington who lateralled to JuJu after gaining 5 yards. JuJu went 43 yards before going out of bounds which ended up being the Steelers longest run or reception of the day. He had the most votes with 42.3%. Antonio Brown was next with 37.6%. James Washington had 13.5%. Vance McDonald & Ryann Switzer were also mentioned.

Bonus question – The question of whether Jared Cook would have at least one reception against the Steelers of at least 25 yards was answered on the second play of the game. His first catch went for 30 yards. Six of his seven catches resulted in first downs. 64% got this right.

Five folks are in the running for the weekly bonus. The GreenBastard, Earl, Wes Lee, Kevin Schwartz & ImMikeD all scored six points this week and will get five more if they correctly predicted the Steelers record for the last four games of the regular season. The Ranger Brigade also scored six points. Kudos to all for leading the pack.

NOTE: The Pro Bowl results from Week 11 will be incorporated into the scores next week.

The Leaderboard after Week 14:

*New to leaderboard