Happy Friday to yinz and I hope the weekend is off to a great start everyone. I know mine certainly is.
The Pittsburgh Steelers closed out their 2019 preseason Thursday night with a loss to the Carolina Panthers and they’ll now cut their roster down to 53 active players by Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST. As usual, there figures to be a handful of tough decisions and especially when it comes to the linebacker and wide receiver positions. We’ll be tracking the roster cuts for yinz until the official initial 53-man roster is announced Saturday evening.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin will next address the media on Tuesday at noon EST and the team’s first official injury report of 2019 will be released Wednesday after practice is over. The Steelers firs regular season game of 2019 will take place Sunday night at Gillette Stadium against the New England Patriots. I’m fairly optimistic about the Steelers chances in that game especially considering all of the offensive line shuffling the Patriots are doing and the fact that they also have questions concerning their tight end position. I bet they trade for one soon.
Thank you to everyone that stuck with us throughout training camp and the preseason and we hope you enjoyed our coverage of both. We now look forward to bringing all of yinz comprehensive coverage of the Steelers 2019 regular season.
As usual, I have five questions for yinz to answer on this Friday night and I look forward to reading what all is written in the comments. Have a great rest of your weekend. I have a few more fantasy drafts on Saturday and Sunday that will be keeping me busy.
Peace and love to all of yinz and go Steelers!
1 – If you could only keep one of outside linebacker Tuzar Skipper and inside linebacker Ulysees Gilbert III on the Steelers 53-man roster, which one would you choose and why?
2 – Will Steelers rookie wide receiver Diontae Johnson be one of the team’s seven inactive players for the Week 1 game against the Patriots?
3 – Give each of the Steelers three backup quarterbacks this summer, Mason Rudolph, Joshua Dobbs and Devlin Hodges, letter grades for their play during the preseason.
4 – Will the Steelers Week 1 Sunday night 53-man roster be more than one player different from the one that’s established Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST?
5 – How many trades will the Steelers make after 8:00 a.m. EST Saturday and until kickoff of the game against the Patriots?
Recap of 2019 Preseason Game 3 Friday Night Questions
Question 1: Ben Roethlisberger played 19 snaps in the three offensive drives he led. 53.8% of Steelers Depot Friday Night Questions respondents correctly predicted Ben would NOT play more than 20 offensive snaps.
Question 2: The Steelers quarterbacks combined to throw 5 passes that traveled more than seven yards beyond the line of scrimmage and between the numbers on the field. A Titan defender tipped one pass at the line of scrimmage, but it ended up fluttering more than 7 yards. Only 15.4% of respondents got this question correct.
Question 3: Sutton Smith registered one full tackle Sunday night. However, it was on defense and not special teams. 73.1% of Steelers Depot respondents got this right by saying he would not record a solo special teams tackle.
Question 4: Respondents named six players who they believed would record the longest play (offense, defense, or special teams) Sunday night. Artie Burns & JuJu Smith-Schuster were named once each. Juju’s longest play was a 17-yard touchdown reception. Two folks picked Donte Moncrief whose longest play was a 7-yard reception. 14.8% liked Diontae Johnson’s chances but he did not play. 25.9% picked the other Diontae, Spencer that is. He gained 29 yards on a reverse for his longest play. Finally, 44.4% picked James Washington and he did not disappoint. His 41-yard touchdown catch was the longest play by a Steelers player Sunday night.
Question 5: Devin Hodges did not get to play Sunday night. He will get a chance on Thursday night, but we will have to wait until Week 1 of the regular season to see if he at least lands on the Steelers or another team’s practice squad. 92.3% of respondents believe he will be on a roster or at the very least a practice squad come week 1 of the regular season.
This Friday night (August 30) is the last practice run. Starting next Friday (September 6) responses will count toward the contest which will run through the Friday Night questions posed on the Friday before the Super Bowl (January 31, 2020). Once we score those answers, we will announce the winners. Only one profile name can accumulate points (no sharing between handles). Let’s keep it fun but we’ll offer a cash prize for the top three place finishers, but you must have a PayPal account. 1st – $100; 2nd – $75; 3rd – $25.
132 different folks have answered the Friday Night Questions during this past offseason and 2019 preseason. 42 are Steelers Depot Friday Night Questions respondents for the first time in 2019. Who is going take the big prize in 2020? Will it be a veteran or a rookie respondent? Answering every week increases your chances so don’t forget to answer the Friday Night 5 questions each week!
