2019 NFL Week 3: Steelers Friday Night Five Questions

Happy Friday, yinz!

I hope everyone’s weekend is off to a great start. I know mine is.

What a crazy week it’s been for the Pittsburgh Steelers and their fans. Not only did the team lose quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the remainder of the 2019 regular season due to an elbow injury, they also traded a first-round draft pick to the Miami Dolphins Monday night for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Second-year quarterback Mason Rudolph is now the Steelers starter moving forward and that means the team will get a great opportunity to evaluate him. Hopefully he can win a few games in the process. Who knows, maybe he can somehow help the team to a playoff spot.

The New England Patriots released wide receiver Antonio Brown on Friday and that move doesn’t surprise me one bit. I knew he wouldn’t last all season with the Patriots. That might be the end of his NFL career. Hopefully he gets himself some help.

As usual, I have five questions for yinz to answer starting Friday night and up until the Sunday kickoff between the Steelers and the San Francisco 49ers. I look forward to reading all responses.

It’s been a most fantastic week on the site and podcast and I thank all of yinz who have read and listened. Now all we need is for the Steelers to start winning some games and hopefully they get their first one of 2019 on Sunday against the 49ers.

Have a safe and blessed weekend and peace and love to all of yinz.

Go Steelers!

1 – Predict the 2019 regular season game in which new Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick intercepts his first pass should he indeed register one.

2 – Over/under 265.5 passing yards for Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph against the 49ers?

3 – Will the Steelers defense give up a touchdown of OVER 20 yards to the 49ers on Sunday?

4 – Name the Steelers player who will have the longest play from scrimmage (run or reception) on Sunday against the 49ers.

5 – How many games will the Steelers win between now and their bye week. (49ers, Bengals, Ravens Chargers)

Recap of 2019 NFL Week 2 Friday Night Questions

Question 1: The Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks combined to score seven touchdowns in their week 2 matchup. Rashaad Penny ran for a 37-yard touchdown on a 3^rd & 2 play. It was frustrating as Anthony Chickillo appeared to be in position to tackle Penny in the backfield to force a field goal attempt. Unfortunately, Penny juked Chickillo and sprinted outside with Russell Wilson leading him as a blocker. Steelers Depot respondents started strong with 85.9% correctly answering that the longest touchdown by either team would be longer than 34.5 yards.

Question 2: The Steelers converted 3 of 11 3^rd downs into first downs. James Conner rushed for a one-yard touchdown. Benny Snell had a 23-yard run and JuJu Smith-Schuster caught a 45-yard pass from Mason Rudolph. Those two plays were Pittsburgh’s only offensive explosive plays of 20-yards or more. The combined total of these three categories is 6. Respondents put their thinking caps on and 78.1% correctly predicted that Pittsburgh would be under 13.5.

Question 3: We did not have to wait long to learn which Steeler’s defensive player would record the first sack of Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. On Seattle’s first drive of the game, TJ Watt dropped Wilson for an 8-yard loss forcing the Seahawks to punt. Respondents named eight different Steelers who they predicted would get the 1^st sack. 21.9% of respondents got this right.

Question 4: The Steelers first two offensive plays Sunday were a 5-yard pass to Vance McDonald followed by a James Conner run that went for no gain. 23.4% said the first two plays would be run/run. 26.6% said run/pass. 21.9% said pass/pass. A narrow plurality of 28.1% correctly said that the Steelers first two plays would be a pass followed by a run.

Question 5: This is a painful answer. 79.7% of respondents predicted Ryan Switzer gaining more receiving yards than his total punt return yards divided in half. Switzer caught one pass and returned one punt. His punt return went from one yard and divided in half amounts to a half yard. That paltry return exceeded his receiving total since his only catch went for no gain. Four people answered the first 4 questions correctly but missed out on the 5-point bonus since he could not even squeak out 1 yard receiving. Another three folks did say he would have more punt return yards divided in half but missed out on the bonus since they did not select TJ Watt to record the first sack.

Sorry folks, these aren’t gimmes.

Initial Leaderboard after week 2:

*new to leaderboard