Once again my fearless predictions for the Steelers second preseason game were not so hot.
Mason Rudolph may not play the entire first half but if a 2-minute drill arises he will get that drive. Wrong. Rudolph was done after 3 series. 8-9 but nothing to show for his accuracy, partially because of penalties plus a sack.
Chuks will give up a sack and social media panic will ensue.
Partially correct. The Rudolph sack was a jailbreak, not necessarily on him but he did commit a false start which turned a 3rd-and-2 into 3rd-and-7. Social media was not kind.
Josh Dobbs will look like the best of the 3 QBs who play. Wrong. Threw an ugly interception.
Najee Harris will carry the ball twice, catch a pass and make a nice block on a blitz pick-up. Correct! (mostly) 2 carries for 10 yards plus a 7-yard reception. Don’t remember a blitz pick up. Though.
Anthony McFarland will lead the team in touches and yards from scrimmage. Wrong but close. His 10 touches were tied for second behind Jaylan Samuels’ 11. 43 yards from scrimmage was 4th.
Anthony Johnson will be the leading receiver and catch (at least) one TD pass. Half-right. Only 3 catches but one was a touchdown
Zack Gentry will catch a TD pass. Wrong.
Matthew Sexton will have another impressive punt return … but it will be negated by a Calvin Bundage block-in-the-baCk. Wrong. Although Sexton’s 5-yard return was a gem compared to Isaiah McKoy’s return which LOST 7 yards.
Alex Highsmith will sack Jalen Hurts. Buddy Johnson will get a sack, so will Carlos Davis. Isaiah Buggs will bat down a pass. Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong
Philly’s Quez Watkins will score a TD against Justin Layne.
Yes and No. Watkins did score a long touchdown but it was at the expense of others. Later, Layne had an interception.
Tre Norwood will pick one off, so will James Pierre (this didn’t work last week so I’m trying again). Wrong – again.
Terrell Edmunds will force a fumble; Antoine Brooks will recover it. Wrong. Edmunds had 2 tackles but forced no turnovers. Brooks was held out due to injury
Bob Pompeani will do his best Larry Richert impersonation – Let’s go down on the field to Missi Matthews. Missi will interview Ben, Cam Heyward and JuJu. Correct! But she didn’t interview any of those guys.
We will be in bed by 10:30. Correct! A few minutes before, in fact.
For the second straight pre-season game I hit on a big one but there were an awful lot of misses. So much for fearless predictions. I may have to learn to live in my fears.