2016 Recall: That ugly end to the preseason

by Joe Kuzma (joe_kuzma) on February 25, 2017

Every preseason ends “ugly”.

Why is that?

It’s because of the long list of names, (i.e. starters, or “stars”) who sit out the final exhibition game to prepare for the regular season.

By the time teams reach their final preseason game, the previously bloated 90-man rosters have already been cut down to 75, and will soon be trimmed further to 53. That mean while a lot of starters aren’t playing, many hopefuls are getting an extended opportunity at game reps. That can be good, bad, or ugly, as Brian Roach writes in his recaps.

This game was most ugly.

Among those who did not play included:

Roosevelt Nix and Bud Dupree were also injured and M.I.A.

If you’re keeping track, a team fields 22 players: 11 on offense, and 11 on defense. There are substitutions as well, of course, but Mike Tomlin wasn’t playing around with the injury bug which has bitten him so often to start a season: 4 of the 5 starting offensive linemen sat completely, as did all of the penciled-in defensive starters for the season opener except for Javon Hargrave.

The only offensive starters to see reps were Alejandro Villanueva, Jesse James, and depending on the scenario, you could mark down Sammie Coates and Eli Rogers as “starters” also. Even some backups such as DeAngelo Williams (who was set to start the first three games of the season in place of the suspended Le’Veon Bell) were held back for this one.

This led to a rather mundane game which saw Daryl Richardson and Fitzgerald Toussaint carry the load at running back, behind a line consisting of Big Al, Chris Hubbard, B.J. Finney, Matt Feiler and Ryan Harris. You just know it’s going to be a rough game to watch when Landry Jones takes his helmet off after only two Steelers offensive possessions.

Once again Bryn Renner was under center from with about three and a half minutes remaining in the second quarter, until the finish, completing only 5 of his 11 passes for 39 yards, while the Steelers offense struggled it’s way to 122 total.

Yikes…

The lone bright spot on that side of the ball was Richardson’s 45 yards, one of which was a 26-yard long, and scoring the game’s only touchdown.

Yes, that was not a typo: Pittsburgh loses 18-6, as Carolina’s kicker Graham Gano covert all six of his field goal attempts. (It was like watching Chris Boswell against the Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Round, except, this wasn’t good football.)

On the defensive side of the ball, we finally got to see CB Artie Burns make his debut, with the 2016 first round pick looking as good as advertised. In fact, his near interception is really one of the only “plays of the game” we could find for this one; his talent was on display, and he looked immediately as though he belonged on the football field, even with backups of backups playing in this game.

Jordan Berry got plenty of work, punting 7 times, while Demarcus Ayers and Steven Johnson had a miscue on a punt return, which led to a muff and a turnover.

Ayers was also involved in a fumble following a reception earlier in the game, but recovered his own ball. RB Cameron Stingily wasn’t as fortunate, as the practice squad hopeful lost his fumble to the Panthers as well.

Seriously, if you need material to fall asleep at night, this game could serve as a sleep aid.