Steelers coach Mike Tomlin also indicated he would keep most of his team’s top players on the sidelines Friday night. Several Steelers defenders shot into the backfield unblocked, and it eventually cost the Lions. However, his last third down resulted in a James Harrison strip sack and an Arthur Moats recovery. The second unit didn’t look that much better, although both Glasgow and Dahl did flash positively at times. The Steelers failed to convert a first down in their first three drives – sans Ben Roethlisberger – and only had 15 yards in the entire first quarter.
Advertisement
Then within the first minute of the second quarter, Dan Orlovsky was pressured by Ricardo Matthews and forced a throw which fell into the hands of Doran Grant, who took it 38 yards to the house. The defense looked fine, although with key Steelers out and the Lions down four starters as well, it wasn’t a completely accurate representation.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Sammie Coates (14) fails to come up with a catch against the Detroit Lions during the first half of an NFL preseason football game in Pittsburgh, Pa, on Friday, Aug. 12, 2016. It all culminated in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Landry Jones to Darrius Heyward-Bey on a fade route, with Heyward-Bey showing his great field awareness as he barely got two feet down in the back of the end zone.
The second half – like it tends to be in the preseason – was pretty uneventful.
The Steelers have a lot of weapons and while it may be an enormous stretch to think they’ll have their starting offense, or even second-team offense out there for too long in tonight’s contest; it’s still worth noting that this presents a good opening challenge and test for the Lions defense. Washington, the Lions’ seventh-round pick out of Notre Dame, showed his speed and elusiveness in the open field with a 96-yard kick return for touchdown.
But the Lions weren’t done. Rudock, who finished 8 of 11 for 72 yards and a score, hit Jace Billingsley with a 27-yard touchdown on third-and-9.
Advertisement
Who got hurt? Reserve linebacker Zaviar Gooden was injured in the third quarter and taken to the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion. However, Detroit escaped the game mostly unscathed and that was essentially the most important thing to come from Friday’s game. The fact that the Lions looked decent was a nice cherry on top.
