2019 Recall: Steelers “Dress Rehearsal” goes well while NBC’s “Sky Cam” falls flat
Steel City Underground presents our 2019 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
The final game of Week 3 of the 2019 NFL preseason say the Pittsburgh Steelers play in a monsoon at the Tennessee Titans.
This game, played in primetime on NBC, is often referred to as a “dress rehearsal”, since most of the Steelers starters would play sparingly for their only reps in the league’s four exhibition games prior to the regular season.
But that’s not the reason why anyone would remember the usually unmemorable preseason games. No, this game will pop back into fans’ minds because of NBC’s boneheaded decision to subject everyone watching at home to their innovative Sky Cam. The idea was a bust: the equivalent of watching the game from nosebleed seats. Worse, it was used on every play except for a short period where it broke: fans on social media honestly believed that NBC had heard their criticism and pulled the concept early, only to see it return later when it was fixed.
That left a lot of fans wondering where the ball was, who was on the field, and otherwise unable to traditionally follow what the heck was going on. Regardless, all of the Steelers starters were present and accounted for, even if you couldn’t tell. All of the usual suspects were playing, including Ben Roethlisberger, who had yet to throw a ball yet in the preseason.
Stephon Tuitt scored the Steelers first points with a sack/safety of Titans QB Marcus Mariota. Tuitt would explode for two sacks total in the game.
The rest of the defense was under a microscope, with free agent Steven Nelson shutting down anyone in his direction and AAF castoff Kam Kelly receiving an ample amount of playing time. The inside linebackers were being viewed as well, with Vince Williams, free agent Mark Barron, and rookie Devin Bush alternating plays.
While the defense did its job, the offense took a couple of series to find their groove. They started the game with the ball, but didn’t do anything through two possessions.
Following the Tuitt sack, they would finally get going on a 9-play, 58-yard drive that finished with a 17-yard Roethlisberger to Smith-Schuster touchdown connection.
Mason Rudolph entered the game with 2:37 left in the half, and would connect on a touchdown pass of his own. On the second play of the drive, Rudolph hit former college teammate James Washington for a 41-yard touchdown, putting the Steelers up by an odd 15 points to the Titans zero.
This is how the play looked on “Sky Cam”:
Strong connection. 😎@Rudolph2Mason | @JamesWashington pic.twitter.com/SG5hshWMV5
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 26, 2019
Rudolph received the entire third quarter to prove he could be the team’s backup in 2019, while Joshua Dobbs entered with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Following the Washington touchdown, neither quarterback generated much offense. While Dobbs was able to generate a field goal drive capped off by Chris Boswell’s camp competitor, Matthew Wright, each passer threw a pick and ended with similar numbers once again. Rudolph would complete 6-of-9 passes for 75 yards while Dobbs completed 4-of-9 for 79: however, Dobbs didn’t throw a touchdown pass and ended the game with a 36.1 rating, all but losing his battle for the backup spot to Rudolph (who finished with a 89/9 rating).
Tuzar Skipper continued his preseason hype with a strip-sack of Titans QB Logan Woodside, increasing his preseason sack total to three through just as many weeks.
In the end, the Steelers defense would prove to be too much for any of the Titans configurations on the field, as Pittsburgh would go on to win their third-straight preseason game by a final score of 18-6.
