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What the heck is a “slobberknocker?” In football terms, it’s s a hit that, well, knocks the slobber right out of the other player’s mouth. I’ll be posing six hard-hitting questions to BTSC fans every game-day morning during the 2018 preseason and regular season.
These questions won’t be the same old dull and droll questions rolled out every game day by the networks or cable channels. Let Terry Bradshaw or Kurt Warner bore the average NFL fan by asking questions about the windy conditions the quarterbacks will face — won’t happen here (we already know wind influences the trajectory of a football).
The questions will be directed towards the knowledgeable fans here at BTSC. Fans who are considered not to be average NFL fans or Pittsburgh Steelers fans — but a cut above.
Q1: Will a player play so poorly in tonight’s game that he is cut tomorrow? Who is the most likely candidate? Should this even be a consideration?
Q2: Which player who didn’t shine last week do you believe will be a bright spot in the game tonight?
Q3: Do you want to see more creativity out of offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner’s offense tonight or would you rather wait until the regular season, so as not to tip his hand?
Q4: If Tyler Matakevich has a better game tonight, will that alleviate your concerns about him and the Steelers’ inside linebacker depth? If he performs poorly again what should the next move be for Pittsburgh?
Q5: If Damoun Patterson face-plants tonight will you chalk it up to one bad game or start to view last week’s performance as a fluke?
Q6: Who is the one offensive and one defensive player you’d like to see more of tonight?
Steelers fans will be glued to their TV from kickoff until the final whistle, scrutinizing everyone from starters to camp-fodder players. While fans don’t put a great amount of stock in preseason games, they still want to see how players perform compared to the chatter coming out of training camp. Hopefully, the players we see early in the game at Lambeau Field will showcase the talent which made them Pittsburgh Steelers in the first place.
Will these players live up to their offseason hype, or will they flounder under the bright lights of the NFL? Only time will tell.