The Pittsburgh Steelers came out victorious in the Hall of Fame Game over the Dallas Cowboys but some players shined while others were somewhat letdowns.
After six long months, the Pittsburgh Steelers helped welcome NFL football (sort of) back to our lives with a 16-3 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the Hall of Fame Game. In a game in which few starters saw the field for either team due to it being an extra preseason contest, the win means very little. However, there are still plenty of aspects to glean valuable things from.
We’re going to be looking at the winners and losers for the Steelers from the first game of the preseason but Najee Harris deserved to be touched on first. His overall performance while averaging just 3.1 yards per carry wasn’t anything to write home about but the first-round pick at running back looked clearly like he belonged. He’s not included as either a winner or loser, but he’s definitely a positive takeaway for Pittsburgh.
Outside of Harris, though, there was a bit of good and a bit of bad from the Steelers in the outing, so we’re handing out three winners and three losers from the Hall of Fame Game triumph over the Cowboys, starting with the positives.
Pittsburgh Steelers winners in Hall of Fame Game victory
Alex Highsmith, EDGE – The departure of Bud Dupree put the pressure on young Alex Highsmith to step up and be a threat off the edge opposite of T.J. Watt, even with Melvin Ingram coming abord. And while it was against Cowboys backups and with Watt not on the field, the second-year edge rusher looked the part of an impact player.
Highsmith finished the night with three total tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack to his credit, causing disruption frequently when he was asked to pin his ears back. A small-school prospect who has plenty of tools but needed refinement as he entered the NFL, it seems as if he’s on the right track to be the player the Steelers hoped he’d become.
Pressley Harvin III, P – Using a draft pick on a punter or kicker is usually an indication of one or two things. First, the team obviously feels there is a lot of room for improvement. And secondly, the team is also really high on the prospect. That was the case with Pressley Harvin III and he showed why in his first taste of action.
Anytime he booted a ball on Thursday night, he looked like a stud, including downing a punt at the Dallas 1-yard line with a spectacular effort that knuckled dead on the spot it landed. More importantly, he looked relatively comfortable as a holder, which is likely what he needs to firmly secure his job as the long-term punter.
Chase Claypool, WR – So, there might’ve been a push-off on his big downfield reception against Dallas rookie Nahshon Wright but any Steelers fan hoping that the early-season version of Chase Claypool that we saw last season would return for the 2021 campaign has to be happy with what they saw in the preseason opener.
Claypool was explosive and crips on almost all of his routes and, save for a short-armed drop that looked kind of bad, he had a near-flawless night. Assuming that Roethlisberger is able to maintain his ability to distribute the ball effectively, Claypool has the look of the next game-changer wide receiver in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Steelers losers in Hall of Fame Game victory
Kendrick Green, C – Considering how bad some people thought the Steelers offensive line could be this year, they performed admirably versus the Cowboys. But it was a bit disconcerting to see that rookie center Kendrick Green might’ve been one of the worst players on that unit considering he was the only projected starter that saw significant snaps.
Playing 18 snaps on the night, PFF (subscription required) charted Green with getting beat nine times when pass-blocking — literally losing half of the snaps he played. While there is a jump from college to the NFL, you would hope that a player who is supposed to start would be better out of the gate. That still leaves plenty of pause about the quality of the Pittsburgh O-line in 2021.
Ulysses Gilbert III/Robert Spillane, LB – Suffice it to say that things could’ve gone better for Gilbert and Spillane as they got a large number of chances to put forth a good effort. Both players were outright liabilities when asked to drop into coverage and they weren’t much better against the run.
Rookie Buddy Johnson stood out at linebacker in the game but part of that is definitely because Gilbert and Spillane looked so hapless against Dallas. If they have any hopes of seeing the field alongside Devin Bush this season, they better hope this game was a negative outlier.
Backup Quarterbacks – The fact of the matter is that anyone hoping Mason Rudolph, Dwayne Haskins or Josh Dobbs would separate themselves as a possible successor to Big Ben was left wanting. Rudolph played well but wasn’t anything we didn’t already know he is. Haskins’ lack of aggressiveness was obvious and Dobbs was just a guy.
Granted. the Steelers aren’t going to make any future decisions at quarterback based on the Hall of Fame Game. But it was a bit uninspiring to see how this trio performed in their first chance to try and stand out from one another.