A meaningless loss for Eagles, another crisis of social injustice…

Man, when do we free ourselves of the social issues in professional football? Welp, maybe never.

I just wanted to watch some preseason football. But the world of social politics intervened. Who am I to say that’s a bad thing?

Maybe these young athletes who care about social stuff are truly leading our thought processes in the right direction?

Time will tell—and I hate to use that cliche.

But if you’re just talking football? This is what went down…

Landry Jones and Josh Dobbs each tossed touchdown passes and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Philadelphia Eagles 31-14 Thursday night in the preseason opener.

The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles rested several starters, including quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Nick Foles. Nate Sudfeld threw a pair of touchdown passes and two interceptions.

Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown sat for the Steelers and Le’Veon Bell still hasn’t signed his franchise tender.

Jones completed all four of his passes for 83 yards, including a 71-yard TD pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster in the first quarter. Smith-Schuster made a leaping catch over Rasul Douglas at the 33 and ran untouched to the end zone.

Fitzgerald Toussaint had a 3-yard TD run and a 2-point conversion to give Pittsburgh a 15-8 lead. Dobbs threw a 29-yard TD pass to Damoun Patterson late in the second quarter.

Sudfeld threw a perfect strike for a 63-yard TD to Shelton Gibson and fired a 15-yard TD pass to rookie Dallas Goedert. He finished 10 of 14 for 140 yards.

Wentz still hasn’t been cleared for contact after having surgery to repair two torn ligaments in his left knee last December. Foles, the Super Bowl MVP, has missed a few practices with muscle spasms in his neck and shoulder.

Mason Rudolph, a third-round pick competing with Jones and Dobbs for the backup job to Roethlisberger, was 7 of 12 for 101 yards.

ROOKIE REPORT

Steelers: Safety Terrell Edmunds, a first-round pick, had three tackles. Wide receiver James Washington, second-rounder, caught two passes for 44 yards.

Eagles: Goedert, a second-round pick and the team’s first selection, had four catches for 66 yards and one TD. He’ll get plenty of opportunities as the second tight end.

INJURIES

Ryan Shazier joined the defense in Pittsburgh’s pregame huddle, just 11 months after spinal stabilization surgery. Shazier is out for the season.

NATIONAL ANTHEM

Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins and cornerback De’Vante Bausby raised their fists during the anthem, and defensive end Chris Long placed his arm around Jenkins’ shoulder. Jenkins had stopped his demonstration last December. DE Michael Bennett walked out of the tunnel during the anthem and walked toward the bench while it played. It appeared all the Steelers stood.

WELCOME TO FOOTBALL

Eagles rookie Jordan Mailata, an Australian rugby player drafted in the seventh round, got beat for a strip sack on his first series in the NFL. Mailata began the second half at left tackle.

HONORING FORMER EAGLES

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie announced at halftime that two-time All-Pro defensive end Clyde Simmons and three-time Pro Bowl linebacker Seth Joyner will be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame on Sept. 23.

Well, this was a stunning welcome to the 2018 season mostly because of its un-stunning nature. I expect better…

Final:

Matchup
1st Downs	19	16
Passing 1st downs	9	10
Rushing 1st downs	6	6
1st downs from penalties	4	0
3rd down efficiency	3-14	2-10
4th down efficiency	1-1	0-1
Total Plays	64	58
Total Yards	346	325
Total Drives	13	13
Yards per Play	5.4	5.6
Passing	252	219
Comp-Att	20-29	18-32
Yards per pass	7.6	6.4
Interceptions thrown	1	2
Sacks-Yards Lost	4-23	2-12
Rushing	94	106
Rushing Attempts	31	24
Yards per rush	3.0	4.4
Red Zone (Made-Att)	1-2	1-2
Penalties	8-42	11-74
Turnovers	1	3
Fumbles lost	0	1
Interceptions thrown	1	2
Defensive / Special Teams TDs	0	0
Possession	33:29	26:31

Shut UP!

The Eagles will be back in action next Thursday on the road against the New England Patriots.