Preseason Game One: Lions at Steelers

7:30 PM : Heinz Field : TV – KDKA

The wait is finally over. After months of Big Ben talk and feeling like a sports law blogger, I’m finally sitting down with a huge smile on my face to write a post about an actual game of Pittsburgh Steelers football. Ahhhhhhh.

It might only take until the third quarter to realize that yes, preseason football can be pretty lame…but the rush of seeing the team take the field again with all of the new additions will easily be the most exciting football-related thing in months.

Here we go.

Injuries

Steelers

This is a mystery for the most part, but I do know the following:

Jason Worilds – Questionable (Hamstring)

Lions

OUT:
K Jason Hanson
LB DeAndre Levy
DE Jared DeVries
S Louis Delmas
CB Aaron Berry
TE Brandon Pettigrew
RB Kevin Smith
WR Mike Moore
CB Jack Williams (PUP)
S Ko Simpson (PUP)

Three Things to Watch

Brian already dominated this aspect of the game, but I’ll throw out a few quick hits.

1. Big Ben’s (possible) return
Mike Tomlin has been playing games all week when asked about who the starting quarterback would be for tonight’s game. That makes me think that Ben Roethlisberger will be the guy. After all that he has been through, Tomlin making a huge deal about the starter and telling the fans to “come to the game” to find out, not starting Roethlisberger would be a little bit of a slap in the face. I think coach is building up all of this hype to have Big Ben lead the team out as a public showing of the team’s support. That is my theory anyway. I’m also eager to hear how the fans respond to him….I’m guessing 70 percent cheers and 30 percent jeers.

2. Byron Leftwich
By almost all reports, Leftwich is the team’s starting quarterback going into week one. After struggling mightily last year in Tampa Bay, how will he look back in the black and gold? 

3.  Polamalu’s return
There aren’t many things I enjoy in football more than watching Troy Polamalu patrol the defensive backfield at Heinz Field. He’s finally healthy and watching him run around for a series or two will be inspiring.

Predictions

Bam says: The Lions suck, obviously, though they have been able to throw the ball around a lot against the Steelers in recent years for whatever reason. But hey, it is the preseason and there’s no reason to be a downer at this point. The Steelers are back and they are winning in style. Steelers 31 Lions 17

Brian says: Preseason is weird and scores do no matter. Lions 16 Steelers 11