The first chapter of the most anticipated back-up quarterback derby in football history is in the books as the Steelers won their first preseason game Thursday in the Hall of Fame Game against Dallas.
If that was the most exciting part of the game, then the game was far more boring than a typical preseason game.
As Joe Starkey wrote, neither Dwayne Haskins nor Mason Rudolph were special and neither of them did anything to show they are markedly better than the other. It was an old fashioned draw and the most memorable thing either did was a long pass from Rudolph to Claypool. It was a great connection between the two, a 45-yard gain, but it was a standard deep throw and what made it memorable is that Claypool was slow to get up.
Claypool, who is perhaps the Steelers best overall receiver, eventually did get up and appears to be just fine. There was a huge collective sigh of relief that could be heard when it was pretty clear that Claypool didn’t suffer an injury on that play. Hopefully it will be enough to keep him out of the next few preseason games, though, as there is no reason to risk it in meaningless games.
The most telling thing about just how bland/boring/meaningless this game was is that the player who generated the most excitement in the game was a punter. That’s no hyperbole, either, as Pressley Harvin III was the player most people seemed to be talking about after the game.
Harvin has been a folk hero among Steelers fans since he was drafted in the seventh round a few months ago. He was clearly drafted to not only challenge Jordan Berry for the starting job, but the hope is that he beats him out.
Harvin won the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s best collegiate punter last year as a senior at Georgia Tech. He has a big strong leg and is capable of changing field position with a single booming punt. Since then there have been stories from his teammates about his athleticism and how he could play another position if he wanted to. We have seen videos on social media of him lifting weights and doing exercises that are usually reserved for the football players who aren’t punters.
And let’s face it, the fact that he is Black and there just aren’t many Black punters, sort of added to his legend before even playing in a regular season game. He has already drawn comparisons to Reggie Roby, who is Black and one of the greatest punters of all time.
All of it, the whole package, adds up to a player who is clearly going to be one of the fan favorites assuming he makes the team. And nothing we saw from him Thursday suggests he won’t make the team.
Ray Fittipaldo chronicled the players who did the most to help themselves Thursday night, and Harvin tops his list. Fittipaldo noted he had two punts that pinned the Cowboys inside their 10 — one that was at the 1 — and he averaged 45.7 yards per kick. Harvin seems to be a favorite among his teammates, too, as he was given a lot of love as he came to the sidelines after both of his punts that pushed the Cowboys back inside their 10.
Wait a minute — in my best Allen Iverson voice — we talkin’ bout punters? Not a quarterback, who can really affect the game, no, we talkin’ bout punters.
Yes, that should tell you how little there was to actually be gathered from this Hall of Fame Game. And just how mostly uneventful it was. Harvin stole the show and now has Steelers fans salivating for more from the rookie phenom.
Harvin’s leg strength is pretty exciting, but he has to prove he can get the ball off in time and direct it to the right places in order to win the job. He did both things four times without any issues, and that probably means Berry — who is older and much more expensive— could be headed to the waiver wire.
There were a few other younger players that I thought performed well — second-year linebacker Alex Highsmith and rookie center Kendrick Greene both did some good things — but Harvin indeed stole the show. That should tell you everything you need to know about the rest of the game, which was a complete snoozefest.
The quarterback derby is what most people want to talk about and Haskins’ debut was one of the most anticipated in football history for a player who is not going to start and may not even be the backup.
But the quarterbacks weren’t what had people talking, the punters were and specifically Harvin. It was that kind of night for both teams, but that’s to be expected in the preseason where every team’s primary objective is to get out of the games healthy.
Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com or Twitter: @PaulZeise.
First Published: August 6, 2021, 12:19 p.m.