One Pittsburgh rookie offensive lineman — at least for the time being — lost his starting job late in the season after an injury. Another, apparently, did not.
Dan Moore Jr. was back at left tackle when Sunday’s AFC wild-card playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs began. A fourth-round pick, Moore had started each of the Steelers’ first 16 games of the season but missed the Jan. 9 regular-season finale at Baltimore because of an ankle injury.
While there had been some speculation that veteran Joe Haeg would keep the gig for the start of the postseason, Moore re-claimed his spot after practicing fully all of the week leading up to the game.
Third-round pick Kendrick Green, though, again was on the bench when Sunday’s game began. He had started each of the first 15 games at center but after suffering a calf injury in a Dec. 26 loss at Kansas City has not played since despite returning to full health.
J.C. Hassenauer made his third consecutive start at center.
JuJu’s back
JuJu Smith-Schuster was also on the field for the Steelers’ first offensive snap, earning the official start in his first game back after a three-month absence because of shoulder surgery.
Smith-Schuster, the Steelers’ longest-tenured wide receiver, returned to practice this past week in a surprise move. He had not played since Oct. 10.
In a likely nod to the Steelers wanting to monitor Smith-Schuster’s conditioning after the long layoff, he did not play his typical almost every-down workload. But he was targeted by two first-half Ben Roethlisberger passes, catching one for 7 yards.
Bad first halves
The Steelers’ first-half futility continued in the playoffs. They punted on each of their first seven drives Sunday — the eighth was a kneeldown to end the half.
Dating back to their final seven regular-season games, the Steelers have had 49 (non-kneeldown) possessions in the first halves of games. They have resulted in 31 punts, five interceptions, three missed field goals, two times turning over on downs and two end-of-half with only five field goals and one touchdown.
Even in that context, Sunday’s first-half showing was uglier than most. The Steelers gained 44 yards on 27 plays (1.6 average) and had only two first downs. NBC reported that it was the first playoff game in which one team punted seven times in the first half since 2010.
Big Ben passes Joe
In making his 23rd playoff start and surpassing 17 passing yards Sunday, Roethlisberger put his name next to — and above — Joe Montana. Roethlisberger tied Montana in postseason games started and played by a quarterback in NFL history.
Montana finished his career with 5,772 postseason passing yards.
Roethlisberger entered Sunday’s game with a 13-9 postseason record, one victory short of a tie for third-most all-time with Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and Peyton Manning.
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