Tim Benz: 3 guarantees for Steelers-Panthers preseason game

On our WDVE Steelers pregame show, my co-host Dale Lolley and I always make our “Three Guarantees.”

Three things we guarantee will happen in the game.

OK, maybe guarantee is a strong word. But it rhymes. It’s catchy. And it gives us a chance to say, “I told you so” when we are right.

Normally, we don’t come up with these until the Saturday before a game. But the annual drudgery of the final preseason game against the Carolina Panthers always happens on a Thursday.

Plus, this game is always such a grind that I need to spice it up a little bit. So I’m going to put my guarantees in print this time. That way, you can retweet them, mock them, and harass me if they go awry.

And if you care that much about the final preseason game, then thank me for providing you with a fun activity.

So here are my three guarantees for Thursday night.

1) Josh Dobbs will be turnover free: It hasn’t been an easy preseason for Dobbs when he has put the ball in the air. He’s been good on the ground — 59 yards rushing in three preseason games — and his feet have kept many plays alive.

But throwing has been an adventure. Dobbs has been 15 for 28 for 259 yards and two interceptions, both in the red zone.

I think Dobbs was pressing. Trying to force plays to hold onto his backup job and keep Mason Rudolph at bay. Head coach Mike Tomlin called him out for being too frisky close to the goal line after the third preseason game against the Tennessee Titans.

Dobbs is an intelligent kid. He’ll hear that message and will be conservative with the ball. He knows what got him the backup job in the first place in 2018 was being smart, not high-risk.

Dobbs was particularly good against the Panthers in the preseason finale last year. He went 8 for 12 for 151 yards. He threw for a touchdown and ran for another.

He’ll be good Thursday.

It won’t matter, mind you. Mason Rudolph will still be the backup. But Dobbs will be good Thursday.

Now, will the Steelers keep Dobbs or trade him? That’s something I can’t guarantee.

2) Take the under: This preseason ender is usually a slop-fest. Fourth stringers versus fourth stringers, praying they make a practice squad. Last year’s 39-24 shootout was an outlier. Often this game is a macabre, dreadful display, barely reminiscent of actual football.

The over-under point total is 33.5 points for this game. Since the 2012 preseason, aside from last year’s game, the highest point total has been 35.

Take the under.

If you bet on preseason football. And if you do, you’ve got bigger issues than getting through the rest of this column.

3) We’re overdue: Normally preseason games are bastions for special teams screw ups aplenty.

So far, the three Steelers preseason games have been relatively free of that.

I’m guaranteeing some big special teams calamity.

Or success, depending on your point of view.

We’ll see a kick-block or a special teams touchdown return of some sort.

Here’s a fourth guarantee. If I go 0-for-3, it’s the last time I print these.

That one doesn’t rhyme. But you can take it to the bank.