With their former coach and two former players watching and waiting for their gold-jacket moment, the Steelers kicked off Hall of Fame weekend with a 16-3 victory against the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night that will likely be the least exciting event of the four-day celebration.
Coach Mike Tomlin elected to not use most of his starters in the game. Only seven starters — four on offense, three on defense — appeared in the game, including rookies Najee Harris and center Kendrick Green.
The Steelers trailed 3-0 at halftime but came back to put up two touchdowns and a 48-yard field goal by kicker Sam Sloman to open their four-game preseason with a win in front of a crowd of 20,113 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
The Steelers took a 6-3 lead in the third quarter on a 4-yard run by Kalen Ballage, a score set up when first-year receiver Mathew Sexton returned a punt 36 yards to the Cowboys 33. Dwayne Haskins, who came in the game in the second quarter, then completed a 15-yard pass to tight end Kevin Rader and running back Anthony McFarland went 9 yards on the next play to get to the Cowboys 9, setting up Ballage.
The Steelers padded the lead to 9-3 when free-agent kicker Sloman, who earlier missed an extra point and a 49-yard field-goal attempt, kicked a 48-yard field goal with 5:15 remaining in the third quarter. That score was set up when undrafted rookie safety Donovan Stiner returned a Ben DiNucci (Pine Richland High School) interception 18 yards to the Cowboys 44.
After stopping the Cowboys on a fourth-and-1 play at Dallas 33, the Steelers quickly made it 16-3 when Josh Dobbs entered the game and threw a 5-yard pass to wide receiver Tyler Simmons with 8:44 remaining.
The Steelers offense did little in the first half, failing to score a point, but the biggest play was a 45-yard pass from Mason Rudolph to Chase Claypool that set up their only real scoring chance in the opening 30 minutes. That, though, resulted in a missed 49-yard field goal attempt by Sloman.
Rudolph, who started the game, looked sharp, however, completing 6 of 9 passes for 84 yards. His only mistake was a fumble that set up the Cowboys’ only field goal.
Harris, the team’s No. 1 pick, played three series and carried seven times for 22 yards. Harris, Claypool, Green and Diontae Johnson were the only regulars on offense to start the game. Defensively, outside linebacker Alex Highsmith, inside linebacker Robert Spillane and cornerback Cam Sutton were the only starters.
The Cowboys took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter on a 29-yard field goal by Hunter Niswander, a score that was set up when Rudolph fumbled what appeared to be a play-action fake to Claypool on the opening series. Former Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons, the 12th overall pick in the draft, recovered at the Steelers 48.
The Cowboys looked as though they would pad their lead when they drove from their own 11 to the Steelers 7, a drive that started with a 21-yard completion from quarterback Garrett Gilbert to receiver Cedric Wilson. But the drive stalled when linebacker Curtis Marsh had a strip sack on Gilbert on third down and rookie safety Tre Norwood partially blocked Niswander’s 29-yard field goal attempt.
The Steelers came right back and had their best scoring opportunity of the half when Rudolph completed a deep 45-yard pass to Claypool to the Cowboys 29. Claypool was injured on the play and left the game, but the injury did not appear to be significant. Harris, though, lost 4 yards on first down and two more plays gained only 2 yards, setting up a 49-yard field goal attempt by Sloman. However, Sloman’s kick was wide right.
The Cowboys had another scoring chance at the end of the half, but Niswander’s 52-yard attempt was wide right with one second remaining.
