Dwayne Haskins leads Pittsburgh Steelers to preseason victory
Former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins is battling to earn the backup quarterback job with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Haskins had an impressive performance in Pittsburgh’s second preseason contest, a 24-16 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Haskins led Pittsburgh’s comeback after falling behind 13-0
Mason Rudolph, another quarterback battling for the backup job, led three offensive drives against the Eagles. Rudolph completed eight of his nine pass attempts, but the Steelers did not score, falling behind 13-0. Haskins then took over, providing an encouraging spark. After a punt on his opening possession, Haskins led the Steelers on three consecutive drives that ended in a touchdown.
In his final drive, Haskins led Pittsburgh on another scoring drive, this time ending with a field goal. On the night, Haskins finished 16-of-22 with 161 yards and a touchdown. He led the Steelers to all 24 of their points, completing the comeback over Philadelphia.
Haskins said he just wanted to “be smooth” out there and not try to force the ball anywhere.
“Pretty much be smooth, and that is what I was trying to do,” Haskins said via Triblive.com’s Joe Rutter. “Be smooth, allow plays to come to me. Trust what I saw and let my eyes and feet tell me where to go with the ball.”
Haskins is making the most of his second chance
After throwing for over 4,800 yards with 50 touchdowns as a sophomore at Ohio State, he was selected 15th overall by the Washington Football Team in 2019. Haskins appeared in 16 games over two seasons with Washington. He threw for 2,804 yards with 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Haskins was ultimately released in the middle of the season by Washington last year.
When he was signed by the Steelers, Haskins was given an opportunity to learn from one of the great NFL quarterbacks in Ben Roethlisberger. As he competes for the backup job right now, he is also looking to prove what he was not able to in Washington; that he is capable of being a quarterback of the future.
If Haskins can continue competing at a high level as he has so far in the preseason, he has a shot to prove that he was worthy of his draft pedigree. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was impressed with how Haskins performed on Thursday night against the Eagles.
“I thought he was in command tonight,” Tomlin said. “He did a great job communicating with people, going through his progressions. There was a third-down play, third-and-eight maybe, and I saw him go through three or four reads and throw the ball over the middle of the field and converted for us. That was a snapshot of the night he had.”