COVID-19 issues affecting the Baltimore Ravens caused their Thanksgiving game with the Pittsburgh Steelers to be rescheduled three times. But the NFL’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic also put J.C. Hassenauer in the Steelers’ lineup for Wednesday’s game.
About three hours before kickoff on Wednesday, Pittsburgh placed eight-time Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey on reserve/COVID-19, putting Hassenauer in the Steelers’ starting lineup for the first time in his NFL career.
The former Alabama offensive lineman has been in the NFL for three seasons. But before Wednesday, his playing experience amounted to 26 offensive snaps and 42 special-teams plays in 10 games.
In Pittsburgh’s 19-14 victory over the Ravens, Hassenauer made all 72 offensive snaps for the Steelers.
“I can’t say enough about the efforts of J.C.,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin told reporters on Thursday, “playing center for us at every snap on short notice and really doing a good job, particularly from an assignment standpoint, and not only his but ours in terms of communicating with others.”
Tomlin had not been happy with the undefeated Steelers’ showing against Baltimore as Pittsburgh struggled to put away a team that called up 10 practice-squad players for the game. Tomlin called the performance “really junior varsity” on Wednesday night, although he did acknowledge that he appreciated Hassenauer’s “willingness to answer the bell and his overall readiness.”
Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t work much with Hassenauer in practice, but the QB praised the center after Wednesday’s game.
“I thought he did a great job being thrown into the fire,” Roethlisberger said. “This is not an easy defense with looks and things, and we had no CQ exchange issues, and he needs to be commended for that.”
On Thursday, Tomlin said Baltimore’s defense can test an offensive line. Pittsburgh’s 334 yards were its fewest since their previous game against the Ravens, when the Steelers posted a 28-24 victory with 221 yards on Nov. 1.
“They did some things schematically like they always do that created some issues for us,” Tomlin said of Baltimore’s defense. “They’re a good group. They got great continuity, not only in players but in coaches. Coach (Wink) Martindale has been there a long time and is able to do some things, particularly in those situational moments, that make them a tough nut to crack. And sometimes if you’ve got an experienced guy in the middle of it, like Maurkice, it’s helpful.
“We didn’t have Maurkice (Wednesday), so there’s some consequences from that. But we understand that, and so we’ll proceed with the guys that are playing right now. J.C., it’s reasonable to expect him to continually get better each and every day, and when Maurkice gets back to us, he gets back to us.”
When the NFL moved the Ravens-Steelers game to Wednesday, it also shifted Pittsburgh’s Sunday game against the Washington Football Team to Monday. If Pouncey landed on reserve/COVID-19 because he was a close contact to an infected person, it’s possible he could return in time to play against Washington.
If not, then Hassenauer is going to be face-to-face with a couple of his former Alabama teammates on Monday. Washington’s starting defensive tackles are former Crimson Tide standouts Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne.
“They got quality Alabama guys on the interior that really wreak havoc,” Tomlin said. “… Those guys are interchangeable. They both can play in the A gap. They both can play in the B gap. They both are extremely talented. They can win one-on-ones. They probably are really comfortable playing together now. That relationship dates back to their college days, and I’m sure that benefits them.”
The final game at Alabama for Hassenauer and Payne came on Jan. 8, 2018, when the Crimson Tide rallied for a 26-23 overtime victory against Georgia in the BCS national championship game.
Payne capped his two seasons as a starter as the Defensive MVP of the title game and entered the NFL as a first-round draft choice three months later.
Hassenauer made the third start of his four seasons at Alabama in the championship contest, then signed as a rookie free agent with the Atlanta Falcons after the 2018 NFL Draft.
After he was let go when the Falcons made the final cuts for the regular-season roster, Hassenauer spent the first seven weeks of the 2018 campaign on Atlanta’s practice squad.
In 2019, Hassenauer served as the starting center for the Birmingham Iron until the Alliance of American Football folded after eight weeks of play.
From the spring football league, Hassenauer moved to the Steelers. After Pittsburgh released him when it trimmed its offseason roster of 90 players to the regular-season limit of 53, he returned to the team on Nov. 20, 2019, as a practice-squad member before getting promoted to the active roster for the 2019 finale.
Although Pouncey was sidelined for that game, Hassenauer dressed but did not play in the contest.
Hassenauer returned on the second year of his contract for 2020, and this time, he survived the regular-season roster cut.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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