In his final shot at claiming a 53-man roster spot with his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers, rookie seventh-round pick Eli Heidenreich turned in his best performance of the preseason in the Black and Gold Thursday night in Buffalo.

Though the strong performance came in a loss, Heidenreich showed some flashes of being a serviceable backup running back and special teams piece in the 28-27 loss to Bills at the new Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.

Heidenreich played 25 snaps on offense and added another nine snaps on special teams, showing his versatility. Offensively, Heidenreich carried the football nine times for 35 yards and found the end zone on a 9-yard run. He also had two kickoff returns for 47 yards in the game, and added a special teams tackle, too.

After missing a decent chunk of training camp due to an undisclosed injury, he didn’t do much in the first two preseason games, putting him behind in his bid for a 53-man roster spot. For one night at least though, Heidenreich made a strong case to make the roster.

He forced three missed tackles in the game, two as a runner and one on a kickoff return. Heidenreich seems to still be behind the likes of Travis Homer and Lew Nichols in the competition for RB3, but he showed Thursday night he’s worth trying to develop on the practice squad.

Let’s dive into the film room.

On the first play from scrimmage Thursday night in Buffalo, Heidenreich made a play on special teams.

Tracking the opening kickoff from the middle of the field, Heidenreich is able to beat one block and then is able to turn and get in on the play, making the tackle. He was a key special teams piece his first two years at Navy before taking a bit of a backseat on special teams in his breakout senior season, so the ability is there.

This was a good sign of things to come on special teams in Buffalo for the rookie.

Heidenreich then opened up the third quarter with a 26-yard kickoff return, making a defender miss in the process.

This was the area of his game I really wanted to see at the NFL level. It’s known he can catch the football out of the backfield, even though he didn’t get to show that in the preseason. His path to a roster spot would come on special teams though, and prior to Thursday night the hadn’t had a chance to return kicks.

He does a nice job here of working laterally while gaining ground, and his running back background showed up here with good vision and contact balance to get outside the 30-yard line.

That kickoff return then set up a touchdown drive from the Steelers, of which Heidenreich played a big part in.

Heidenreich showed some shiftiness in the backfield, avoiding contact behind the line of scrimmage. He was also able to run through some arm tackles, too.

Watch how he gets skinny here between the guard and the tackle, and is able to put his foot in the ground and get vertical. At the end of the run he has the leg strength to run through a tackle attempt at the end, gaining 7 yards.

When you think of Heidenreich, you don’t think of a power back or a short-yardage back. But he had the opportunity against Buffalo.

It’s not a highlight-reel play, but I liked the way Heidenreich understood the situation, didn’t try to do too much, put his head down and barreled forward to move the chains on 3rd and 1.

What I like about Heidenreich as a runner during the preseason was that he fell forward at the end of every run. He’s not the biggest or the strongest, but he runs well behind his pads, has good leg drive and finds the hidden yards at the end of runs.

He’s also light on his feet.

This run didn’t gain much, but it showed Heidenreich’s ability to avoid contact behind the line of scrimmage and turn nothing into something.

Center Ryan McCollum was blown up on this play, with the defensive lineman penetrating right into Heidenreich’s path. But the rookie running back shows good vision and agility, bouncing back inside quickly with a jump cut, allowing him to avoid the penetration and get back to the line of scrimmage, turning it into a small gain, rather than a sizable loss.

Heidenreich then capped things off a few plays later with a 9-yard touchdown.

I love the quick pitch here to get Heidenreich on the perimeter. He’s a fast player that can turn the corner and create, and that’s what he does here.

He follows the block from rookie first-round pick Max Iheanachor to the corner and then cuts inside off of Iheanachor’s back hip, allowing him to get upfield. Once upfield, Heidenreich is able to finish the play, backing into the end zone to put six points on the board.

The showing probably wasn’t enough to get Heidenreich onto the 53-man roster, even with longtime beat writer Mark Kaboly believing it’ll be closer than many expect. The injury in training camp set him back, and he didn’t do enough to truly stand out.

A stint on the practice squad could be good for him. We’ll see what happens prior to Sunday’s deadline at 6 p.m. But in his final shot, he made a strong case.