The Pittsburgh Steelers looked to rebound today against the New England Patriots after a subpar showing against the Seattle Seahawks a week earlier. What happened today? Sportsvival talks about it.
The Steelers defense was much maligned over the last two weeks. They barely squeaked out the win against the Jets, and I still don’t want to talk about last week’s embarrassing performance at home. But they looked a lot better today… I think? They had five total turnovers but gave up 369 yards… yeesh. Granted, some of those yards came because the defense was on the field for most of the game and the offense couldn’t do much of anything. They didn’t put many points on the board, and they didn’t chew up the clock either. But five turnovers should be enough to win the game. What did the offense do?
The offense is another question and an area of slight concern for me. Five turnovers and only 14 points off two of them. At surface level, that’s not bad, but it’s the frequency of the turnovers that bothers me. It seemed like every other drive they found a way to lose the ball. I hate to be overly critical, but this game should’ve been over by the third quarter. What was 21–14 should’ve been 35–14 at least. It’s not all negative, however. DK Metcalf is as good as ever. Calvin Austin might actually be the Steelers’ number-two receiver. Jaylen Warren and Kenny Gainwell both had decent games on the ground. And the offensive line didn’t give up a single sack to the team that leads the league in sacks. Credit where credit is due. I’m sure that felt great for Broderick Jones and the others. Hopefully they can continue it.
My personal favorite moment of the game was seeing rookie Derrick Harmon get his first career sack on Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. He almost had a second one on Maye, but Maye was faster on that running play, and Harmon briefly had a finger on him. Hopefully the first of many more for that young man. Congratulations, Derrick!
The only real complaint I have is that the offense did not take advantage of the turnovers the defense gave them. The defense was very good today—more so the defensive line—but hey, one week at a time, right?
Obviously, the offense will only go as far as the offensive line takes them. I don’t see enough people talking about the performance the offensive line delivered today: not a single sack allowed against one of the more potent defensive fronts in football. I heard nobody’s name called negatively except center Zach Frazier for a false-start penalty. If that’s the worst thing you do as an offensive line, I can live with that every single Monday, Thursday, and Sunday.
Overall, I think they played well. They looked better defensively, and when they needed a touchdown, Aaron Rodgers and speedster Calvin Austin delivered in a big way. I still want to see the tight ends more involved, especially Darnell Washington. I’m not giving up on Roman Wilson either—and I hope nobody else is. For as big of a critic as I am of Mike Tomlin, the man knows how to win ugly. As Bill Cowher once said, “Who cares if we win ugly? A win is a win!”
The Steelers play next Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, at 9:30 AM in a homecoming reunion for the Rooney family.
(photo courtesy of Steelers.com)