Breaking Down Whether The Steelers Took A Step In The Right Direction
After receiving some sort of promotion earlier in the day it seemed, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada didn’t entirely embarrass himself on National television in a shocking turn of events. Canada drew up a couple of really good concepts on Sunday night to help Kenny Pickett get his mojo back and put the Steelers in the win column for the second week in a row. Despite almost letting the Raiders creep back into the game in typical Pittsburgh fashion, Josh McDaniels won this week's doofus of the week when he kicked a field goal down 23-15 with two minutes left before going on to lose 23-18.
Steelers Show They Have A Pulse
Even though Kenny Pickett took some shots throughout the night from Maxx Crosby, he looked a lot more comfortable on Sunday night than he did the first two weeks of the season against San Francisco and Cleveland. Pickett didn’t throw any interceptions, even though a miscommunication between himself and Connor Heyward led to a gift-wrapped pick-six for Marcus Peters that he dropped. For the first time in his NFL career, Pickett had two passing touchdowns. He also went 16 for 28 with 235 yards on the night. A good confidence builder for the young quarterback.
Pickett connected with Calvin Austin on a bomb down the middle of the field. A 72-yard touchdown early in the game and then he found a wide-open Pat Freiermuth later on for another while leading a couple of field-goal drives in between. Kicker Chris Boswell did his thing on the night, making all three of his attempts. Money as usual. Pressley Harvin had three good punts on the night, including one to pin the Raiders deep with 12 seconds left in the game. The kicking department came up huge for Pittsburgh.
The Defense did their thing as always. TJ Watt gathered two sacks on the night to push his season total to a league-leading six. Keeanu Benton and Markus Golden also got a sack each on the night, and Minkah Fitzpatrick should've had one but a lame penalty brought it back and handed the Raiders a touchdown. Levi Wallace ended up getting two interceptions on the night including the game sealer late while Patrick Peterson got one too, claiming the lead among active players for career interceptions with 35 over his teammate from a year ago, Harrison Smith of the Vikings.
Room For Improvement
The defense played exceptionally and came up big in the biggest moments, but that didn’t stop Davante Adams from having himself a good night. Adams was targeted 20 times and made 13 catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns. He was making it look easy out there, as he always does. One of the best in the business.
The offense showed it had a pulse. It was a good confidence boost for Pickett and the resort of the offense heading into Houston next week. Have to keep stacking good days if you’re the Steelers. They finally targeted Pat Freiermuth on Sunday night and he made three catches for 41 yards and a crucial touchdown. Keep feeding Freiermuth.
Next week against the Texans will be a big one for this team as they try to continue to find their groove early on in the season. It’s crucial to win games like these because you know the tough battles with Baltimore and Cincinnati are coming, and you can’t hide from them.
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