Boswell perfect and defense dominant as Steelers start season 1-0

The Pittsburgh Steelers are off to a 1-0 start in the 2024 season after an 18-10 victory at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium against the Atlanta Falcons.

In a battle of quarterback debuts it was Justin Fields who came out victorious over Kirk Cousins despite the Steelers offense not making it into the endzone.

Cousins had a rough day on his Falcons debut. This game was his return to the field after his 2023 season ended with a torn Achilles in week 8 against the Green Bay Packers. There were warning signs early on from the Steelers defense when Donte Jackson dropped an interception on the first drive of the game. That dropped pick looked like it might be costly as the Falcons marched down the field to set up a 1st and goal from the ten-yard line. On that 1st and goal, though, TJ Watt introduced himself to the game with a big tackle for loss which left the Falcons behind the sticks. The drive ended in a field goal after rookie Payton Wilson made his first career tackle, stopping Bijan Robinson on third down to stop a touchdown and force a kick.

Justin Fields’ Steelers career started off almost as badly as possible when he fumbled his first snap of the season. Luckily, the former first round pick landed on the ball to keep possession. After that shaky start, Fields showed he wasn’t afraid to use his legs early on, running for a first down on a 3rd and 7. Later in the drive, the Steelers offense continued the tradition over the past few years of frustrating the fans when Cordarrelle Patterson was stopped on a 3rd and 6 run. This was a conservative play call that had eerie similarities to the Matt Canada philosophy from the past few years. The failed 3rd down attempt set up the first field goal of the day for Chris Boswell. Pittsburgh’s kicker made the 57-yard attempt, the first of six field goals he hit on the day.

The second Falcons’ drive set the theme for the day. After a dropped interception on his first drive, Cousins was punished for his mistake this time. Under pressure mainly thanks to Larry Ogunjobi, the Falcons quarterback’s throw over the middle was picked off by DeShon Elliot. With an interception on his Steelers debut and a solid performance all round, Elliot looks as if he will be a good partner for Minkah Fitzpatrick at safety.

On the following drive, Fields’ first convincing throw of the game came on a 3rd and 12 to George Pickens for a first down. The drive was looking positive for Pittsburgh at the end of the 1st quarter after another 3rd down conversion to Pickens. The start to the 2nd quarter, though, was not so good. On an end around play to Pickens, the receiver was tackled ten yards behind the line of scrimmage. That set up another frustrating run play, this time with Najee Harris on 2nd and long, with the offense seemingly settling for a field goal. On 3rd and long, a kick for Boswell was inevitable but a five-yard run from Patterson made the attempt slightly easier. A 51-yard kick and Boswell delivered again to give Pittsburgh the lead.

Following that field goal, the teams exchanged punts, though the Steelers would have felt hard done by after a 36-yard Pickens catch was brought back for pass interference against Pittsburgh’s number 14. That killed the drive and was the first of a few controversial calls against the Steelers.

The Falcons drive that followed the call against Pickens resulted in the only touchdown of the game. Early in the drive, TJ Watt hit Cousins mid throw, and the ball seemed to hang in the air for an eternity. While that usually favours the defense, the ball fell to the only Falcons player in the area, Ray-Ray McCloud, despite him being surrounded by four defenders. While the play was a bit of a lucky break for Atlanta, that should take nothing away from McCloud’s excellent adjustment for a 20-yard catch.Later in the drive, Cousins’ 12-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Pitts was preceded by a TJ Watt strip sack and fumble recovery which was overturned by an offsides call. When slowed down on replay it looked as if Watt timed his rush perfectly, but he was flagged, nonetheless. When Cousins found a wide-open Pitts in the endzone on the next play to give Atlanta the lead, the momentum of the game seemed to have shifted completely.

With thirty-two seconds left on the clock and two timeouts left after the Atlanta touchdown, Mike Tomlin showed faith in his debutant quarterback, and it paid off. Fields found Pickens for forty-one yards to give his team a field goal attempt to end the first half and cut the deficit to one point. Pickens just about got out of bounds in time after he tried to cut back to gain a few more yards. Out trotted Boswell for his third field goal of the game, this time from forty-four yards out. Yet again, the kick was good, making the score 10-9 to the Falcons at halftime.

The second half was all about the Steelers defense, along with Boswell of course. After a 3 and out from Fields and the offense, the defense got their second turnover of the game. It looked as if the Falcons were going to put more points on the board after a Bijan Robinson 4th down conversion for ten yards. But, following a miscommunication on the snap, the ball hit Ross Dwelley who was in motion and, despite there being three Falcons players in the backfield, TJ Watt was first to jump on the ball and he regained possession for his team. Incredible reactions from Watt on a day where he had two strip sacks taken away by penalties.

The following drive wasn’t pretty for the Steelers. It stalled after an incompletion to Calvin Austin on 3rd and 8. That meant Boswell was out again for his fourth field goal of the game, and his third from 50+ yards out. This one from fifty-six yards, the ball was hit through the posts again to put Pittsburgh back in the lead.

The Falcons continued to struggle against the Steelers pass rush as Montravius Adams brought down Cousins to kill another drive. The first snap of the Steelers next drive saw Fields hit Pickens for a big forty-yard gain. It should have been a bigger gain, though, as Pickens was incorrectly ruled down by contact at the Falcons 28-yard line, when in actual fact, he should have been ruled down inside the 20-yard line as he wasn’t touched when he went to the ground initially. That was the only first down of the drive, meaning there was another Boswell field goal after Pat Freiermuth was stopped on third down, four yards short of the first down marker. This one from forty yards out, Boswell made it 15-10 with his fifth field goal of the game.

Pittsburgh then continued to dominate the line of scrimmage, forcing another three and out after a holding penalty was called on right tackle Kaleb McGary on second down, which stalled Atlanta’s drive.

After Austin’s six-yard punt return, the Steelers formed arguably their best drive of the day. But it didn’t end in points. Jessie Bates made a great play on 3rd and 2 in the redzone, shedding Pickens’ block to make a tackle on Van Jefferson behind the first down marker. That set up 4th and 1 on the Falcons’ six-yard line. In hurry-up mode, the offense opted for a quarterback sneak attempt but, thanks to a leap over the line of scrimmage from Nate Landman, and poor execution from the Steelers as a whole, Fields was stopped well short of the first down. That put the ball back in Cousins’ hands.

Yet again, though, the Steelers defense stepped up. Another three and out gave Fields a chance at redemption but his offense wasn’t able to muster up a first down either. On the Steelers punt, Cameron Johnston was unfortunately forced off injured. That play was ruled a penalty for holding by Miles Killebrew, meaning Boswell had to come out to punt after Johnston’s injury.

Boswell’s forty-three-yard punt set up Atlanta on their own forty-yard line. With three minutes and nineteen seconds left, as well as three timeouts, the Falcons offense had all the time in the world to go down the field and take the lead. But the Steelers defense had other ideas. Once again, the pass rush pressured Cousins, and in a collapsing pocket the veteran quarterback made a rookie mistake, throwing under pressure to give Jackson an easy interception. He wasn’t going to drop this one and, on his Steelers debut, the former Carolina Panther made up for his earlier drop and got a great return on the interception, taking the ball all the way to the Falcons eighteen-yard line.

Fields all but secured the win with a brave seven-yard run on 3rd and 5, allowing the Steelers to drain the clock down to twenty-eight seconds by the time Boswell had made his sixth field goal of the game to make it 18-10.

With twenty-eight seconds left and no timeouts remaining, Cousins faced an impossible task. To make it worse for Atlanta, Pittsburgh’s undrafted rookie Beanie Bishop Jr. made a great tackle on McCloud to keep the receiver inbounds, draining about ten more seconds until Cousins spiked the ball. Then, to finish the game off, TJ Watt finally got a well-earned sack to secure the victory and take his team to 1-0 on the season.

Despite the changes at quarterback and offensive coordinator, it seems as if the Steelers will be following similar tactics to the last few seasons. Play conservative offense, don’t turn it over, and rely on a great kicker and a talented defense.

Pittsburgh had a +11 turnover differential last season, the third best in the NFL. A big reason they had such a good differential was their conservative nature on offense. That continued today with zero giveaways by the offense and three takeaways by the defense.The argument could be made that Fields is technically the backup quarterback, and that’s why the offense was conservative at times, but it’s hard to imagine that the gameplan would have been much different if Russell Wilson was cleared to start.

Fields played a solid game. He completed over 70% of his passes, ran for over 50 yards, didn’t turn the ball over and made some good throws, the best of which was brought back for a slightly harsh offensive pass interference call. He wasn’t always trying to make the hero play, something he maybe tried to do too much with the Bears. Whether the formula of playing conservative on offense and relying on the defense to make splash plays will work over the long run, we will see. Fields may not be the starter next week, and with both him and Wilson being new quarterbacks, and Arthur Smith being a new offensive coordinator for the team, it might be a few weeks until the offense opens up a bit more.

This game was about Boswell and the defense. Boswell was perfect with six out of six field goals. The defense dominated with three turnovers, and it could have been more. In the second half the Falcons scored zero points and had just fifty-four yards of offense, showing how much the Steelers defense controlled the game.

If the Steelers want to end their playoff win drought this season, the defense will need to be elite, and the offense will need to be much more creative than previous seasons. There were a lot of positives to take from this win, even on the offensive side of the ball. Despite the overall conservative tactics, the play calling has clearly improved, and it was enough for the win this time round.

If he is deemed healthy enough, Russell Wilson will likely start next week against his former team, the Denver Broncos. Steelers fans will be hoping that the offense lets loose a bit more when they travel to the Mile High City, but chances are Tomlin’s gameplan will be similar to what got his team the win in Atlanta.