Russell Wilson Set For Second Straight Start As The Steelers Face The Giants

Russell Wilson will make his second start as the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers when he faces the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

The Steelers are in primetime at home for the second straight week, after they defeated the New York Jets 37-15 in week 7 to move to 5-2. Their opponent, the Giants, head into this matchup with an opposite record, sitting at 2-5 and bottom of the NFC East.

Pittsburgh heads into this game as favourites, and rightly so, given the Giants poor play this season which has them bottom of their division. That being said, we have seen the Steelers lose to inferior teams many times over the Mike Tomlin era, so the veteran head coach will need his team on top of their game to ensure no embarrassing loss takes place on primetime television.

Why the Steelers defense should dominate The Giants enter this game with the second fewest points per game in the league this season, averaging 14.1 points each time they play. They also have the 27th ranked total offense, so it is hard to find a strength with this team’s attack. One impressive aspect of their offense, though, is wide receiver Malik Nabers. The rookie missed games against the Seahawks and the Bengals due to a concussion but returned against the Eagles in week 7. While Nabers didn’t have his best game in the division matchup against Philadelphia, he has impressed so far this season, with 427 yards in five games, with two games of over one hundred yards. He will be Daniel Jones’ primary target but will likely get most of Pittsburgh’s attention.

Darius Slayton is another receiver that has had flashes of excellence this season. When New York went on the road to defeat the Seahawks in week 5, Slayton had eight catches for one hundred and twenty-two yards, with a touchdown as well. The Steelers’ secondary has been solid this year, and been great in turning the ball over, but won’t want a repeat of when Michael Pittman had over one hundred yards against them. Joey Porter Jr. will likely shadow Nabers throughout the game, and don’t be shocked if the rookie is double teamed a lot of the time despite Slayton’s potential to cause problems.

Daniel Jones has thrown four interceptions this season, and Pittsburgh’s defense have picked off quarterbacks nine times. Only five teams have more interceptions than the Steelers and they have also allowed an average passer rating of 80.5 this season, which is tied for sixth in the league. Of course, that isn’t just down to the secondary. While the pass rush hasn’t been as good as previous years in terms of sacks for Tomlin’s side, several of the interceptions from the defense have been because of collapsing pockets, with the two against Kirk Cousins in week 1 being the most notable. TJ Watt may not be having his best season in terms of sacks but has still been one of the best defenders in the NFL this year, and this could be a chance to boost his numbers. The Giants are giving up over three sacks per game, a stat bolstered by the fact that in their latest fixture, Daniel Jones was sacked seven times, and Drew Lock was sacked once. Recently, Giants right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said he wants ‘to be on an island with (Watt) all day’. If that is the case, Eluemunor will have his work cut out for him against an all-time great pass rusher.

The Giants struggle running and passing the ball and are going against a defense that has given up the second fewest points per game this season and has shown it can force takeaways. The defensive unit of the Steelers has no excuse if they don’t dominate this game.  

Why the Steelers could struggle offensively The Giants have had a secretly good defense this year. While that sounds silly to say after they lost 28-3 to the Eagles in their most recent outing, the defense kept the Bengals to just seventeen points when Cincinnati entered the game scoring the fourth most points per game in the league. Along with that, the Giants have the sixth best passing defense in the league. That could be an issue for the Steelers because, although Wilson has only started one game in which he threw for 264 yards, the passing offense as a whole has been lacklustre, ranking 28th in the league. Of course, the switch at quarterback could change this stat over time, but this seems unlikely given the run-heavy offense Arthur Smith likes and the fact that the receiving core outside of George Pickens isn’t as strong as many fans would like.

The Giants also lead the league in sacks. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence has dominated offensive lines so far this season with nine sacks already, and with starting centre Zach Frazier still out, Ryan McCollum will need to have a strong game alongside his guards, Isaac Seumalo and Mason McCormick. The Giants also have Brian Burns off the edge, and the tackles haven’t been Pittsburgh’s strongest asset this season. Burns will likely be against Dan Moore Jr. most of the night but the Giants might see him as a mismatch on Broderick Jones.

Running the ball, the Steelers might have more luck as the Giants are in the bottom half of the league against the run game. But, while Pittsburgh is top ten in the league in rush yards per game, Najee Harris’ numbers don’t stand out with just 4.1 yards per carry. Along with this, injuries to key offensive linemen throughout the first half of the season has weakened Pittsburgh which could allow Dexter Lawrence at defensive tackle to thrive.

It is hard to see the Steelers putting up 30+ points again given the lack of explosiveness in the offense, but they also are likely to play a clean game. The Giants have just one interception so far this season, and the quarterbacks for the Steelers have only thrown one pick this year. So, hopefully, turnovers won’t be an issue.

Predicting how the game will play out It is unlikely that this is a high scoring matchup. The defense is the stronger unit on both teams, and neither offense possesses a lot of firepower. The Steelers will likely stick to their philosophy of playing safe offense and rely on the defense to make stops and splash plays. These are things both units should be able to do against a weak Giants team. Harris is likely to be given a lot of carries, but Wilson will have two or three opportunities for a big play downfield. The Giants will struggle to run the ball against a strong Steelers front seven so may look to try and feed Nabers. With the way the Steelers secondary has been playing, if they don’t have an interception off of Daniel Jones, they’ll be disappointed.

Score prediction This won’t be the most thrilling game of the season for Steelers fans, but it should be a win. Steelers 23-13 Giants