Steelers @ Raiders game review

Following a big win over a division foe in week 2, the Pittsburgh Steelers travelled to Las Vegas for their first road game of the season, against a Raiders team that also entered the game 1-1.

Not unlike their win over the Browns, the Steelers came out victorious mainly thanks to a big defensive performance in a game that was sloppy at times. Though, unlike the Browns game, the offense seemed to have taken a step up, although it was still far from perfect.

The game started in familiar fashion for the offense, with their first two drives ending in 3 and outs. The Raiders then drew first blood, on a nice 4th down call after they had failed a Quarterback sneak with Jimmy Garoppolo on 3rd and 1. On 4th and less than a yard, another Quarterback sneak seemed likely, but the Raiders opted for a gutsy play action call, with Garoppolo faking the run to Josh Jacobs, and finding All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams in the endzone. It was Levi Wallace in coverage on Davante Adams, and it seemed he was too focused on what was going on in the backfield as he allowed Adams to break into space over the middle, though Patrick Peterson didn’t cover himself in glory either, arriving late in deep zone coverage over the middle, and being unable to locate the ball, allowing Adams to roll into the endzone to give the Raiders the lead. Both corners did end the day with an interception, with Wallace getting two, and certainly had their best games of the season, but there are still improvements to be made. Despite this touchdown from Adams, this game would have been a confidence booster for both Wallace and Peterson.

The Steelers offense needed to respond quickly and that’s exactly what they did. On a 3rd and 7 from their own 28, Kenny Pickett and Calvin Austin III connected for a 72-yard touchdown. Pickett has had a rough start to the season, but this play kickstarted a solid day for the 2nd year Quarterback, who certainly has the potential to develop into a franchise guy. The throw to Austin for the touchdown could very well be the best of Pickett’s young career. With pressure coming on his right, Pickett launched the ball 48 yards to find the 2nd year Wide Receiver, who used his world class speed to break away for the touchdown. It's the Steelers’ 2nd 70+ yard touchdown in as many weeks, a good sign for this offense that still has a lot of improvements to make. Austin’s speed is certainly something the Steelers will look to use more as the season goes on, after he missed all his rookie season through injury.

The first half was dominated by one man on the Steelers’ defense, and it will come as no surprise that that man was TJ Watt. Watt recorded two sacks in the first half, taking his total up to six in three games, but his most important play came when he forced Garoppolo’s first interception of the day with the pressure he created. With the game tied at 7 a piece at this point, and the Raiders making their way into Pittsburgh territory, this was a key moment in the game for the Steelers, as it seemed to swing the momentum back their way, when it looked like the Raiders were getting into a rhythm, especially with the way Davante Adams was playing. We can’t let Watt’s pressure hide the fact that it was great coverage by Levi Wallace, and a great play to get the interception. As mentioned before, it wasn’t a perfect day for Wallace, but he made big plays at key times.

The Steelers offense capitalised on the interception by knocking through a field goal, as Chris Boswell made his first of three field goals in the game, on a night where he continued his perfect season. Boswell made another field goal on the Steelers’ next drive after the defense forced another punt, which gave Pittsburgh a 13-7 lead at half time. It did seem as if the Steelers could have tried to gain at least 3 more points just before half time. With 2 timeouts and 38 seconds left, the Steelers were starting a drive at their own 20, but just ran one run play with Najee Harris which brought the half to a close. This was despite the fact the Raiders were receiving the ball to start the 2nd half. Without looking into it too much, maybe Mike Tomlin doesn’t yet have enough faith in the offense to trust them not to make a mistake before the end of the half, or maybe he trusted the defense enough to get a stop to start the second half.

If it was the latter, then Tomlin would have been absolutely right to do so, as the defense forced a three and out to start the second half. In fact, the 3rd quarter couldn’t have gone much better for the Steelers, as Chris Boswell tacked on another 3 points in the drive following the Raiders’ punt, this time from 57 yards, showing why he is still one of the best kickers out there. To follow up that field goal drive, the defense continued the momentum as Patrick Peterson picked up his first interception as a Steeler. Once again TJ Watt pressured Garoppolo into the throw, and although it was a very questionable decision by the Raiders’ Quarterback, that interception by the veteran cornerback will do his confidence a world of good after a rough start to the season.

The Steelers’ offense continued their strong performance with a great touchdown drive, including multiple chunk plays, and ending with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Tight End Pat Freiermuth. This touchdown pass from Pickett meant that this was the first game of his young career with multiple touchdown passes, and hopefully there are many more to come. The Steelers were in complete control at this point, and it was looking even better for Pittsburgh when the defense started the 4th quarter with a 4th down stop. Levi Wallace was the man to break up Garoppolo’s pass attempt to Jakobi Meyers. Another good play from the corner who recovered well after Adams’ 1st quarter touchdown.

It was at this point where you would have expected the offense to see this game out. Run down the clock by a decent amount at the least, and ideally get some points of course. However, this offense never seems to want to make it easy for either their fans or their own defense. A short run, a short pass, and an incompletion meant punter Pressley Harvin III was back on the field. It must be mentioned that Harvin had another great game. Two very good performances in a row for him, in a team that seems to call on him a little too much.

Despite the Raiders forming a solid drive, it looked as if the Pittsburgh defense was going to stop them again as Minkah Fitzpatrick came through on a blitz on 2nd and 10 and brought down Garoppolo about 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage, which would have set up a 3rd and 16 in what was likely 4 down territory for the Raiders, who trailed 23-7 at this point. The dreaded yellow flag was on the field though, as Pittsburgh’s All-Pro safety was called for roughing the passer. While it seemed a very harsh call, and probably the wrong one, you can see why the refs flagged Fitzpatrick as his helmet did make slight contact with Garoppolo’s when he brought the Raiders’ quarterback down. If it’s of any value, NBC Sunday Night Football’s rules expert and former NFL referee Terry McAulay disagreed with the call. Nonetheless, the call gave the Raiders a 1st and goal at the Steelers’ 9-yard line, eventually resulting in a 1-yard touchdown pass on 3rd down to Davante Adams, who had a very good night. The Raiders still needed a 2-point conversion to make it a 1 score game, and following a pass interference penalty on Chandon Sullivan, the Raiders once again scored from the 1-yard line, with Michael Mayer tacking on 2 more points for his side as he found himself wide open in the endzone.

Suddenly, with 5 minutes and 41 seconds left in the game, the Steelers were up just 8 points, in a game it looked like they were in complete control of.

The offense headed back out as they looked to end the game, but again left their defense to clean up their mess as they gained just 2 yards form 3 plays. Another 3 and out, and the Raiders’ offense was back on the field.

The Raiders were able to drive down the field to Pittsburgh’s 25-yard line, where on a 4th and inches a snap infraction was called on centre Andre James, leaving them with a 4th and 6. Given his side was trailing by 8 points with only 3 minutes and 15 seconds to go at this point, head coach Josh McDaniels’ decision to send out the field goal unit for a 47-yard attempt was an interesting one. The Steelers though, gave the Raiders a second chance as Demarvin Leal was called for a rare leverage penalty, giving the Raiders a fresh set of downs on the Steelers’ 15-yard line. With it being a 1 score game, and less than 3 minutes remaining, this seemed to be 4 down territory for the Raiders. But, after a stop by the Steelers on 3rd and 4, the Raiders sent their field goal team back out to cut the deficit to 5. The Raiders did still have 3 timeouts and the 2-minute warning was still to come, but the decision to kick the field goal was still one that McDaniels will have to answer for. His decision certainly seemed to show how little faith he had in the Steelers’ offense, and maybe rightfully so.

Pickett and the offense were able to drain the clock significantly though, with a 6-yard pass on 3rd and 2 to Allen Robinson II all but ending the game. Despite not being able to gain another first down, the offense ran down the clock enough to leave the Raiders, who needed a touchdown, with a near-impossible task as they took over on their own 15-yard line with just 12 seconds remaining and no timeouts at their disposal. This was also thanks to an excellent punt by Harvin, that not only pinned the Raiders deep, but also took more time off the clock as DeAndre Carter fumbled the return. The Raiders’ punt returner did well to recover from his mistake as he gained the ball back before a Steeler could, which would have ended the game there and then.

The game was over on the next play anyway, as Levi Wallace sealed it with his second interception of the day, toe-tapping on the sideline to move the Steelers to 2-1.

This was the Steelers best performance as a team so far this season. The defense once again showed up, with 3 turnovers, making it 8 turnovers in the first 3 games. Kenny Pickett and the offense looked much improved, though there is still a long way to go for them, as they made what should have been a routine 4th quarter, a stressful one with some poor play. The run game is a big issue as they averaged just 3.4 yards per carry as a team, and if this team wants to compete, that will have to be addressed.

The Steelers travel to Houston in week 4, in a game where they will be heavily favoured. Though the Texans upset the Jaguars with a big 37-17 win in week 3, and CJ Stroud has looked impressive to start the season, so the Steelers will need to bring their A-game.