Steelers @ Rams game review

The Pittsburgh Steelers improved to 4-2 following a 24-17 Week 7 win in Los Angeles over a Rams team that falls to 3-4.

The Steelers won the toss and elected to receive the ball to start the game, and the offense’s first drive went exactly how many Steelers fans would have predicted, a 3 and out. What was unfamiliar though, was Cooper Kupp dropping two passes on the Rams’ opening drive, which ended in a punt, despite them getting off some nice runs, which was a weakness for the Steelers all game. The first half in general was yet again a disappointing one for the Steelers. Following another punt by the offense, the Rams worked their way down the field well, after starting on their own 6-yard line. This included a big 30-yard catch to rookie Puka Nacua, who had a big day, with 8 catches for 154 yards. The Steelers did well to keep his counterpart Kupp quiet throughout, but Nacua caused the Steelers several issues, with Levi Wallace and Patrick Peterson continuing to struggle. This Rams’ 60-yard drive was stalled after a big tackle by Minkah Fitzpatrick on 3rd down forced a field goal. Fitzpatrick leads the team in tackles with 52 this season, and although he is playing a lot closer to the line of scrimmage than he has in previous years, the fact that the Steelers’ starting free safety is on course for 147 tackles, which would be a record for a Steeler in one season, is not a good sign for the rushing defense at all. This tackle forced a 53-yard field goal, and Maher missed it left, with the ball clipping the upright on its way. This gave the Steelers offense some much-needed field position on their next drive. It looked as if the Steelers were in business when Kenny Pickett hit Diontae Johnson, who was returning from injury, for a 19-yard gain to the Rams’ 8-yard line, but an illegal blindside block by George Pickens brough the play back and killed the drive. Chris Boswell was able to knock through a 53-yard field goal and the Steelers had the first points of the game. Boswell still has a perfect record on the year, having not missed a field goal nor an extra point.

Despite that play technically coming at the beginning of the 2nd quarter, it was not a successful quarter for the Steelers. For the rest of the half, the Steelers’ offense ran 9 plays, for a total of 8 yards. If you don’t include the kneel down to end the half, it was 8 plays for 9 yards. It wasn’t the best quarter for the defense either. Puka Nacua continued his strong performance, with a 22-yard catch on 3rd and 11 to take the Rams well into field goal range. Nacua had found himself wide open in the middle of the field, where he has had a lot of his success this season. However, the drive did come to an end on a Puka Nacua target, and it was the Steelers’ rookie Joey Porter Jr. who was in coverage on the 3rd and 4 play. Porter hasn’t seen as many snaps as fans would have liked so far, but he has performed well when given the chance, and this was another example, as he forced the field goal with a nice pass break up on an in-route against one of the star WRs in the NFL so far this season. This time, Maher’s kick was good, and the game was tied at 3 apiece. As already stated, the Steelers’ offense in the 2nd quarter was abysmal, so it was only 2 and a bit minutes later that the Rams had the ball back, this time starting on their own 12-yard line. Yet again, Nacua found success on this drive. On the Rams’ first 3rd down of the drive, from their own 19, Stafford found Nacua on a shallow cross, with Levi Wallace in coverage, and with space in front of him, Nacua took the ball all the way to the Steelers’ 45-yard line. After Wallace’s performance, it is hard to see how Teryl Austin, Pittsburgh’s defensive coordinator, can continue to justify starting him over rookie Porter. This play had brought up the 2-minute warning, and then just a few plays later from the Steelers’ 31, Stafford found Tutu Atwell for a touchdown on what looked like a backyard football play. Stafford was rolling left due to pressure created by Alex Highsmith, who didn’t record a sack in the game but caused the Rams problems all day. On his rollout, Stafford threw what looked to be a very risky pass, with two Steelers and two Rams in the area. Fortunately for the Rams, it was Atwell who came down with it, after he seemed to adjust his route and lose Levi Wallace to take the ball into the endzone. It seems certain that the pass was intended for Cooper Kupp, who was guarded by Patrick Peterson all the way into the endzone. Whoever the target was, the Rams now led 9-3, and it remained 9-3 after Maher missed the extra point. The Steelers ended the half with a knee and headed into the locker room trailing by 6 with the Rams set to receive the ball to start the second half.

It seems that all season the Steelers’ offense has relied on their defense to make big plays and give them good field position, or to change the momentum of the game. That’s exactly what happened again on Sunday. First play of the 2nd half, Stafford looks to find Kupp over the middle, but TJ Watt undercuts the route out of nowhere and takes the ball down to LA’s 7-yard line. Watt was neutralised well by the Rams in the pass-rush, but a player as good as him is impossible to keep quiet all game, and the 2021 DPOY completely changed the momentum of the game with one of the best plays of his career. The Steelers’ redzone offense was the worst in the league going into Week 7, but it was perfect against the Rams, as all 3 trips they had resulted in touchdowns, with the first of the three trips coming from this Watt interception. In fact, Watt’s interception to start the 2nd half meant that for the first time all game, an offense was going to snap the ball inside the opposition’s 20-yard line. After 2 plays took the Steelers to the 1-yard line, Pickett took matters into his own hands with a quarterback sneak to tie the game and give the Steelers their first rushing touchdown of the season. The extra point by Boswell then gave Pittsburgh the lead once again, making it 10-9. The Rams answered quickly though, with a 75-yard touchdown drive to regain their lead. This included a huge 32-yard play action pass to the Steelers’ 31-yard line to Puka Nacua again, who made one of the catches of the season as leapt over Levi Wallace, keeping hold of the ball following a hit from Fitzpatrick, and somehow getting two feet in to advance the Rams right down the field. Another big catch for Nacua, this time for 20 yards, took the Rams to the 8-yard line of the Steelers, and Darrell Henderson Jr. eventually ran in for a 1-yard touchdown. The Rams then went for two, and thanks to a Copper Kupp catch, converted the attempt and took a 17-10 lead. Those were the final points of the 3rd quarter by any side, and as the game entered the 4th quarter, the Steelers offense finally came alive.

The final quarter started with the Steelers down 17-10, facing a 3rd and 8 in their own territory. This is a play that has gone under the radar, as it didn’t score any points, but it really set the tone for the Steelers’ 4th quarter dominance. Pickett found Johnson over the middle who took the ball not only for a first down, but a lot more, as he was finally tackled at the Rams’ 18-yard line. Two plays later, Jaylen Warren found his way into the endzone on a toss play, thanks to some great blocking from James Daniels and Isaac Seumalo in particular. It must be said as well that this was a good play call from Matt Canada. This just tied the game for the Steelers though. They still had to stop the Rams, and that’s exactly what they did, as they forced a 3 and out from the Rams’ offense. Once again on 3rd down, Joey Porter Jr. forced an incompletion while guarding Puka Nacua. This gave Kenny Pickett the ball back with about 12 minutes to go. So far, the Steelers’ points had all come from good field position, with 10 points following the missed field goals, and 7 points coming after TJ Watt’s interception. They started on their own 20-yard line for this drive, and it looked to be a good start as Pickens caught a ball for 18 yards, but the Steelers then went back 15 yards from where he was tackled as Pickens was flagged for taunting Russ Yeast, who he had illegally blocked earlier in the game which had led to the two having a mini battle throughout. Pittsburgh continued to drive though, and Pickens wasn’t done as his quarterback hit him down the left sideline for a signature Pickett to Pickens back-shoulder fade, which went for a gain of 21 yards. Following some nice running from Harris, and a few passes to Johnson and Heyward, Pittsburgh were at the Rams’ 3-yard line and Harris ran in for his first rushing touchdown of the season. The Steelers had a 24-17 lead with just over 7 minutes remaining. Once again, the defense held strong, forcing another Rams’ punt with just over 5 minutes left after a Stafford incompletion on 3rd and 10. We were critical of this defensive group in our preview of this matchup, but it must be said that they were incredible in the 4th quarter, allowing 0 points when it mattered most. The Steelers’ final drive was filled with controversy. The offense looked as if it had found a rhythm, but still had to seal the game. With just over 4 minutes remaining, on a 3rd and 3 deep in his own territory, Pickett once again found Pickens, this time for a huge 31-yard gain to put the Steelers in an extremely strong position (Pickens deserves a mention for his big game, as he had 5 catches for 107 yards, making it his 3rd 100+ yard game of the season). Then, on another 3rd down, this time with 8 yards to go, Pickett looked for Johnson down the left sideline. The ball was incomplete, but a flag was called on former Steeler and now Rams’ cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon for pass interference. The game was seemingly over with that call, but then Johnson, who had a nice game with 79 yards on his return, was called for a taunting penalty, which offset Witherspoon’s penalty, and meant the down would be replayed. Johnson and Pickens both had good games, but they also both had a penalty or two that would have cost the Steelers on another day. In fact, the Steelers as a team had a bad day penalties wise, having 8 of them for 76 yards. This is something that certainly needs to be cleaned up for future weeks. Nonetheless, the 3rd and 8 was replayed and Pickett found Allen Robinson for 7 yards, setting up a 4th and 1 at the Rams 39. Rather than attempting a 55/56-yard field goal, Mike Tomlin elected to go for it given that there was just a yard needed. The Steelers had been successful on quarterback sneaks to the left of centre Mason Cole a few times earlier in the game and went for the same play again. This time, though, it looked as if Pickett had slipped and not made it to the first down marker. The refs, though, gave Pickett the first down after spotting the ball and bringing the chains out. At this point in the game, the clock was above 2 minutes, meaning there was no automatic review, and the Rams also had no timeouts, meaning they couldn’t challenge. It looked as if Pickett had fallen short of the line to gain, but as the refs had spotted it past the first down line, and approved it with the chains, all Sean McVay and the Rams could do was watch as the Steelers took 3 knees to run out the clock, given the Rams had no timeouts left.

It was by no means a perfect game for the Steelers but the 4th quarter performance from the offense is something they will look to build on for the rest of the season. Pickett is beginning to show that he comes alive in clutch time, with yet another 4th quarter game-winning drive. What was key for him and the offense in this game was no turnovers, which will almost always give you a chance in the NFL. Pickett hasn’t had the best start to his 2nd year in the league, but with Diontae Johnson back, and what looked to be an improved redzone offense in this game, Pickett and the Steelers can have confidence as they return home to host the 5-2 Jaguars in Week 8.