The Steelers played a regular season football game at Heinz Field in front of a capacity crowd for the first time in 644 Days, and the atmosphere was electric. The result? Less so.
The defense was without two defensive starters out of the gate: Joe Haden and Devin Bush both suffered groin injuries in practice on Friday. DT Tyson Alualu suffered a fractured ankle on the first defensive possession and will miss the rest of the season, per Gerry Dulac. LB TJ Watt was lost to another groin injury on the last defensive possession of the 1st half, and the defense was starting to look like the 2020 vintage.
“I didn’t think we had enough detail or enough play-making on possession downs,” Head Coach Mike Tomlin said in his postgame comments. “A lot of that had to do with our inability to make plays in spots with attrition setting in, but that’s the nature of this thing. So put that on me: we have to do a better job of planning and insulating some of our down-the-line guys and we gotta get them ready to play better.”
The defense was making plays early: TJ dipped around RT Alex Leatherwood and knocked the ball out of Carr’s hands. It looked like Watt fell on top of the fumble at first, but the Raiders won the tug-of-war and retained possession. The next play, Carr fumbled the snap, and on the following play the crowd noise cause Leatherwood to flinch, backing his offense up 5 more yards and firing up one Mr. Trent Jordan Watt. The Steelers defense has done an excellent job defending short fields so far in 2021, and they were able to hold Las Vegas to a long field goal.
The offense showed a spark early in the next drive, when rookie RB Najee Harris did this (see below).
WR Juju Smith-Schuster got a nice block from TE Pat Freiermuth and broke 3 tackles on a screen that he took for a 1st down and much more. Take a look at the strength and edge speed here:
The drive stalled after the Steelers gave Ben the ball back on 4th and 4. He took a shot as he threw right to the face mask from Raiders DE Max Crosby that was not penalized. His throw fell well short looking for WR Chase Claypool. Speaking of QB’s taking shots, this happened to Derek Carr on the ensuing drive (Spillane was flagged for this one):
Back to Claypool: he had 3 catches for 70 yards, but he was hemmed in most of the day by Raiders CB Casey Hayward. Ben’s throws were hanging up a little too long, and Hayward was consistently able to make plays on the ball. Chase was able to pull in one splash play, take a look:
After making 6 catches on 6 targets in the first half for 41 yards – and chipping in a 3-yard rushing TD – Juju was targeted only once in the second half (the ball was tipped at the line and fell incomplete). I’ll have to dig into the tape to see where he was being used after halftime.
The star of the offense was WR Diontae Johnson, who had 9 catches for 105 yards, including a 41-yarder to set up the Steelers’ first TD. Unfortunately, he was added to the injury list in garbage time on the last play of the game. Honorable mention: Najee finished with 10 carries for 38 yards, and caught all five of his targets for 43 yards, including his first NFL TD (see below).
At the end of the day, the Steelers’ replacements couldn’t stop the Raiders when their lives depended on it. We knew the key was going to be neutralizing Raiders star TE Darren Waller, and the Steelers did force other guys to beat them.
But that’s exactly what happened in the 4th quarter: WR Henry Ruggs ran right past newest Steeler CB Ahkello Witherspoon for a TD, and Waller had a 25-yard dagger to move the chains on the Raiders’ last drive that put this game out of reach. FINAL SCORE: 26-17 LVR
Consolation Prizes: They Call it FOOT-ball for a Reason
Rookie P Presley Harvin, after a rough debut last week, was impressive today. His 4 boots averaged 49.3 yards and 3 of them pinned the Raiders inside their own 20, including one that settle down at the Las Vegas 3 yard line.
K Chris Boswell nailed a 56-yard FG today that may not have been good from 57. Nevertheless, in goes in the books as the longest made FG in Heinz Field history (55 yards, Mason Crosby/Matt Gay). It’s only right that a Steeler should hold that record; good for the Wizard of Boz.
Steely Cam 