‘Twas the night before Christmas and bitter cold at the ‘Sure, but Santa left nothing but coal for #4.
It’s unfortunate that a night meant to honor a legend turned into a memorial when Franco Harris passed on Tuesday evening. Thanks to three Derek Carr INT’s the Steelers made an angel smile tonight.
The Raiders seemed to be more than ready for the elements, stitching together a 14-play, eight-and-a-half minute drive to open the game. If you’re one to look for silver linings, DE Cam Heyward had a sack and MLB Rob Spillane hogtied Josh Jacobs by the neck for a no-gainer. I’m no Bradley Cooper, personally; I say “7-0 LV” and keep it moving.
WR Diontae Johnson caught each of his first three targets for 39 yards. TE Pat Freiermuth got involved on Pittsburgh’s third drive for 8 yards, then WR George Pickens did the same. The FB dive to Derek Watt didn’t work on 3rd&1, but the QB sneak on 4th down is still undefeated for Kenny.
On the other side of the two-minute warning, a wide open Freiermuth dropped what would have converted a 3rd&8. K Chris Boswell hooked his first attempt (a 43-yarder) but tucked this 44-yarder just inside the left upright. 7-3 LV
Darren Waller – one of the best TE’s in football – split S Tre Norwood and S Minkah Fitzpatrick for an explosive gain to put Las Vegas in striking distance just before they half. CB Cam Sutton made a nice play on Davante Adams to bring up 2nd down, then a pair of Carr overthrows brought on a FG attempt.
Halftime score: 10-3 LV
Pittsburgh came out throwing on each of their first five plays of the second half. Four were caught, three for at least 10 yards, two by Freiermuth and one by Pickens…and a partridge in a pear tree. The next time Kenny put the ball in the air, though, it ended in the belly of a Raider linebacker. The Steelers were dominating every statistical category, except the scoreboard.
On the very next snap another high pass from Carr was tipped by his receiver and intercepted right back by CB Arthur Maulet.
Staring down the barrel of another wasted drive, Kenny started to scramble on 3rd&8 but kept his eyes downfield and found Diontae to move the chains with a 14-yard pickup. After feeding Najee three straight plays, they called on Boz again for a 52-yarder. Almost predictably, he missed wide left.
OLB TJ Watt started the next drive out on the right foot with a batted pass to put the Raiders behind the chains. The Raiders overcame that set-back, but the next tipped pass ended in the belly Minkah’s belly for the Steelers’ second INT of the brisk evening.
Again Pittsburgh wasn’t able to do anything with the ball and the boos started hailing (not raining) down as P Presley Harvin came back on the field.
Fortunately the Raiders seemed to be running out of magic. After what seemed like a huge gain was brought back due to penalty, they couldn’t overcome the 1st&25. MLB Devin Bush made a couple nice, physical plays in coverage, then OLB Alex Highsmith recorded a 13 yard loss on 3rd down with his 12th sack of the year.
We’ve seen Najee bust off that hurdle before, but I don’t know we’ve ever seen him get over a dude clean, land it clean, and get the first (and more). Well, now we have.
The Steelers settled for another FG on that drive and trusted their defense to give them a shot. 10-6 LV
That’s exactly what the defense did. Cam Heyward recorded his second sack of the night on 2nd down and Minkah tracked down the catch on 3rd to force the Raiders fourth punt with six minutes to play.
With four-and-a-half minutes left the Steelers punted it right back. It looked like Kenny might have been able to pick it up himself on 3rd down but he put it in the air and got batted down. Fans wanted to keep the offense on the field for 4th&2 but they were too deep in Pittsburgh’s end.
1st down picked up half the required yardage with a run, but Heyward tracked down a 2nd down run for no gain. A 3rd down fade to Adams was well off the mark and Kenny got the ball back with just under three minutes to operate.
After a six-yard check down to Najee on 1st down the Steelers were showing no signs of urgency. On 2nd down Kenny looked left, didn’t like it and rolled right, pulled the trigger on the move and found Freiermuth for 17 yards and a 1st down, almost out to midfield.
Rolling to his right again Kenny fired for Pat at the stick. The first official said incomplete but the guy behind the play said catch. After conference they agreed it was a completion but they stopped play to look at it and make sure. Clean catch, another 1st down.
Najee bailed Kenny out of another high pass that likely would have been picked. Kenny thanked him by going back to him the next two plays for 24 yards. This 2nd&5 was the Steelers’ first Heinz Red Zone play of the night, and predictably went right back to Najee. This ball was dropped, but fortunately so because it was initially ruled a two-yard loss and a loss-of-timeout for Pittsburgh.
3rd&5 from the 19: a quick out to Freiermuth just short of the stick. Tomlin called his second TO to discuss their options for 4th&1. QB sneak to Kenny…STILL UNDEFEATED on 4th&1.
:50 to play from the 14-yard-line. 1st&10, spread out: GEORGE PICKENS ON A QUICK SLANT, SPLITS THE CORNER AND SAFETY FOR A TD! Steelers take their first lead of the night. 13-10 PIT
The Raiders had :40 and all three timeouts. 1st down they looked for Adams deep down the right sideline but Minkah did a great job to push him out of bounds. 2nd&10: looking for Hunter Renfrow, overthrown and PICKED OFF, CAM SUTTON, GO AHEAD AND CALL GAME!
But not quite yet. Vegas still had those timeouts. They used one after an unsuccessful Najee run, but Matt Canada surprised them with the jet sweep from TE Connor Heyward to move the chains and seal the victory. On a night like tonight, how sweet it is.
FINAL SCORE: 13-10 PIT
Steely Cam 