What’s a Sunday without some extra stress and anxiety for NO good reason?
After a bliss filled week that was the bye for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team returned to action this week in Los Angeles against the Rams.
The Steelers were looking for their seventh straight win coming out of the bye week, while also looking for just their fourth win in the Pacific Time Zone under Mike Tomlin.
This is a very interesting game to write about, because I think the offense put together one of their better games in a while, but they still needed help from TJ Watt and the Pittsburgh defense, as well as Los Angeles Rams kicker Brett Maher, who we will come back too later.
The offense and in particular, offensive coordinator Matt Canada, had a lot to prove coming out of the bye and starting with this game.
The embattled third year coordinator has yet to see his offense engineer a 400+ yard day on offense, the longest such streak in the NFL, and has yet to see 30+ points in a win.
No, neither one of those things happened today, but the offense did look relatively well, especially late in the game.
The Steelers offense scored 24 points (yes, 7 were granted to them by amazing field position), but we’ve been talking about over and over again the need for splash plays from the offense, and we saw multiple today.
Other NFL offenses experience that routinely, but it’s progress for the offense nonetheless.
The Steelers offense did well despite shooting themselves in the foot multiple times today. Both George Pickens and Diontae Johnson were flagged for taunting penalties, the latter of which was incredibly costly and forced the Steelers to convert a controversial 4th down call.
Most importantly, the Steelers offense scored THREE touchdowns today, all rushing touchdowns, something I could have never predicted.
But as always, it isn’t Steeler football without a three-and-out to start the game. The first quarter as a whole was rather boring for the average fan: punt, punt, punt, but the Rams miss a field goal towards the end of the first, one of several missed kicks that would loom large.
Chris Boswell then proceeds to dunk of Brett Maher, kicking a field goal from the exact same spot (53 yards), facing the same side of the stadium, to give the Steelers a 3-0 lead to start.
Maher would kick his only successful attempt of the game, a 41-yarder to tie the game, and the Rams really started to pick up the momentum as the second half started to close.
With mere seconds left, LA’s Matthew Stafford throws a bullet to Coop…uh I mean Tutu Atwell for the touchdown. Unsurprisingly, Levi Wallace is all out of sorts on the throw.
But once again, Maher misses a kick. His missed PAT gives the Rams a 9-3 lead instead.
And then TJ Watt decided that enough was enough.
He reads the play like an elite cornerback and takes the ball into first and goal range for the Steelers, who use that to secure a Kenny Pickett rushing touchdown to take the lead, 10-9.
The Rams do march down the field and respond, going up 17-10 with the two-point conversion successful, gathering cheers from the roughly 40% of the home stadium that was Rams fans.
And after a Steelers drive that was stalled by a holding penalty, the Rams get into field goal range, but Maher misses ANOTHER kick. That’s two field goals and an extra point, totaling 7 points in missed kicks, which would end up being all the difference.
The defense would lock things down after that, and now that the game entered the fourth quarter, Pickett knew it was his time to shine.
Kenny hits a nearly 40 yard bomb to Diontae Johnson, and shortly after, Jaylen Warren powers ahead for a 13-yard touchdown run.
And after forcing a punt, the Steeler offense scratches and claws for another touchdown, capping it off with a Najee Harris TD run.
The defense forces another punt, and the offense is able to run out the clock, fueled by a 31 yard catch and run by George Pickens and finished by a “successful” QB sneak by Pickett on fourth down.
Now, that play is going to be talked about, especially in LA, for the next week. This play right here:
In my personal opinion, I don’t think Pickett got the first down. I didn’t think he got it in real time, and I don’t think he got it after looking at replay. Pickett slips on the turf and goes down before the line to gain, and even if the ball is extended out past where his knee is, it’s still not enough for the first down that would ice the game.
But to the officials, it was. They grant Pickett a generous spot, good for the first, and the Steelers can kneel it out and win the game.
Rams head coach Sean McVay couldn’t believe the spot the Steelers were given, but he couldn’t challenge the play. LA had no timeouts left, and because the play happened on the north side of the two minute warning, the play would not automatically be reviewed.
It’s a testament to time and personnel management for the Rams, who had to burn a timeout early in the second half to avoid taking a delay of game penalty. Had the Rams not taken that timeout, they may have still had one to challenge that play.
And who knows what I’m writing if the Rams challenge? They would have won the call, and maybe they come back and take the game to overtime.
I will admit it was a bad call, but the Rams have no one but themselves to blame for being in a position to not be able to challenge that call.
That, plus three missed kicks. A killer.
More thoughts down below:
-Despite his team losing, Puca Nakua absolutely torched the Steelers. Nakua had 8 catches for 154 yards and ran circles around Pittsburgh’s defense.
-Multiple taunting penalties on the day for the Steelers is flat out unacceptable. It hurt the offense tremendously, particularly Diontae Johnson’s, which negated a pass interference penalty which forced the Steelers into that fourth down scenario in the first place
-On a more positive note for Diontae, he showed that the Steelers miss him when he’s gone a lot more than some fans are willing to accept. With him as a dual threat with Pickens, defenses have a hard time picking which to focus on. Johnson had 5 catches for 79 yards, and was a reliable target for Pickett
-I know the stats won’t really show it, but I thought Najee Harris had a good game today. Was it the kind of performance you would hope to see from him yet? No, but he looked better. Hopefully it’s a sign of better things to come post-bye
-Happy for Nick Herbig to get his first NFL sack. Been waiting for that.
-These are the kind of games that make you appreciate Chris Boswell. The man has been money all year, and has been for several years now, and you never fully appreciate that until you see an opposing kicker maybe cost his team the game.
–Odd stat of the game: Kenny Pickett now has more wins on the West Coast this season (2) than Ben Roethlisberger had his entire career (1).
(Featured photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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