The Pittsburgh Steelers begin their season tonight, traveling to take on the New York Giants. Pittsburgh returns with Ben Roethlisberger for the first time since Week Two of last year when Roethlisberger was lost for the year following elbow surgery. Pittsburgh dug themselves out of an early season hole, storming back to one point move to 8-5 before dropping their final three games and missing the playoffs.
The Giants are operating under first-year, first-time head coach Joe Judge after New York suffered through a disappointing 4-12 campaign. Daniel Jones enters the year as the full-time starer, surrounded by RB Saquon Barkley, WR Sterling Shepard, and TE Evan Engram. They also boast a tough interior defensive line.
Pittsburgh is 16-2 all-time under Mike Tomlin on Monday night. Their last loss came in 2013 against the Bengals.
Steelers Inactive Players
– QB Joshua Dobbs
– RB Anthony McFarland
– ILB Ulysees Gilbert
– DL Carlos Davis
– TE Zach Gentry
– G David DeCastro
Giants Inactive Players
WR Golden Tate
LB T.J. Brunson
LB Cam Brown
LB Tae Crowder
G Shane Lemieux
T Jackson Barton
DE RJ McIntosh
The Pittsburgh Steelers take the field:
The Steelers won the coin toss and will defer. The Steelers defense will get a chance to set the tone early.
The kickoff went out of the back of the endzone, so the Giants will start with the ball on the 25 yard line.
The first play is a quick crosser to Sterling Shephard over the middle for a first down. The very next play, Saquon Barkley is swallowed up in the backfield by Vince Williams. After a drop on 2nd down, the Giants are up with 3rd and 11.
Sterling Shephard comes up big on 3rd down with a catch in the soft spot of the zone.
The Steelers get another big tackle for loss on a Saquon Barkley run and stop the Giants short of the 1st down. The Giants lined up as if they were going for the 1st down, but a delay of game penalty will force them to punt.
The punt was fumbled by Diontae Johnson after calling for a fair catch. The call on the field is that the Giants recover the punt. The Giants have the ball with goal to go. The Steelers goal line defense will get their first opportunity of the season.
Bud Dupree and TJ Watt came around the edge and sandwiched Daniel Jones for a very near strip-sack. Ultimately, the Giants will have to settle for a field goal. Very good goal-line defense on the first attempt.
The Giants get on the scoreboard first with a field goal. 3-0 Giants.
The Giants kick off with Ray-Ray McCloud back to receive. The ball went out of the back of the endzone for a touchback. Here comes Ben Roethlisberger and the offense.
The first offensive play of the season was not a Ben Roethlisberger deep shot, as many anticipated, but rather a James Conner run up the middle for 2. The Steelers look to establish the run with the first 2 plays to James Conner. On 3rd down, Ben Roethlisberger is nearly sacked and tosses the ball away. The Steelers will punt.
So far at least, nothing all that creative from the “scripted” plays at the beginning of a game. Run, run, pass resulting in a quick three-and-out.
Bud Dupree explodes into the backfield for a big tackle for loss on Saquon Barkley bringing up 3rd down with 14 to go. The Giants expect the pass rush and go for a quick screen to Barkley. He is brought down for a small gain, bringing up another punt. Diontae Johnson secures the punt this time around.
The first play of the drive is yet another rushing attempt by James Conner. The Steelers sure seem committed to Art Rooney II’s call to improve the running game.
The first Ben Roethlisberger completion of the season is a first down on 3rd and 6 to Juju Smith-Schuster. He looked to limp a little getting up, but its his first time taking an NFL hit in over a year.
Maurkice Pouncey continues his struggles with the low snaps on 2nd down, with an incompletion to follow.
On 3rd down, Ben Roethlisberger took his first big shot downfield, completed to Chase Claypool with an excellent toe drag in double coverage along the sideline. What a first catch for the rookie.
Benny Snell has his first nice run of the season, shaking one tackler and taking the ball just shy of the first down. James Conner, who was lined up as a wideout, gets the first down reception. James Conner is seeing a lot of action early.
On 3rd down with 9 to go, Ben Roethlisberger missed while trying to dump the ball to Benny Snell. Chris Boswell kicked the ball right through the uprights to tie the game at 3-3.
Boswell kicked the ball into the endzone, but the Giants return unit opted to take the touchback. The Steelers defense will get a chance here to continue their excellent play.
A Terrell Edmunds whiff leads to a quick first down for the Giants by way of Darius Slayton 11 yard catch and run. A Tyson Alualu tackle for loss, and an incompletion brought on by Bud Dupree pressure brought up 3rd down and long.
The pass was broken up by Joe Haden on 3rd down, but defensive pass interference will give the Giants a fresh set of downs. The very next play, Daniel Jones with a deep pass over the top of Minkah Fitzpatrick and Steven Nelson. Touchdown, 10-3 Giants.
This time on first down, Ben Roethlisberger attempts a quick pass in the flats to James Conner, but he couldn’t quite get a hold of the ball. Incomplete.
Jaylen Samuels is checking into the game on 3rd down as James Conner is getting his ankle taped up on the sideline. Ben Roethlisberger misses on 3rd down to Vance McDonald – the Steelers will punt.
The first play of the Giants drive, Daniel Jones throws an interception to TJ Watt. Watt dropped into coverage to cover the hook/curl and went up to get the interception.
James Conner is still on the sideline, as Benny Snell gets a nice pickup on first down running around the edge to the right side of the field. The Steelers got to a 3rd and 1 situation, but got called for a delay of game, putting them in a 3rd and 6 situation.
Eric Ebron snared his first reception of the season for a nice 18 yard pickup. 1st down in the redzone!
The first down attempt was tossed out of the back of the end zone by Roethlisberger. Vance McDonald gets a reception on 2nd down to bring up 3rd and 7 in the red zone.
Ben Roethlisberger throws a lob off of his back foot to the left corner of the end zone for a Juju Smith Schuster touchdown. Made possible by an excellent pickup in the backfield by Benny Snell. Chris Boswell, missed the point after attempt. 10-9 Giants.
The Giants take the ball from the 25 yard line after a touchback. Yet another tackle for loss by Bud Dupree in the backfield. Bud is going to be a very rich man this time next year.
After a false start, the Giants use a little misdirection to get Saquon Barkley open in some space on the right hash for a large pickup of 38.
Evan Engram catches the ball on first down over Terrell Edmunds, but offensive pass interference is called bringing up 1st and 20.
On 2nd down, Vince Williams flies into the backfield untouched for the first Steelers sack of the season. This brings a 3rd and 27 attempt from the Giants. The Steelers defense gave some room underneath on 3rd down, allowing a modest pickup to cross the 50 yard line, but the Giants will ultimately punt.
On first down, Ben Roethlisberger drops back avoiding one near sack, but ultimately had nowhere to go as Dexter Lawrence notches a sack. A Benny snell sweep to the right side of the field brings up 3rd and long, as Ben Roethlisberger overthrows the first down to Eric Ebron while on the run. The Steelers will punt deep in their own territory. The defense will need to stand strong as the Giants get the ball right around the 50 yard line with 3:24 left in the half.
Bud Dupree comes in on first down and whiffs the sack, but he forced Daniel Jones to slide up into a Stephon Tuitt sack. Nice to see Tuitt getting some snaps back from injury. The very next play, Tyson Alualu does his best to make the Steelers forget about Javon Hargrave, notching a tackle for loss and setting up 3rd and long.
One thing to mention here, one of the best running backs in the league has been held to -8 yards on 8 carries. He has done some damage on receptions, but the run has been absolutely shut down in the first half. The Giants will have trouble holding onto any kind of lead if they can’t get the run game going.
A delay of game penalty puts the Giants into 3rd and 18. Saquon Barkley gets the ball on a dump into the flats, but comes up short of the first down. The Steelers are set to receive the punt with just under 2:00 remaining in the half. This will be Roethlisberger’s first 2 minute offense attempt in quite some time.
On the first play, an end-around to Diontae Johnson for a pickup of 2. The very next play, Roethlisberger to James Washington for a 21 yard completion. Juju Smitch-Schuster get another nice pickup for 19 yards, picking up yet another 1st down.
An incompletion to Diontae Johnson stops the clock at 00:29 with 2nd and 10. The Steelers are hovering just outside of field goal range. Juju gets them into range on a catch and run of 14 yards over the middle.
Ben Roethlisberger scrambled for another 1st down pickup with 00:14 remaining on the 13 yard line. Unless something catastrophic happens, the Steelers will go into the half with the lead while also receiving the ball at the start of the 2nd half.
James Washington catches the ball over the middle of the field, runs forward into two defenders. On the 2nd effort, Washington’s leg drive propels him into the endzone. Boswell doesn’t make the same mistake twice and the extra point is succesful. 16-10 Steelers.
The first half is over, join us shortly on the 2nd half live discussion blog!
