Cameron Heyward might be on Injured Reserve with a groin injury that required surgery after Week One, but that hasn’t kept the star defensive lineman from being around the Pittsburgh Steelers the last few weeks.
That includes the lead-up to the Steelers’ first trip to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders. Coming out of the 23-18 hard-fought win on the road inside Allegiant Stadium, the Steelers are feeling pretty good about themselves. Though he was unable to participate in the game, Heyward is feeling pretty good about the team, too, praising the group for its preparation on a short week to get a big win on the road.
Heyward appeared on the NBC Sports post-game show and spoke with hosts Jack Collinsworth, Rodney Harrison and Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy and praised his teammates, especially coming off of a short week and making a long road trip.
“Two primetime games, getting the job done. Just proud of these guys, man,” Heyward said to Harrison following the win, according to video via NBC Sports. “They did an unbelievable job just preparing, and they got the job done today.”
It wasn’t pretty, but the Steelers did what was necessary to pick up a huge win in Week Three.
Coming out of the primetime matchup against the Cleveland Browns at Acrisure Stadium, a game that left the Steelers bruised and battered and on a short week, Pittsburgh did a great job of rallying, making the 2,200-mile trip to Las Vegas and picking up a huge road win.
Without Heyward in the lineup and coming off of two straight weeks of getting gashed in the run game, the Steelers schemed up ways to slow down the Raiders on the ground. They did just that, holding Josh Jacobs to just 62 yards rushing on 19 attempts, largely making the Raiders one-dimensional.
That allowed T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and the Steelers’ pass rush to tee off on Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the pocket, leading to four sacks and three interceptions in the win. The game planning carried over to the offense too as the Steelers ran the football with success, racking up 105 yards on the ground in the win. They also got quarterback Kenny Pickett on the move with designed rollouts and bootlegs off play-action, leading to some success offensively with good balance overall.
It was rather impressive how the Steelers handled themselves throughout the week coming out of an AFC North slobber-knocker and then making the long trip to Las Vegas, coming away with two big wins in primetime. Keep stacking wins.
