One of the marquee matchups of Week One is when the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the San Francisco 49ers at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow at Acrisure Stadium. The game could go wither way, but many, like CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco are expecting the Steelers to pull off their third Week One upset in a row.
Prisco has the Steelers vanquishing the Super Bowl hopeful 49ers 23-21, citing the Steelers defense and his belief in Pittsburgh QB Kenny Pickett.
“Brock Purdy is back for the 49ers, which is the good news,” wrote Prisco. “But this will be one of the better defenses he will face so far in his career. That matters. The Steelers are hoping second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett takes a step forward, which I think he will. The 49ers are good and might be a Super Bowl team, but the Steelers will pull off the upset here.”
The Steelers defense is fully heathy, bar maybe DT Larry Ogunjobi, and are going to try and make 49ers QB Brock Purdy look like a seventh round pick. Purdy went from Mr. Irrelevant to Mr. Relevant last year as he stepped in after injuries to quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo and led San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game. But, in Purdy’s run last season he didn’t face many elite defenses, and if recent history means anything, the Steelers defense gets off to strong starts in Week One.
Over the last three years the Steelers have allowed an average of only 17.3 points in Week One. Pittsburgh’s defense comes out nasty to open seasons and Purdy was eased into training camp this year as he has been recovering from an elbow injury he suffered last year. He may not be super sharp and with an aggressive swarming defense that could cause problems.
Prisco also mentioned how he thinks Pickett will take a step this season, something that seems to track based off his preseason. Pickett finished preseason 13/15 for 199 yards and two touchdowns. His career trajectory is just an arrow pointing up as even last year he looked like a much different quarterback from when he took his first snap in Week Four to his last snap in Week 18.
The Steelers will need Pickett to be on his game tomorrow if they want to defeat the 49ers, but his confidence is through the roof right now. Obviously the 49ers have an incredible defense, but Pickett has the potential to be a really good quarterback. If he can show that potential tomorrow, Prisco is right, the Steelers can score the upset and send San Francisco back to California 0-1.
