The offense showed signs of life, the defense continued its dominant ways and the Pittsburgh Steelers did what they normally do in the last few years under head coach Mike Tomlin: find a way to win ugly games by persevering in adverse situations.
Make no mistake about it: that’s what Sunday night’s 23-18 win was for the Steelers — ugly.
Though the offense showed signs of life, things fizzled out late leading to the Raiders getting back in the game before Josh McDaniels outsmarted himself, settling for a field goal in an 8-point game.
A win is a win though and the Steelers are 2-1. Let’s get to some grades.
QB — B+
Things got off to a very rocky start as Kenny Pickett was bailing from some clean pockets, dropping his eyes to the pass rush and largely had happy feet in the pocket.
But after a rocky start Pickett hit a 72-yard touchdown to Calvin Austin III and then the Steelers were largely off to the races offensively (I use that term loosely).
Pickett put together one of the better performances of his career completing 16-of-28 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns, recording the first multi-passing touchdown performance of his career while generating the highest QB rating to date at 108.5. He threw some darts to George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth on a big touchdown drive in the third quarter and looked very good overall getting on the move and making plays with his legs.
Once he hit the throw to Austin and took a couple shots in the pocket from the Raiders’ pass rush, Pickett found his game. The stage wasn’t too big and he really settled down. That was very encouraging overall. Hopefully he can build off of it.
RB — B-
After being challenged by Mike Tomlin in the week leading up to the matchup against the Raiders, Najee Harris responded with his best game of the season, generating 65 rushing yards on 19 carries, running quite hard behind his pads, consistently falling forward as the Steelers established a hard-nosed rushing attack on the night.
Harris ripped off a 17-yard run in the third quarter and was really good at making defenders miss on the night. Once the Steelers learned to stop using him on zone runs, the run game took off against the Raiders.
Jaylen Warren had a really good night, too. He added 29 yards rushing on eight carries and 23 yards receiving on three catches, picking up a chunk of 16 yards on a screen in the third quarter on Pittsburgh’s scoring drive. Warren also had a massive blitz pickup on Pickett’s 72-yard strike to Austin, drawing a ton of praise following the splash play.
For the first time all season the Steelers backfield looked very strong overall. More of that, please.
WR — B
For the second straight week the Steelers generated a ton of YAC from the receiving room and added a 70+ yard touchdown once again.
This time, it was Calvin Austin III who got behind the Raiders’ secondary for the 72-yard touchdown, knotting the game up at 7-7 early on, igniting the pro-Steelers crowd. Austin finished with just two catches for 72 yards though. However, the 72-yard touchdown is all that matters.
George Pickens had a very strong night overall, finishing with four catches for 75 yards. His 32-yard catch and run in the third quarter on a 3rd and 5 sparked the Steelers offense. It was a well-designed play with a pick play in the middle of the field from tight end Pat Freiermuth, allowing Pickens to shake free.
He added a 17-yard catch over the middle on the next drive and really carved up the Raiders when targeted.
Allen Robinson II was very steady on the night, finishing with four catches for 24 yards, including a huge third-down conversion late in the fourth quarter that moved the chains and allowed the Steelers’ offense to chew up more clock, ultimately leading to the win.
TE — B+
Finally, the Steelers got Pat Freiermuth involved in the passing game.
Freiermuth was a force in the passing game on the night, finishing with three catches for 41 yards and a touchdown, giving the Steelers the cushion they’d ultimately need on the scoreboard. Freiermuth had a big 14-yard catch over the middle in the third quarter and then was wide open on his 13-yard touchdown off of play-action.
Entering the matchup against the Raiders, a team that has struggled to defend tight ends on the year, Freiermuth took advantage and came up clutch for the Steelers.
Darnell Washignton was solid as a blocker once again and was rather key when the Steelers were in 13 personnel attempting to run the football.
Connor Heyward had a rough showing, failing to convert a 3rd and 1 on the first drive of the game on a fullback dive and later wasn’t on the same page with Kenny Pickett on an out-and-up route that was nearly intercepted for a pick-6 by Marcus Peters.
OL — C+
A big, big improvement from the Steelers in the trenches, and it came at a great time.
The interior of the offensive line in Isaac Seumalo, Mason Cole and James Daniels looked good at times when they were allowed to work downhill in old-school power football, creating displacement at the line of scrimmage, opening up lanes for Harris and Warren. They worked in tandem well and really helped crate balance for Pittsburgh’s offense.
Dan Moore Jr. and Chukwuma Okorafor struggled in pass protection on the night against the likes of Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce for the Raiders. Okorafor had issues with Crosby’s counters and Moore really didn’t handle Crosby all that well at times when the Raiders moved him to the right side of the defense for the matchup.
Good news though is the Steelers allowed just one sack and it was one that Pickett ran into on his own. He was hit just five times on the night, too. Better performance, but still plenty of improvement needed. A meager 3.4 yards per carry on the ground isn’t all that great either, but the Steelers were successful on the ground when they needed to be.
DL — B+
Entering the matchup against the Raiders there was a ton of concern with the Steelers defensive line against Las Vegas’ rushing attack with the reigning NFL rushing champ in Josh Jacobs. Pittsburgh’s defensive line largely shut him down on the night, limiting Jacobs to just 62 yards on 17 carries and a long of 10.
Rookie Keeanu Benton recorded his first sack, beating center Andre James with a quick swim move, getting skinny in the hole and racing home for the sack of Jimmy Garoppolo.
Montravius Adams flashed quite a bit on the night. His get-off is very noticeable. He was in the backfield quite a few times and was a handful for the Raiders defensive line to deal with. Larry Ogunjobi was rather quiet on the night with just one tackle, but he ate up a ton of space and attention letting other guys around him make plays.
DeMarvin Leal had two tackles in the win and was around the football quite a bit.
LB — B
Have yourself a night, Cole Holcomb!
The free agent signee has been quite the find for the Steelers in the last two weeks. Holcomb added another splash play on the night, recording a big tackle for loss in the first half. Then, in the second half he had a monster hit on Davante Adams over the middle, breaking up a pass. He was called for holding on a route in the fourth quarter, but overall he had a very solid night, finishing with five tackles.
Kwon Alexander filled up the stats sheet again, recording seven tackles and a quarterback hit. The Raiders tested him quite a bit in the second half in coverage, hitting running backs out of the backfield on choice routes again him. For the most part he held up well. Elandon Roberts recorded three tackles in limited action.
Second-year linebacker Mark Robinson got some run defensively and found himself around the football a ton, recording four tackles in brief action. Something worth monitoring moving forward.
On the outside, T.J. Watt was dominant once again.
Watt recorded two tackles and generated six pressures, hounding Jimmy Garoppolo all night long. Alex Highsmith was rather quiet one week after winning the AFC’s Defensive Player of the Week, recording just two quarterback hits.
Veteran Markus Golden made an impact once again, recording his second sack of the season for the second straight week, dragging down Garoppolo.
This team is so deep at outside linebacker it’s scary.
DB — C-
Davante Adams went off against the Steelers, finishing with 13 catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns, beating Levi Wallace on both touchdowns.
Those numbers were rather gaudy, but Wallace got the win and picked off two passes on the night. He finished with six tackles and four pass breakups and picked off the Raiders’ final pass of the game to seal the win.
Patrick Peterson was decent on the night as well, recording his first interception as a Steeler, but he had his own Morgan Burnett moment against the Raiders (ironically) on Adams’ 32-yard touchdown on 4th and 1 early in the game. Gotta be better at finding the football in the air.
Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal were absolute missiles coming downhill as run defenders for the Steelers. The two combined for six tackles and really set a physical tone overall.
Minkah Fitzpatrick will be the headline though, and in large part due to an atrocious flag from the officials. Fitzpatrick had what looked like a massive sack of Jimmy Garoppolo on a well-timed, perfectly called blitz but was flagged for unnecessary roughness for a hit to the helmet of Garoppolo. It was nowhere close.
The Raiders went on to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion, clawing back into the game. Fitzpatrick finished with 11 tackles in the win. He was all over the place making plays left and right for the Steelers. That play against Garoppolo is going to be a stupid tackling point all week again, especially with Garoppolo reportedly in concussion protocol after the game despite never missing a snap.
Special Teams — B+
Pressley Harvin III has really come on strong in the last two weeks after being called out publicly by Mike Tomlin. On Sunday night Harvin was outstanding, averaging 53.8 yards per punt against the Raiders on six punts. He had three punts inside the 20 yard line and a long of 63 yards and nearly called game late when DeAndre Carter couldn’t handle his punt, muffed it but was able to recover it.
Chris Boswell was money all night long, hitting field goals from 43, 42 and 57 yards from inside Allegiant Stadium. When he’s healthy and on his game, he’s one of the best kickers in football. That’s where he’s at right now.
DeMarvin Leal was called for a boneheaded leverage penalty on the Raiders’ late field goal, giving them life once again. It can’t happen in that situation. James Pierre was called for a phantom holding penalty on an early punt return.
