It certainly wasn’t pretty on Sunday — again — but the Pittsburgh Steelers continue to find ways to win ugly football games.
The good news, too, is that the young pieces for the Steelers continue to step up in big moments.
That’s rather encouraging for the Black and Gold, says former NFL defensive end and host of the “Green Light Pod” Chris Long.
Appearing on the latest episode of his show Monday afternoon, Long stated that even while it feels like the sky is falling for the Steelers, at 3-2 they are in good shape, especially within the division, and are seeing their young stars like Alex Highsmith, Joey Porter and George Pickens stepping up in big spots, leading to wins.
“If you’re the Steelers, the sky is falling, Matt Canada is terrible, the whole thing. What are they, 3-2? Exactly, dude! As bad as things are, they’re 3-2 and their young [expletive] stars are stepping up,” Long said, regarding the Steelers’ key young pieces, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “Alex Highsmith has been huge for them this year. Strip sack for them yesterday. Pickett to Pickens, as bad as it was at times, the back-shoulder stuff, the shot at the end of the game … this is your next generation of players if you believe this team to be worth salvaging.
“Jaylen Warren … he was huge. Joey Porter Jr. made the biggest play of his young career. These are all young guys, your young core.”
Things don’t exactly feel great around the 2023 Steelers, especially on the offensive side of the football. Nothing really changed from last week to this week outside of the big 41-yard game-winning touchdown from Kenny Pickett to George Pickens, beating Cover Zero from the Ravens late in the game.
The offense still really struggled in the first half, generating just 88 yards of total offense to enter the half trailing 10-3 with that field goal coming off of a short field created by a Larry Ogunjobi forced fumble.
Then, it seemed like the game was going to slip away after Gunner Olszewski’s fumble on a punt return, giving the Ravens the football at the Steelers’ 7-yard line, young players made plays, much like Long pointed out.
Running back Jaylen Warren gave the Steelers a serious spark on the drive with a 23-yard catch-and-run and then back-to-back impressive runs of 10 and 16 yards on the drive after Miles Killebrew’s punt block that went for a safety.
After the Chris Boswell field goal made it 10-8, rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr., inserted into the game in the fourth quarter over Patrick Peterson in base defense, made a great play picking off Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson in the end zone on a fade route to Odell Beckham Jr. Kenny Pickett then found George Pickens for the 41-yard touchdown to give the Steelers the lead.
Alex Highsmith helped close out the win, capping off a career day with his strip-sack of Jackson, finishing the game with a season-high 11 pressures before T.J. Watt truly ended the game with his second sack on a failed fourth down by the Ravens.
The young players on the roster stepped up in a big, big way, making plays late in the rivalry matchup.
It might not be pretty and it might cause a significant swing of emotions throughout the game, but this group is finding a way to win, even when it feels like some of the cards in the deck are stacked against them. That, at least, is promising.
