Perspective Of An Average Steelers Fan: Steelers Cut Titans Down To Size

Game Prelude

The Steelers got good news coming into the game. Cam Heyward was activated from the injured reserve. Kenny Pickett practiced fully and was scheduled to play after his rib injury just a few days prior. Minkah Fitzpatrick was out but he was there during pregame. The Titans came to town riding the 4-touchdown performance by Will Levis in his NFL debut. Plus, Derrick Henry running strong.

Gameday Experience

My buddy Steve S. was back home from Manila, so watched the game with him. The first Steelers home game I’ve missed attending this season. But my seats were occupied by Dee Loves Sports who has hosted some Steelers Depot contributors on her podcast. Plus, young Alex Bastedo who wants to be a podcaster. Ken Sterner managed to take their snap during the game.

Rich N., living in Montreal managed to sync up Ben Roethlisberger’s Footbahlin show that covered the game live with the broadcast. He says it was pretty cool listening to Ben provide comments as the plays unfolded. I’ll have to try that sometime if Ben keeps doing the live game podcasts.

Joe Clark does a great summary of key points in the game.

Steelers Offense

The Steelers won the toss and elected to receive. What are they doing after such dismal first-quarter offensive displays this season? Oh, check that. The Steelers take the opening kickoff and drive for a touchdown.

Steelers Drives

Pittsburgh had four possessions in the first half. Loved seeing Najee Harris score from 10 yards out.

Poor throws by Kenny Pickett forced early punts. But a 10-play drive with a mix of 5 rushes and 5 passes leads to a field goal to tie the game 10-10. Five more drives plus a kneel-down in the second half. George Pickens caught a third-quarter pass in the end zone with plenty of room to spare. But replay showed he did not get his second foot down.  Steelers settle for a field goal.

Jaylen Warren rumbled, and Kenny Pickett settled down in the fourth quarter. A nice pass to Diontae Johnson to break the long touchdown drought. And the go-ahead score for another Kenny Pickett fourth quarter come from behind victory!

In the eye test, Will Levis appeared to be the more poised and accurate quarterback over Kenny Pickett for most of the game. But Pickett threw the game-winning touchdown. And Levis threw the game-ending interception. Broderick Jones is an upgrade at right tackle over Chuks Okorafor. I love the one-two combination of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.

Steelers Defense

The defense committed a lot of penalties. But limited the Titans to one touchdown and bottled up Derrick Henry.

Opponents Drives

The Steelers committed 4 of the 5 penalties called on the Titans opening drive. Joey Porter’s penalty erased an Alex Highsmith sack on third down to keep the drive alive. But T.J. Watt’s sack forced a field goal. The defense allowed Derrick Henry and some Will Levis completions to lead to the Titans only touchdown and a 10-7 lead. The secondary scorched several times. But the Titans were limited to a field goal in the second half. As an injury-riddled offensive line exploited by the defense.

The one play I did not understand occurred late in the second half. The Titans faced first and 23 from their own 5-yard line. The Steelers only rushed three defenders by my count. And Will Levis calmly connected with Deandre Hopkins for 29 yards. This was the play where Cole Holcomb was injured. Why not press Levis in the end zone?

Later in the fourth quarter and after Renegade had the stadium rocking. The defense gave up a 21-yard pass from the 8-yard line. But Alex Highsmith and Watt pressured Levis a lot limiting his effectiveness. And despite a shaky secondary, Levi Wallace made a great play to prevent a long completion. Patrick Peterson and newcomer Darius Rush almost intercepted passes. And Kwon Alexander did intercept a pass to finish the game. The Pittsburgh defense forced a turnover on downs after Tennessee got favorable field position near midfield following a penalty on the Steelers’ extra point.

Special Teams

Special teams are an underappreciated facet of the game where one big play can shift momentum or even decide the game-winner.

I break special teams into three phases: Kickoffs, punting, and scoring (field goals and extra points.) Here is an overview of the special teams play during the game:

KICKOFFS

Chris Boswell kicked off 5 times. He kicked short of the goal line 4 times. Tennessee took advantage of the new fair catch rule twice to get some free yardage from the rulebook. But Broderick Jones was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after Pittsburgh’s extra point in the fourth quarter. That put the kickoff from the 20-yard line. Tyjae Spears returned the kickoff 29 yards to their 48. A costly penalty late in the game. Thankfully, the Steelers defense forced a turnover on downs.

Nick Folk kicked off 4 times. Godwin Igwebuike returned the game-opening kickoff from one yard deep and reached the 22-yard line. He returned another  19 yards to the 24 after the Titans touchdown. If the Steelers going to return kickoffs, they need to make sure to get past the 25. Otherwise, why not just take the fair catch and the free yardage?

THE STATS

Advantage Titans.

PUNTING

Pressley Harvin punted four times averaging 50.0 yards. This may have been his best day punting. Miles Boykin covered the first punt excellently tackling Eric Garror for a 1-yard loss. Harvin’s longest punt went 62 yards and returned just 8 yards. Then, in the second half, the coverage unit downed a punt at the 8-yard line. Garror fair-caught the second at the 15. So, 3 of 4 punts behind the 20.

Ryan Stonehouse punted 3 times. What a leg. He averaged 57.0 yards a punt. Calvin Austin tried to return two. The first he caught at the 5 and reached the 17-yard line. He was stopped at the 13 after a 1-yard return on the second. Then he fair-caught a ball at the 8. I thought he should let that go for a touchback. Calvin Austin is not giving the Steelers the spark they need for a punt returner. Plus, he is making questionable decisions on when to attempt a return. Danny Smith must coach him up.

THE STATS

Advantage Titans.

FIELD GOALS and EXTRA POINTS

Chris Boswell made all his scoring kicks. Two extra points and two short field goals.

Nick Folk was also perfect. His three field goals included a 48-yard field goal to close the first half. His scores had the Titans in the lead going into the fourth quarter.

THE STATS

Advantage Titans

YOUR HOT TAKES DURING THE GAME

Thank you, Ross McCorkle, for keeping us up to date on the game’s first and second-half Live Updates and Discussion Threads. Steelers Depot respondents contributed 1518 first-half comments. Respondents added  1769 more second-half comments.  Here are the top three comments from each half. I don’t know the algorithm used by Disqus but here is how they stacked it up:

The top three first-half comments covered a variety of topics.

Nunya had the best of the first half comment with “Man, I have been supporting Kenny since day 1, but I admit, I’m starting to get a little impatient. He misses wide open passes way too much, even for a rookie, let alone a 2nd year starter.”

Alevin16 frustrated with some of the calls helping Tennessee: “Steelers 7 Titans 0 Refs 3.”

Greg Payne may have identified the weakness in Matt Canada in the booth. Observing, “Maybe Canada is just nearsighted?”

In the second half, Danny Porter had the top comment of the game by sharing many fans feelings. “Most frustrating team in the history of the world.”

Mateo K lost patience before the game’s ending. “Titans are coached up so much better than Steelers.”

Steelalive does not understand some fan’s perspectives of the players. “What is crazy to me is the amount of ppl that want to give Pickens a constant pass when he is obviously super immature (to put it nicely) then turn around and dog Najee who is consistently fighting. Our RB has accepted Warren with no controversy, constantly gets extra yards, and even tried to save us from 12 men in huddle call as an RB. Btw, the 12 men call only happened because Pickett was distracted pulling Pickens away from jawing with the Titans for no reason.”

Hope you all enjoy the banter on the live update and discussion threads!

CONCLUSION

The Steelers played well enough to win. Kenny Pickett threw some inaccurate passes that stymied the offense. But was money in the fourth quarter. I Love Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris running back combination. The offensive line did not give up a sack. The jury is out on Pickett. But I’m waiting until the end of the season to draw a conclusion.

The Steelers defense exploited a depleted Titan offensive line. But silly penalties kept Titan drives alive.

Joey Porter covered DeAndre Hopkins especially well in the second half. But needs to clean up his penalties. Secondary really misses Minkah Fitzpatrick. But some big plays in pass coverage. The defense prevented Levis from throwing a touchdown pass and Kwon Alexander intercepted his final pass to close out the game. Good to have Cam Heyward back. The rush defense was more solid with him. Hard losing Cole Holcomb. Hope he is able to play again at some point.

I hate Thursday games due to forcing play with little recovery or planning time. But appreciate the mini-bye on the other end. Need to use this time to prep for the Green Bay Packers. Here we go.

Your Song Selection

I always like to include a bit of music. The Steelers are 5-3. Some folks say they are the worst 5-3 team ever. But 5-3 is still 5-3. The Steelers may be using up Steelers fans’ patience. But as long as they keep winning. Use me up. Here is Use Me, performed by Bill Withers of Slab Fork, West Virginia.