Once again, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ faithful helped take over a road venue, with Black and Gold fans coming out in droves for the team’s season opener against the Atlanta Falcons. After the game, T.J. Watt gave credit to Steelers fans for their part in the game, calling them “absolutely incredible” and giving them credit for allowing him to recover a fumble by forcing Atlanta to go silent count.
“Steelers Nation is incredible man. It’s extremely demoralizing for an offense to be on a silent count at their home field. Silent count is incredible. Honestly, a lot of those plays go to them. The fumble that I was able to land on was because they had to be on a silent count at their own place. Any time that happens when you have a lot of shifts and motions, snaps can go anywhere, balls on the ground, you get to recover them. So Steelers Nation was absolutely incredible, but I’m not surprised,” Watt said via Steelers.com.
Watt’s fumble recovery came on a silent count where Kirk Cousins sent TE Ross Dwelley in motion late, and with the silent count tap coming to signal the snap, the snap hit Dwelley and came loose, allowing Watt to fall on the ball.
It was a huge play and turned the tide in Pittsburgh’s favor with the Falcons threatening and holding a one-point lead. The Steelers’ offense drove down the field for a field goal to give them a lead after the turnover, and Atlanta wouldn’t score again the rest of the game.
Pittsburgh’s fans are notorious for traveling well and helping take over opposing venues, and they genuinely made a difference in the game today by forcing Atlanta to turn to a silent count. Obviously, Watt deserves credit for seeking out the ball and making the play to force the turnover, but it may not have happened had Atlanta not been in the silent count.
It was another game where Watt left his mark, walking the game off with a sack and recovering the fumble. His output would have looked even better had it not been for a questionable offsides call that wiped out a strip-sack. Pittsburgh’s defense came to play, holding Atlanta scoreless in the second half, and Watt and the crowd noise played a big part in that.
It’s never easy to win on the road, but when the crowd can make it feel like a home game, it gets just a bit easier. That’s what happened for the Steelers today, and they were able to move to 1-0.
