The Pittsburgh Steelers struggled running the ball in the first half against the Los Angeles Chargers, but they eventually picked it up, running for 79 yards in the fourth quarter to give them 114 yards for the day. OC Arthur Smith told reporters, including Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that the Steelers’ intent is to wear down opposing defenses, and Smith said he’s glad that the Steelers were able to win in the second half.
“That was a heavyweight fight. It was nice to see how the second half went,” Smith said per Fittipaldo on Twitter.
“We try to hang our hat on that. The way our guys worked in Latrobe, we talked about the dam or whatever breaking, but it’s truth. It’s not false bravado or wishing and hoping. We put a lot of work in, and our guys believe in what we’re doing. The results paid off. I know going in, I know Coach (Tomlin) talked about it. That was a heavyweight fight. That’s a good football team. It was nice to see how the second half went,” Smith said via transcript provided by the team.
Pittsburgh was wearing the Chargers down before the second half but continued to lean on the run game, continuing to chew clock. The Steelers then hit on some downfield passes, including a 55-yard touchdown to WR Calvin Austin III that essentially sealed their 20-10 win.
The defense also deserves some credit. It held the Chargers to -5 total yards in the second half and forced three-and-outs, putting the Los Angeles defense back on the field quickly after it already had to grind against long drives by the Steelers’ offense. It was evident that the Chargers’ defense was tired with some of the costly penalties it took, including a defensive holding call and a roughing-the-passer penalty that gave the Steelers a new set of downs on what would’ve been third- and fourth-down situations.
Even though the Steelers aren’t putting up any crazy numbers, they’ve been efficient. They have just one turnover this season on a tipped pass interception in Week 3, and they’ve been able to stay on schedule and have largely avoided big losses. Justin Fields has been smart about knowing when to use his legs and take shots downfield or hit the check down. Sustaining long drives has been the hallmark of Pittsburgh’s offense this season.
If they can continue to wear opposing defenses down and stay on the field, that’s only going to make Pittsburgh’s defense better as it is more rested. We’ve seen how good the Steeler have been defensively this year, holding opposing teams to 8.6 points per game this season. A big part of that has been the fact that they’ve played almost a full game’s less of football through three games, only playing 151 snaps through three games compared to 214 last season.
That’s an impressive number, and the offense deserves credit for its ability to keep drives alive and keep its own defense off the field. It’s how the Steelers can continue to win games, and hopefully, the offense keeps things going throughout the season.
