Things haven’t gone all that well in the first half for the Pittsburgh Steelers on either side of the football, but late in the first half their offense seemingly found something against the Philadelphia Eagles.
What they found was success as quarterback Russell Wilson found tight end Pat Freiermuth on a 9-yard touchdown on third down, capping an 11-play, 70-yard drive to pull the Steelers within a touchdown late in the first half at 17-10.
Prior to finding Freiermuth for the score, Wilson made some plays with his legs. He picked up a key first down on a third down, adding an 8-yard run on a scramble to set up a sneak to convert another first down. The Steelers also got Justin Fields involved on the drive, too, as Fields ripped off an 8-yard run and drew a questionable 15-yard penalty on Eagles safety Reed Blankenship for a high hit on a late slide from Fields.
Wilson found wide receiver Ben Skowronek for 17 yards on the first play of the drive, giving the Steelers their initial first down of the game with nine minutes left in the second quarter.
The drive ate up 6:33 and gave the Steelers a positive result after a tough start to the game.
Freiermuth’s TD catch showed off his route running chops, too, as he had a nice head fake at the top of his stem, getting linebacker Zack Baun and safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to bite just enough, giving him time and space breaking back outside for the score.
The fourth-year veteran had to show off his strength at the end, too, wrestling the ball away from Gardner-Johnson for his sixth touchdown of the season.
