Winners and losers from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 24-21 win against the Minnesota Vikings Sunday in Dublin, Ireland.
WINNERS
WR DK Metcalf
What a game for DK Metcalf. Really, what a first half. Metcalf exploded in the first 30 minutes. On the Steelers’ second drive, he picked up more receiving yards than he had all last week. By the half, his 122 receiving yards were more than any Steelers player in any game all of last season. His 80-yard score showed exactly what Pittsburgh brought him in to do. A freak athlete with YAC ability in the open field (and a great effort block by Calvin Austin III to spring him the final 10 yards).
Metcalf made contested catches and OC Arthur Smith did well to move him around the formation. A breakout game fans, and I’m sure Metcalf himself, have been waiting for. Quiet after half, he finished with 126 yards.
Steelers’ Front Seven
The front seven came to play in Ireland. Facing a battered Vikings offensive line that entered the game without its starting left guard and lost its right tackle and center midway through, the Steelers dominated. As they should. Nick Herbig found success against stud LT Christian Darrisaw for an early sack. T.J. Watt picked off Carson Wentz. Derrick Harmon got his hand on a football that led to DeShon Elliott’s pick. The unit played well and came up large, meeting expectations and playing its best game of the year.
NT Keeanu Benton/ILB Payton Wilson
Special shoutout to these two. I didn’t want to just lump them in the “front seven” bucket. Two young players feeling the heat for not playing well the first three games, Benton and Wilson came to play Sunday. Benton defeated blocks routinely and picked up 1.5 sacks as QB Carson Wentz was under siege all game long. Wilson was kept clean and made plays at and behind the line of scrimmage. They’ll have to keep showing it, but this was a big step going into the bye.
Though it didn’t prevent a touchdown, Payton Wilson’s effort to track down WR Jordan Addison late in the fourth quarter was absurd. And it took about a minute off the clock, no insignificant sum in the outcome.
SS DeShon Elliott
Elliott made big plays in his first game since a Week 1 injury. He had a key open-field tackle on a successful Vikings 4th and inches. A negative for the Steelers’ defense but his tackle, always a strength of his, possibly saved a touchdown. Three plays later, he picked off QB Carson Wentz for the Steelers’ first takeaway of the day. Nice to have Elliott back, who will look to set a career-high with a second interception some point later this season.
Elliott called game with the final fourth-down breakup.
RB Kenneth Gainwell/O-Line Run Blocking
Credit to Steelers’ offensive line today. Easily the team’s best rushing performance of the season. Gainwell carried the load in placed of the injured Jaylen Warren and ran well. There’s not a ton of power, but he showed patience and vision to follow his blocks and get into the second level. He finished with a career day in rushing yards and touchdowns.
The front five moved the Vikings off the ball. Pittsburgh went heavy personnel to success. Broderick Jones, Mason McCormick, and others won up front.
Darnell Washington (who caught his first non-two point conversion passes of the year) and Spencer Anderson as the sixth offensive lineman did a great job supporting the running game. Gainwell scored twice on the ground, his second a gap run following Washington and McCormick. It was blocked so well McCormick didn’t even have anyone to block. Big boy football.
Third-Down Defense
A “get right” game in a lot of areas for the Steelers. That includes their third-down defense. Entering the game 28th and allowing a 30-percent conversion rate on third and long, Minnesota had no such success today. Early in the fourth quarter, the Vikings were just 4-of-11 on possession downs and repeatedly struck out on third and long. A strong pass rush against the Vikings’ backup o-line.
Aaron Rodgers
No, the numbers weren’t especially gaudy. They didn’t need to be. On a morning where the running game was excellent, Rodgers just had to manage the game. He did so beautifully. He found his playmakers, he made checks at the line, he made good decisions on RPOs. A big difference compared to last year’s disaster against the Vikings in London as a member of the Jets.
Rodgers played a smart and clean game, the goal to counter the Vikings defense that wants chaos and misery.
LOSERS
TE Pat Freiermuth
Freiermuth wasn’t involved in the offense and has been quiet since Week 1. Worse, he gave up the field-goal block to Vikings CB Isaiah Rodgers at the end of the first half, resulting in a six-point swing.
Not an easy play and Freiermuth has to protect the inside first. It’s a play worth examining and perhaps Pittsburgh needs to mix up its snap count to throw off the timing of the field goal (as Minnesota got Jalen Ramsey to jump once) but blame will still fall on Freiermuth.
OG Isaac Seumalo
The early sacks are worth revisiting and individual offensive line play can be difficult to judge at first blush. But Seumalo seemed to be at some fault for two of them, especially Rodgers’ second sack where Seumalo slid the correct way but failed to pick up his gap. Seumalo had a good performance last week and probably helped the team in the run game. In pass protection, things looked shakier.
Mike Tomlin
Some questionable decisions at the end. The 4th-and-goal run from the 4. The decision not to go for it on 4th and inches at the end. Booming the ball into the end zone instead of trying to pin Minnesota deep. Don’t know the thought process there. Really bad from him in a game that became too close for comfort.
