The Pittsburgh Steelers are hoping that their defense can be one of the NFL’s best this year. However, it looked like more of the same from last season in Week 1. The New York Jets pushed the Steelers around, rushing for almost 200 yards as a team. Thankfully, that unit stepped up when it mattered most, coming up with a big stop to end the game. T.J. Watt spoke about how the Steelers’ defense managed to tighten things up on that final drive.
“Felt like blood in the water,” Watt said Sunday after the Steelers’ 34-32 win via the team’s YouTube channel. “We knew they were one-dimensional. We wanted to get after them as best we could, and we did a good job of it.”
That drive began with a little less than a minute remaining in the game. The Jets had the ball on their own 31-yard-line, down by two points with one timeout remaining.
The Jets got out to a nice start, completing a seven-yard pass. However, after that, the Steelers’ defense didn’t allow another yard. Justin Fields threw three straight incompletions. Those didn’t come easy, though. Jalen Ramsey broke up two of those passes, including one on fourth down.
“We made them one-dimensional,” cornerback Darius Slay said. “Fields had to actually drop back and pass the ball. They did a great job all game controlling the clock and keeping themselves in manageable downs. We just gotta do better getting that team behind the sticks.”
Overall, Fields had a solid day throwing the ball. He completed 16-of-22 passes for 218 yards and one touchdown. That lone score was an accurate 33-yard lob to Garrett Wilson, showing that Fields can make big passes if needed.
However, like Slay mentions, the Jets’ main offensive attack in Week 1 was their ground game. That helped set up a lot of things in the passing game. With so little time left on the clock, the Steelers knew that the Jets couldn’t afford to pound the ball on the ground.
That allowed the Steelers’ defense to lock in on what the Jets would do. Their pass rush went to work, and their defensive backs played good coverage. While that unit had a bad day overall, it was good that it was able to step up in the most crucial moment. It would be nice to see the Steelers’ defense play a better game next week, though.
