A weekly series I do that captures the forgotten and hidden plays that helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win or lose. Not the touchdowns, turnovers, or plays that will make the Monday morning highlights – the little ones that, looking back, played a key role in the outcome. I’ll start with a hidden moment that helped the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 24-21, in Week 4.
The Irish Turf Monster
In international games, you never know what the field is going to be like. Sometimes, it’s a mess. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case Sunday at Croke Park. The field was in great shape, and it had all the trimmings of an NFL stadium – except an end-zone play clock. But there was one moment where the Irish Turf Monster reared its head. It was to the Steelers’ benefit.
End of the first half. One dominated by Pittsburgh. Trailing 14-3, the Vikings are trying to bookend the halves by scoring late in the second and receiving the opening third quarter kickoff. QB Carson Wentz escapes a collapsing pocket, nearly takes off, but keeps his eyes downfield and finds a wide open – and I mean wide open – Justin Jefferson all alone along the left side.
Throw. Catch. Touchdown? It sure seemed so. Jefferson snags it on the 19 with LB Payton Wilson the only Steelers in the area, flipping around and getting eyes on the ball. Jefferson, one of the NFL’s best receivers, has tons of space to make him miss. All he has to do is get up to speed and race into the end zone.
As he turns upfield, his legs give out. Jefferson slips and falls, tagged up by Wilson at the 13.
The end zone view of it. You can see Jefferson’s frustration after the play, pounding his fist into the ground at the missed chance.
The Steelers have blades of grass to defend. And defend they did. On the ensuing first down, the Vikings lost 2 yards, Wentz narrowly avoiding a Derrick Harmon sack before dumping the ball off to the running back. Minnesota burned its final timeout of the half. Wentz’s next throw was behind TE T.J. Hockenson and on third down, he threw the ball away and was nearly picked by CB Darius Slay.
Instead of a touchdown, Minnesota has to settle for three. Instead of 14-10 at the break, it’s 14-6. Still a one-possession game but an eight-point margin. A big difference.
In a game that ended up being a three-point win, that’s an important swing. Pittsburgh was on the wrong end of those throughout the rest of the game. A 10-point swing from Jalen Ramsey’s touchdown taken off the board, ending in a Vikings field goal. A six-point swing by Chris Boswell’s blocked field goal to another Minnesota kick.
Pittsburgh’s defense played its best game of the season. Shutting down the running game, harassing the quarterback, creating splash plays. In this moment, the Croke Park grass made a play of its own, keeping the Vikings out of the end zone and keeping the Steelers’ lead comfortable entering the break.
