Steelers Now
This game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots was a wild one, to say the least, with truly bonkers levels of unpredictability on display.
Five turnovers from the home team were ultimately the difference in a 21-14 Steelers with, with Teryl Austin’s defense enjoying a nice bounce-back performance, one in which they carried a mostly lifeless offense to a victory. Mike Tomlin’s crew continues to make clutch plays and find ways to win in these one-score games, a key reason that they always seem to be in the mix come early January.
As always, we’ll take a look at some preliminary winners and losers before diving into the tape.
The 36-year old has an uncanny ability to get his hands in the passing lanes and it showed up once again today versus the Pats. Right before the halftime break, the veteran tipped a pass that was ultimately picked off in the end zone, ending a 17-play drive that resulted in the defense allowing zero points. Following an ugly Aaron Rodgers interception, Heyward made a nice hustle play, punching the ball out from behind just before the ball carrier broke the plane. Controversy over his contract rubbed some Steelers fans the wrong way, but with performances like this, he’ll be back in their good graces pretty quickly.
I’ll have to go back and look at the film to figure out the root cause, but Drake Maye shredded the Steelers defense over the middle in this one. He finished 14-17 for 152 yards and one touchdown on throws in between the numbers. The Patriots don’t have an electric receiving corps by any means, but Hunter Henry proved to be quite the matchup problem in this one. This unit allowed far too many third & long conversions, failing to get off the field. Overall, it was a step in the right direction for the defense, but there’s still plenty to clean up moving forward.
Herbig is truly one of the league’s best-kept secrets right now, as he seems to put on a show every time he gets the opportunity to play significant snaps. He was matched up against a rookie tackle that was taken inside the top 5 of this year’s NFL Draft, and #51 won that matchup with ease. His strip sack on Maye was one of five turnovers that the defense forced on the afternoon. He registered a team-high eight pressures today per PFF.
After six straight games without a quarterback takedown, the former Defensive Player of the Year finished with a pair of sacks against New England. His first came on a speed rush where he just beat the right tackle to his spot, bending up the arc into the passer’s lap. The second one could be categorized more in the clean-up category. Watt always had a nose for the football, and he recovered one of the...
