Despite a less-than-stellar performance in Week 3, the Pittsburgh Steelers are 2-1 after defeating the New England Patriots 21-14. Some new names made big plays to help lead the Steelers to victory, so
let’s get right into this week’s winners and losers.
Varsity
CB Brandin Echols
Echols very nearly won the game single-handedly for the Steelers. After a 17-play drive by the Patriots, the first-year Steeler picked off Drake Maye in the end zone to prevent a touchdown before halftime. And of course, as the Patriots were driving at the end of the fourth quarter looking to tie the game, Echols tackled DeMario Douglas on 4th-and-1 to prevent a conversion, sealing the win for the Steelers. With Joey Porter Jr. on the shelf, the Steelers needed their depth pieces to step up, and Echols did so by having the game of his life.
EDGE Nick Herbig
Herbig had an ungodly game as he started in place of Alex Highsmith. He had eight(!) pressures on Drake Maye, a sack, and a forced fumble. Regardless of Highsmith’s health, Herbig needs to be the starter. He’s a spark plug, he makes far more splash plays off the edge, and it’s incredibly evident he is the second-best pass rusher in Pittsburgh.
EDGE T.J. Watt
Watt finally came to life against the Patriots. He recorded his first two sacks of the season, forced a fumble, and recovered a fumble as well. He had six pressures and also had four run stops, continuing to make plays in the run game on top of having a big performance as a pass rusher. This is the T.J. Watt the Steelers paid to keep around, and they need to see him far more often.
DT Cam Heyward
Heyward got a paw on the Maye pass that was picked off by Echols in the end zone, and also forced the second fumble of the day from Rhamondre Stevenson at the goal line. Additionally, he had six tackles and a sack – by far the best showing of the year from No. 97.
DT Derrick Harmon
Welcome to the NFL, Derrick Harmon. While he only played 34 snaps, he made them count. He had two run stops on nine run snaps. On top of that, he registered his first career sack and had three pressures. This is why they drafted him in the first round. He can provide pressure from the interior, and the Steelers’ run defense was notably better. Great debut for the first-round pick.
S Jabrill Peppers
In the dictionary definition of a revenge game, Peppers made plays against his former team that directly led to the Steelers getting the win. He recovered an Antonio Gibson fumble that was forced by T.J. Watt in Steelers territory to kill a potential scoring chance for the Patriots. New England’s loss is Pittsburgh’s gain, as Peppers had six tackles and the takeaway to stick it to his former team.
LB Cole Holcomb
Holcomb stepped into more of a starting role, out-snapping Payton Wilson, and I thought he did well in the increased role. He had six tackles on the day, three of which were run stops.
QB Aaron Rodgers
Rodgers started hot, leading the Steelers to two touchdowns in their first two drives, one of which culminated with a touchdown pass to DK Metcalf to put Pittsburgh up 14-0, and put Rodgers himself alone in fourth place on the all-time touchdown pass list. The offense then went dormant for two quarters before Rodgers threw a beautiful back-shoulder touchdown pass to Calvin Austin that proved to be the game-winner.
RB Jaylen Warren
Warren almost single-handedly dragged the Steelers down the field on their opening drive. After a 15-yard screen pass to DK Metcalf, the Steelers called Warren’s number six consecutive times, and he got them inside the 10-yard line before Kenneth Gainwell ran it in for a touchdown. On the day, Warren finished with 81 yards from scrimmage.
Junior-Varsity
Third-down defense
The Patriots had two drives that went 15 plays or longer, and a big reason for that is due to the Steelers’ incompetence on third down. The Patriots converted 6-of-13 third downs – four of which came on third and long, and they gained 11 yards on a 3rd-and-12 that led to an easy fourth-down conversion. The Steelers’ continued inability to prevent teams from gaining big yards on third down is mind-boggling, and it very nearly cost them a win.
Cowardly football
It’s hard for me to blame Arthur Smith for the offense being so bland when it’s looked exactly like this under three offensive coordinators now. That tells us that Mike Tomlin’s fingerprints on the offense are what are holding the unit back from being explosive. That’s not me saying Arthur Smith is Kyle Shanahan, but he’s better than what we’ve seen over the last two weeks. Aaron Rodgers averaged 4.6 air yards per attempt, which was tied for the third-lowest in the league in Week 3 with Jake Browning of the Cincinnati Bengals. And the easy argument as to why this is happening, but a good way to get defenses to back up is by taking a shot downfield to force them to respect the fact that your offense will test them, rather than just do dump off after dump off, which allows the defense to load the box and sit on short routes. And, for what it’s worth, Rodgers faced the second-lowest pressure rate of Week 3. Take some chances, launch the ball, and stop playing scared football.
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