“The Steel Curtain” hasn’t made a return quite yet, though some overreacting fans would beg to differ.
Defense was the name of the game as the Steelers defeated the Cleveland Browns 26-22 on Monday night.
On the first play from scrimmage, Browns’ quarterback Deshaun Watson threw a tipped pass into the arms of Steelers’ linebacker Alex Highsmith who ran it back for a touchdown. Highsmith continued to have success for the rest of the night with his other play for the highlight reel coming late in the fourth quarter.
Down three points with just a few minutes to play, the Steelers were practically begging for a defensive stop. Highsmith answered by stripping the ball loose from Watson’s grasp. T.J. Watt recovered the loose ball and scored the soon-to-be game winning touchdown.
To say Deshaun Watson had a rough night would be an understatement. The Browns’ QB1 was under constant pressure as he was sacked six times by six different Steelers. Not only did Watson take a beating, but he turned the ball over on three different occasions, two of which can be credited to Highsmith.
Cleveland wasn’t the only team struggling to put up points. The Steelers offense scored only 12 of their 26 points in what was yet another disappointing performance.
Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett had an interesting night to say the least. After struggling mightily in the week one loss to the 49ers, Pickett hit both extremes on Monday. The University of Pitt graduate started his game by making a terrible decision which resulted in an interception.
Though he started his game on the wrong foot, Kenny quickly turned things around by throwing a 71-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens.
Pickens added to the touchdown with a few more impressive catches, finishing his night with a career-high 127 yards. Even if the offense struggled as a whole, the Pickett to Pickens duo looked to be in full effect.
After running the ball for just 10 times last week, the Steelers more than doubled the attempts in week two with 21 carries for a total of 55 yards. The effectiveness of the run game still remains a question, though improvement was seen nonetheless.
With his 86 total yards from scrimmage, second year running back Jaylen Warren arguably played better than the starter Najee Harris. At the moment it would be a long shot to call for a change in the depth chart when it comes to the Steelers’ running back position, but if Warren continues to produce it’ll be hard to keep him off of the field.
After their first win of the season, the Steelers will look ahead to Sunday where they’ll play their first away game of the season against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders will hope to bounce back against Pittsburgh after their 38-10 loss to Buffalo the week prior.
