The Key Moment Pittsburgh Needs To Build On
Photo Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
During the first two games of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense was anemic.
The high-octane excitement drummed up from the preseason was a distant memory. In two games, the offense had scored just two touchdowns, tied for the fewest in the league. The Steelers were only able to beat the Cleveland Browns in Week 2 thanks to a herculean effort from the defense that included two scores.
Then, in Sunday night’s victory against the Oakland Raiders, the Steelers finally started to find some of their offensive “mojo,” as Mike Tomlin has aptly called it.
Perhaps the most encouraging sign for the offense was the six-play, 81-yard touchdown drive that spanned 3:19 midway through the third quarter.
“That’s the kind of drive you’re looking for,” Kenny Pickett said during the team’s media availability on Wednesday. “Obviously it’s not always going to be like that, but that’s what you’re searching for and it was awesome to go out there and get that. So many guys were involved in that drive and that series. So it was really positive coming out of the game with that drive and it’s something we can build on.”
The drive started when Patrick Peterson picked off Jimmy Garoppolo, giving the offense the ball at its own 19-yard line.
On the first play of the drive, Pickett found George Pickens over the middle of the field off a play-action fake for a 17-yard completion.
After a Jaylen Warren inside toss carry resulted in a four-yard gain, another play-action fake on a well-blocked screen to Warren picked up another 16 yards.
Then Pickett found an underutilized Pat Freiermuth on another pass over the middle for 14 yards, before Najee Harris picked up 17 yards on an inside-zone run to the left side.
Finally, Pickett hit Freiermuth, who was running a flag route, from 13 yards out on a play-action rollout to the strong side. It was about time that we saw the big tight end get involved this season; up until that game, he only had two catches after having the second-most catches on the team last year.
“As long as we’re trending upwards, that’s all that matters,” Harris said on Wednesday. “The run game’s starting to open up a lot of stuff with play action, which helps create those big plays. …Play action helps out a lot because you get the linebackers to step up and it creates the big shots down the field. Then if they start playing off, you can run the ball more, so it all marries off of each other really.”
The playcalling from Matt Canada was decisive (finally), the players executed, and it all worked together in harmonious fashion to keep the Raiders’ defense off balance.
Now the Steelers just need to take that success and parlay it over the course of a full game on a more consistent basis. That’s the key word: consistency.
Despite having success with that third-quarter scoring drive, the offense would go on to go three-and-out twice in the fourth quarter, with another drive resulting in a punt. Instead of being able to put the game away, the Raiders scored twice more and the Steelers needed a turnover at the end of the game to put the game on ice.
“You just want to execute and stay on the field and keep the defense on the bench,” Pickett said. “(The defense) does an unbelievable job and we want to return the favor and have them relax in that fourth-quarter-type situation where we’re out there working and they can chill, so we need to be better from that standpoint and not let teams hang around.”
If the Steelers want to take a legitimate step forward from last season and make the playoffs, they can’t just have an isolated drive like that every game or every other game. They need to have multiple drives like that on a weekly basis. That translates to wins and takes the brunt of the pressure off the defense’s shoulders to try to get a stop on every single opposing offensive possession, because that simply isn’t going to happen.
This Sunday’s game against the lowly Houston Texans gives Pittsburgh another opportunity to continue to build some offensive consistency ahead of a pivotal Week 5 divisional matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.
“Consistency,” Pickett said regarding the focus heading into this week’s game. “We want to stack performances and stack wins. We got two primetime wins, which was great for us and great momentum leading into it, but it does nothing if we don’t go out there and take care of business on Sunday. So, we want to continue to build on the momentum and consistency that we’re starting to have.”
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