Game Recap: T.J. Watt is Incredible; Steelers Win @ Atlanta in Week 1
The Steelers walked into Atlanta and secured a week one victory, 18-10. TRUST ME when I say that the final score is not indicative of what took place on the field; it was a peculiar game. Chris Boswell made SIX field goals, one of which was from 57 yards out. The referees really killed some of the Steelers’ drives, otherwise Boz could’ve been kicking extra points rather than long field goals. The officials also, basically, gifted the Falcons seven of their 10 points when they incorrectly threw a flag on a play that would’ve otherwise resulted in a strip sack and fumble recovery for T.J. Watt. However, ball don’t lie, and we got the win, so I’m not going to spend too much time shitting on the refs. They need to clean that nonsense up though.
Anyways, if you needed any more confirmation that T.J. Watt is the best football player in the world, go back and watch this game again. It’s amazing that we didn’t see #90 at all in the preseason, and he’s able to just unleash hell on an offense like he’s in midseason form. He finished the game with a couple of tackles, one of them a nice tackle for a loss, one sack, and one fumble recovery (mind you if it wasn’t for the terrible officiating he would’ve had THREE SACKS, A FORCED FUMBLE, AND TWO FUMBLE RECOVERIES).
I watch a lot of Steelers_DB on Youtube, and in one of his videos this week, he said something that I think should be heard by all: “I think it’s important we acknowledge just how rare of a player this is…in a Steelers uniform.” Can you believe this is T.J. Watt’s eighth year in a Steelers uniform. We need to appreciate what we see week in and week out from guys like T.J. Watt or Cam Heyward while we still have them. Especially Watt. He is absolutely incredible.
It wasn’t just T.J. Watt vs. the world on defense, though. As impactful as T.J. Watt was, Nick Herbig saw the field quite a bit in this game. It’s so nice that our defense was (seemingly) able to not skip a beat when T.J. Watt or Alex Highsmith went out for a few plays. Herbig will be a star in this league soon. I can feel it.
Donte Jackson and DeShon Elliot, both playing their first regular season game(s) in a Steelers uniform, came up with an interception each. Cam Heyward was playing strong through blocks, and he’s looking like he’s healthy, thankfully. That entire ILB room is steady as hell. Queen/Roberts/Wilson is as good as any ILB group in the league IMO. Minkah is Minkah. DBs were balling. Blah blah blah.
Here’s the thing, I can do this song and dance and name-drop all the guys on defense who didn’t make any mistakes, and played a clean and effective game, but this wasn’t some big shocker to me. I’ve been bragging about how great this defense was going to be all summer long. Outside of the Falcons’ opening drive, we absolutely dominated them, defensively, that whole game. Take out some bad calls by the refs, and the Steelers would’ve won this game 18-3.
The offense, on the other hand, has plenty of room for improvement, which we saw coming; and yet, I’m thrilled about the potential of it all. For starters, Arthur Smith called a great game to kick off his stint as our OC. He was put in a shit position, having to gameplan without really knowing who his starter was going to be for God knows how long. Najee Harris was running ANGRY, which set up play-action, along with some designed rollouts that Justin Fields really looked awesome in, particularly on the deep ball to George Pickens to set up the field goal at the end of the second quarter. The result was one of the cleanest games of Justin Fields’ career, executing the offense, and showcasing his ability to run when it was necessary. With him looking set to start again this weekend in Denver, he has a real chance to secure his spot as a starter and have a career year if he continues to play clean football like this. Sidebar: it only happened once, coincidentally, on the Steelers’ first offensive snap, but what the fuck is going on with the center/qb exchanges? It happened with Nate Herbig, and it has been happening with Zach Frazier. Could it be a Justin Fields issue? Whatever it is, it needs to stop.
Also, I think about how hyped yinzers were about potentially adding Brandon Aiyuk to the WR room…and I’m just curious…who do yinz think would’ve been number one in that scenario? In my humble opinion, George Pickens is a clear-cut WR1 with top five talent. That’s just what my eyeballs tell me. “Freaky shit routinely.” Shoutout to you if you know where that line comes from.
Lastly, we lost our Punter Cameron Johnston for the year, due to a knee injury that occurred when he was hit during a punt play; no flag though, of course. That’s just a devastating end to his year after months of praise and love from Steelers Nation for his steadiness punting the football. He was really flipping fields for us in the preseason. My heart breaks for him. As of right now, the Steelers have added Corliss Waitman, so we’ll see how that works out.
Here we go, Steelers….Here we go! PITTSBURGH'S GAHN TO THE SUPER BOWL HERE WE GO!!
On to Denver.
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