SNF - Cowboys @ Steelers Pregame Thoughts
I have had an extremely relaxing start to my Sunday. There’s something really serene about the early window of NFL Sunday when the Steelers aren’t in it. No stress, no anxiety…just NFL RedZone and good vibes. While I had that going, I also rewatched the Cowboys vs. Giants game from last week, which the Cowboys won 20-15.
Before I get into that, however, there’s some significant pieces that will be missing for both teams in tonight's matchup. For Pittsburgh, we’re going to be without Jaylen Warren, Cordarrelle Patterson, MyCole Pruitt, and Alex Highsmith. As you can see, our RB2 and RB3 will both be missing in this one, so it’ll be Najee Harris and Aaron Shampklin carrying the ball in this one. With Alex Highsmith out another week, Nick Herbig will get the start, and he’ll be matched up against Dallas’ rookie left tackle, Tyler Guyton. Dak Prescott likes to get the ball out quick, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a splash play from Herbig tonight. NOT included on the injury report was Isaac Seumalo who will return to start at left guard, with the rookie Mason McCormick slated to start at right guard, moving Spencer Anderson to the bench, where he belongs. I actually like Anderson as a player, just not as an every down starter. Obviously, the season ending achilles injury to James Daniels is not great for the Steelers, but they’ll use it as an opportunity to see if the young guy, McCormick, can hold up as the full-time starter. I like what I’ve seen from him so far, for the most part.
Switching my attention to the Cowboys’ injuries: they’ll be without LB Micah Parsons, WR Brandin Cooks, and obviously, DE DeMarcus Larence, who was moved to IR. CB Trayvon Diggs is also coming into this game with an ankle injury that held him out of practice on Friday. I think the general consensus seems to be that he will likely play. Obviously losing their two best players in Parsons and Lawrence is terrible for the Cowboys, but I’m looking at the loss of Brandin Cooks as a potential x-factor in this game. Outside of CeeDee Lamb, there’s not a lot of receiving talent on that team. Pair that with their meh run game, and that makes the game plan for the Steelers, probably, pretty easy. Take Lamb out of the game and let your pass rush go to work. The Cowboys love to move Lamb all over the place to create mismatches, so I wonder if this will be a game where Joey Porter Jr. just shadows lamb the whole time like he did against several other elite receivers last year.
For the Steelers, this game is a good opportunity for both sides of the ball to rebound after last week. The offense played well in Indianapolis, but the run game was mostly inefficient, and we lost the turnover battle. The defense just came out flat in that game and took a while to get things going. With the leadership and talent in that locker room, I fully expect this defense to come out with a fire lit under their ass tonight.
The Cowboys defense is pretty damn bad across the board. They rank 25th in total defense, 26th against the run, and 27th in scoring. Najee Harris should be licking his chops looking at the opportunity in front of him to make up for that 1.5 yards per carry average he had last week. Isaac Seumalo’s return to the interior of the offensive line should help him with that, as Spencer Anderson had a rough day last week run blocking.
To be honest, the Steelers matchup extremely well against this Cowboys team on both sides of the ball. This is a game that we’re capable of winning, and winning convincingly, I think. Also, it’s worth noting that it’s Sunday Night Football with two historic organizations with some legendary matchups throughout history. There’s going to be a lot of eyes on this game. Could this be the day that Justin Fields puts on a show, and plants his flag in the QB1 slot for years to come? This could be a day we think about for years to come. Give me the Steelers 28-10.
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