Bold Predictions as Steelers look to rebound on the road against Chargers
Welcome to Week 6 of the 2019-20 NFL regular season Pittsburgh Steelers fans. After a lot of hand-wringing, choice words, and disappointment, the black and gold are looking at a 1-4 record as they head to the West Coast to play the Los Angeles Chargers. There has been plenty of chatter in the back channels among ‘Team SCU’ members; discussions about everything from officiating to watching clips of film, the reportedly heated practices between the Steelers offense and defense, and whether a quarterback whose nickname is “Duck” can lead the team to victory after nearly pulling off a win over the Ravens. ‘Bold Predictions’ is Steel City Underground’s feature where our SCU team members have shifted from throwing caution to the wind in how crazy they’ll go in their prognostications to a more objective, yet still bold, set of predictions on how Pittsburgh will, or will not, handle business this week.
Here We Go!
A look back at last week
For Week 5, Tery Fletcher and Joe Kuzma were the only ones among the SCU team to offer predictions. To say that our team has been as up and down as the Steelers have been is a bit of an understatement. As fans first, we’ve been disappointed, excited, optimistic, sarcastic, pessimistic, and have expressed a whole slew of emotions as we’ve analyzed the past five games. No one has been satisfied with the level of officiating the NFL has trotted out this season, even when the calls have randomly gone in the favor of Pittsburgh. Before we go down the rabbit hole altogether, though, let’s see how close Terry and Joe were in their predictions.
Terry correctly predicted that offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner would use a similar game plan that worked against the Cincinnati Bengals. It didn’t work (the Ravens sniffed out that plan, and forced Fichtner to adjust) but JuJu Smith-Schuster was more involved although Vance McDonald saw more time (before he was injured again) than Nick Vannett in the offense. She felt sack totals would be “moderate” but that the defensive backfield would get busy with “5 takeaways and a pick 6 from Minkah Fitzpatrick.”
Kameron Kelly, Mike Hilton, and Devin Bush did all grab an interception apiece, but Fitzpatrick played well without a pick.
Joe correctly predicted that the Steelers defense would be able to get “four sacks” against Lamar Jackson. Pittsburgh took Jackson to the ground five times, dialing up a ton of pressure throughout the game. He also thought there would be a “healthy dose” of James Conner and Jaylen Samuels in the run and pass game. Samuels threw an interception that no one would have predicted, and completed one other pass before finishing the game with three rushes and four receptions. Conner logged 55 yards on 14 carries and added no help in the passing game. So no 200 all-purpose yards, Joe. Sorry.
Joe’s predictions this week
My predictions haven’t been bold enough recently so here we go:
The Steelers are going to combine for over 200 yards rushing. Hear me out: the Chargers struggled (and I mean, struggled) against a lesser Denver Broncos team last Sunday, relinquishing a total of 191 yards on 32 carries (6.0 per carry). That was still at home, in the Los Angeles soccer stadium that will no doubt be a “Black and Gold”-out this weekend as well.
Look for a far more talented Steelers offensive line to push around the Chargers defense and open holes for James Conner (who will get his first 100-yard rushing game of the 2019 season this week) and Benny Snell in lieu of relying on undrafted rookie quarterback Devlin Hodges throwing the ball.
Regardless of the Chargers seeing it coming or not, they couldn’t stop the Broncos from an unbalanced 32 runs versus 20 pass attempts last week; therefore, I don’t see them being able to quickly turn around and fix the same issues this week either.
(Note: Jaylen Samuels had his knee scoped and is ruled “out” for this weekend’s game)
Terry’s predictions this week
This week the Steelers come to my side of the country in So. California. The weather will be 75 degrees and of course for a night game (well, night to us is 5:20 PST Sunday), it will be perfect football weather. The Steelers will be taking their Ducks (yes our 3rd-string QB) and our better offensive line to a stadium where people pay $100 to park and $400 for bad seats. But the best part is there are typically more Terrible Towels waving in the stands than blue and white jerseys. It will have a home game feel and I believe Coach Tomlin will use any weapon he has left to make this a must-win game.
Our defense will not have to worry about a running QB in Phillip Rivers so I see minimum 2 picks and at least 4 sacks. James Connor will be featured in the running and passing game with a 150-yard day and Juju will redeem himself with a 3-TD day.
I think it’s a TE day as well with both McDonald and Vannett with Touchdowns and for good measure let’s use Big Al as a TE for a catch and score. They’d never see that coming.
I see this being a high scoring game but I do believe the Steelers pull out a win in prime time 45-10.
Christina’s predictions this week
Does anyone remember December 3, 2018? If your memory is foggy, the Steelers hosted the Chargers at Heinz Field and Cameron Heyward did (see photo) that to Philip Rivers (no, we are not related, so stop asking). The Steelers tied the game 30-30 with just 4:10 left on the game clock when Ben Roethlisberger connected with Jaylen Samuels for a ten-yard touchdown. Unfortunately, the Steelers allowed too much time for the Chargers to keep the game going – and when Michael Badgley was given three opportunities to make a field goal (due to offsides calls against Joe Haden and Artie Burns), he kicked the last one through the uprights for a win.
My predictions center around not only what happened last season but on what’s going on right here, right now. There will be no Samuels, no ‘Big Ben’. James Washington (shoulder) will likely be a no-go on Sunday, and there’s some uncertainty as to who else will be a for-sure sideline spectator come game day. The Steelers’ injury report is a laundry list.
I truly feel this will be a Steelers game that will be won by a fired-up defense and some unsung heroes on offense. The veterans on the offensive and defensive line got chippy in practice. I don’t hate it. Typically, I’d frown on that in practice during the season because… well, Pittsburgh can’t afford too many more injuries. I think the veteran guys are angry over how the season is going and I think they’d love to take all that aggression and turn it against the Chargers. I’ll be so bold as to say they will be feeding off of that energy, especially the defense, and shut down L.A.’s offensive game plan to the tune of holding them under 17 points and 100 yards rushing.
Heyward earns at least one sack this week. At least. I’m counting on T.J. Watt earning at least another sack and a couple of quarterback hits to his already growing list.
I expect some creativity (due to personnel) from the Steelers offense. With Hodges making his first NFL start on Sunday, I anticipate that Diontae Johnson will see more targets than Smith-Schuster, but I think No. 19 will have a bigger game on his bounce back from a horrifying moment last week when he lost the ball in overtime. He may be a “fun” guy, but he’s serious about football and I don’t see him letting too much get in his way when showing how hungry he is for redemption.
I think this is the week Ryan Switzer sees more action in the offense as well. Johnny Holton is always an option, but I think Switzer could be an X-factor in how successful the Steelers are at moving the ball, beyond Conner and Snell complimenting each other in the run game.
Don’t count out Hodges. During preseason, and even last week, the rookie looked confident and unfazed under the bright lights of the big league. I predict he’ll put together at least 200-250 combined passing and rushing yards with a couple scampers on the ground of his own.
