5 Steelers surprises from Sunday’s win over the Bills
Winning is just what the doctor ordered. Defeating a media-hyped Super Bowl contender is definitely a cure as well!
The ailment?
A bad taste left in Steelers Nation’s mouth after dropping four of their last five regular season games in 2020 and losing to the Cleveland Browns in the Wild Card round.
Vindication was on everyone’s mind, but I’m not sure everyone saw it coming right away. These are some of the storyline’s from the Steelers’ Sunday victory over the Bills that may have caught us all with a surprise.
Beating The Bills
First and foremost: who saw this coming?
Surely not these guys.
https://twitter.com/steelcityundrgr/status/1437147245124669445
Or these guys.
— Zac Celedonia (@ZeFlashNFL) September 12, 2021
Or the home team coverage.
— MattCap (@caputo350) September 12, 2021
Okay, maybe one home town reporter had faith!
Yes. pic.twitter.com/FMuO3bmmiE
— Kenneth Kissel (@Bbabybear01) September 13, 2021
Nothing more needs said about this surprise: no one thought the Steelers could win, so they were all surprised when they did win!
Diontae’s acrobatic touchdown catch
For a player heavily criticized for not catching the football, Diontae Johnson‘s clutch catch was a huge play on Sunday. (Tell me you weren’t surprised?)
T.J came ready to play
One week ago, every Tom, Dick, and Harry proclaimed the final nail in the coffin that would be the yet-to-be played Steelers 2021 season: T.J. Watt’s contract “situation”.
Rumors were everywhere, except from the principals involved – and a deal would be done by the end of the week.
The early narratives of “The Steelers can’t win without Watt” turned into “He’s not in game shape” and well, the rest is history, as the perennial DPOY contender crushed Buffalo’s Josh Allen, sacking the QB twice, one of which was a strip-sack.
Cameron Sutton is a Grown Ass Man
I’ve been telling anyone who has been listening that Cameron Sutton was the Steelers top free agent priority heading into the 2021 offseason. Little did I know that the Steelers valued him even more than I did, releasing Steven Nelson shortly thereafter!
Most had Sutton pegged to replace nickel cornerback Mike Hilton this season, but that’s simply not the case.
Sutton had a number of great plays on Sunday, as Bills QB Josh Allen mostly avoided Joe Haden’s side of the field. The Bills attempted to go for it on 4th-and-1, with some sort of trick play gone wrong: and Sutton was there to make the splash play.
I banged the drum all offseason for Cam Sutton and this is what he brings to the table. This clutch stop led to the #Steelers drive that gave them their first lead of the game 5 plays later. #GrownAssMan pic.twitter.com/RbA7O8hnU0
— Joe Kuzma (SCU) (@Joe_Kuzma) September 13, 2021
This stop led to the Steelers first lead just five plays later. (See above: Johnson touchdown catch.)
Melvin Ingram
Was anyone else as thrilled as I was to see Ingram’s usage in the Steelers defense?
Despite Watt being one of the top defensive players in the entire league, Ingram, a former Pro Bowl edge rusher on the backend of his career, came to Pittsburgh seeking more than a backup role.
Rotating with Watt and the other starting outside linebacker, Alex Highsmith, Ingram was moved all over the field, causing havoc for the Bills offensive line. The Bills were flagged for holding and Ingram nearly got his own strip-sack at one point during the contest.
Playing 64% of the game, the 32-year-old veteran not only remains fresh to get after the quarterback, but offers the same for his colleagues.
I can’t wait to see more!
