6 Steelers surprises in Sunday’s win over the Falcons
Each week our SCU staff and contributors picks the “surprises” from the Pittsburgh Steelers latest matchup. Check out more below to see which plays and situations surprised us the most!
On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers met the Atlanta Falcons for their Week 13 matchup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Steelers would win their second-straight road game 19-16. Here are some of the surprises from that game.
Steelers Win!
Let’s start with the simple observation: the Steelers just won their first back-to-back game of the season.
Up until this point, Pittsburgh had been unable to stack wins…
Road Win!
And they did it by winning two games on the road: the first being Monday night in Indianapolis and now on a short week in Atlanta, where fans once again invaded the home team’s stadium, turning it into Heinz… er… Acrisure South.
Kenny Ascending
It was another positive game for Steelers QB Kenny Pickett, who continues to see his ratings climb week-by-week.
Since the bye week, Pickett has posted QB ratings of 79.7, 85.9, 87.5, and now, 90.9.
In his first four starts this season, Pickett threw for 842 yards on a 67.11% completion rate, with 2 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. (A 71.8 rating.) He also took 12 sacks while rushing for 83 yards and no touchdowns. (Both of his early rushing scores were against the Jets, a game started by Mitchell Trubisky.)
With Atlanta being his eighth start of the season, he now has four more starts to compare to his first four. In this group of four starts since the bye, Pickett has a 61.72% completion rate for 835 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. He’s run for 111 yards and a touchdown while taking 11 sacks.
Flawless Victories
The biggest difference? The amount of throws Pickett has been expected to take: 152 (38 per game) versus 128 (32 per game) which has limited his turnovers in the second half of games started.
That translates to a 1-3 record in the first group versus 3-1 in the second slate.
Run Game
The run game pops off the page again, as Najee Harris led the way for the Steelers with 86 yards on the ground.
After failing to run for at least 80 through the first eight games of the season, Harris has now had at least 80 in three of his last four. (Leaving the Colts game early with only 35.)
Also surprising is that Benny Snell, who didn’t have a carry all season prior to the Monday night game against the Colts, added six more against the Falcons: and now has 18 carries for 86 yards (a 4.8 YPA) in two games, including a key touchdown against Indy.
Combined with Pickett, Jaylen Warren, and some wide receiver sweeps, the Steelers have registered three of their five-best rushing performances in the four games since the bye week, totaling 217, 102, 172, and 154 yards respectively.
It should be no surprise that three better performances noted were all wins.
Minkah Magic
Facing a potential 50+ yard field goal to extend their three-point lead to six with 53 seconds remaining in the game, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin turned to his special teams coordinator Danny Smith… and sent out punter Pressley Harvin III instead of replacement kicker Matthew Wright.
Despite playing in a dome, Wright hit an upright on one of his four made field goal attempts during the game, but Tomlin wasn’t risking a miss: and giving the Falcons decent field position with one of the league’s better kickers, Younghoe Koo, with a chance to tie things up if Atlanta could muster about 25 more yards off offense after a Steelers failed try.
Tomlin’s gamble paid off, as Harvin hit a beautiful punt, which was downed on Atlanta’s two yard line.
This setup up the risk, that is Tomlin knowing he has defensive playmakers, as Minkah Fitzpatrick would pick off the first Marcus Mariota pass attempt after Atlanta got the ball back, icing the Steelers victory.
Fitzpatrick now leads the team with four interceptions this season.
