Steelers

Feats of Strength: Snapped streaks, ‘weighty plays,’ resurgent run game tell story as Steelers edge Titans

Tim Benz
Tim Benz
Slide 1
Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review
Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson beats Titans cornerback Tre Avery on Thursday to help set up Johnson’s game-winning touchdown pass in the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium.

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With this year’s Pittsburgh Steelers team, we’ve come to expect the unexpected.

Well, except for Diontae Johnson touchdowns and first-quarter scoring drives.

But after Thursday’s 20-16 comeback win against the Tennessee Titans, I guess even those items are in play now.

Those were just two of the storylines worth recapping in this week’s “Feats of Strength” and “Airing of Grievances.”

FEATS OF STRENGTH

Will wonders never cease?

If you were at Acrisure Stadium on Thursday night, consider yourself lucky. You basically saw Halley’s Comet twice.

You witnessed the Steelers score on their first possession of the game. That had yet to happen all season prior to Najee Harris’ touchdown at 10:11 of the first quarter. It capped a shockingly well-executed, stunningly well-designed opening drive that lasted 10 plays and covered 78 yards.

Prior to those seven points, the Steelers had just seven points in the first quarter all year. The team achieved four first downs on the drive. They had nine in the first quarter all season.

Also Diontae Johnson finally scored a touchdown in the regular season for the first time in 22 games.

“That’s not weight that he totes into the stadium,” coach Mike Tomlin said of that streak. “He just wants to be a significant component of what we do and why we are successful. He was today.”

According to Next Gen Stats, Johnson ran 771 regular-season routes in between touchdowns. Johnson wound up with seven catches for 90 yards on the evening.

Tremendous trio

In the words of Tomlin, let’s talk about three big plays in “weighty moments.”

• Johnson’s 32-yard catch on a third down in the fourth quarter. It set up his own touchdown a few plays later after he was pushed out of bounds at the 23-yard line with just under five minutes on the clock.

• On the ensuing possession, cornerback Levi Wallace — despite playing through an injury that had been nagging him since the Los Angeles Rams game — ran stride-for-stride with receiver Treylon Burks deep down the left sideline, helping to force an incompletion on a fourth down with 2:13 remaining.

• After the Steelers failed to burn much time when they got the ball back after that play, the Titans advanced to Pittsburgh’s 19-yard line with 11 seconds left. Kwon Alexander made a game-sealing interception after two potential interceptions had been dropped earlier in the drive.

“I was zoned in. I just wanted to make a play and get off the field. And I did,” Alexander said.

That was the only turnover for either team in the game. Also give a round of applause to the defense for holding DeAndre Hopkins without a catch in the second half and limiting All-Pro running back Derrick Henry to just 30 yards rushing over the last 30 minutes.

In particular, we should note the job Joey Porter Jr. did on Hopkins.

About time

The run game actually made a big impact and had a few highlights. Jaylen Warren and Harris combined for 157 yards on 27 carries. That’s an average of 5.8 yards per attempt. They got big chunks in the run game too. Harris’ longest run was 25 yards. Warren’s was 22. He had another pair of 15 yarders.

And Harris scored that touchdown on the first drive as well.

Credit to the offensive line for consistently opening some holes throughout the game on the ground for maybe the first time all year.

“We had a lot of explosive runs,” guard Isaac Seumalo said. “The coaches had a great game plan. What they gave us out there is what we thought we were going to get. Great scheme plus great execution usually means a great day. … There were no surprises out there. That was the biggest thing.”

The team’s 166 rushing yards were a season high for the Steelers.

Fourth-quarter Kenny

Pickett was a sparkling 5 for 7 for 47 yards and a TD during the fourth quarter. That’s a passer rating of 129.17.

His close-game, second-half clutch passing numbers are reaching head-scratching levels.

This was Pickett’s sixth fourth-quarter comeback victory, the second-most in the NFL since 2022 began, according to Pro Football Focus.

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AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

Kenny comparison

It’s great that Pickett answered the bell in the second half because the first half was bumpy.

He was just 8 of 15 for 78 yards and missed at least four open receivers. One was an underthrown deep ball to Calvin Austin (even though it was a nice play by Tennessee’s Azeez Al-Shaair). Another was high for Johnson. A third was just a wildly off-target toss to George Pickens. Plus there was a skipped pass into the end zone that came up short to Allen Robinson.

That one was a tough window. But it’s one you hoped that a first-round draft choice in the middle of his second year might make. The network broadcast illustrated all four throws at halftime, and they were all worthy examples of Pickett’s early problems.

The Pickens play

If Pickens is the receiver we all want him to be, he has to make that catch in the end zone in the third quarter.

Pickett hit Pickens in the end zone with 5:44 left in the third near the right sideline. Pickens seemed to have plenty of room to drag his foot to complete the score but didn’t.

On the day, Pickens ended up with two catches for minus-1 yard. Granted, some of that is on the quarterback. But the theory that “George is always open the minute he gets on the field” needs some more evidence.

Zebras still zeroes

Let’s be clear. Both teams were sloppy on the short week, and many penalties that both teams got deserved to be called.

But the officials still stink. John Hussey’s crew threw as many flags as humanly possible in the first quarter of the game. The teams combined for 11 by halftime and ended up with 17 for the game.

T.J. Watt got a typically egregious roughing the passer call on Tennessee’s first possession. Making that worse, two possible flags when Pickett was hit were ignored just like last week. Then, eventually, Pickett did get a roughing the passer penalty in his favor that looked like a blatant make-up.

So the crew was inconsistent on those calls. They were inconsistent on pass interference penalties, including one blatant miss when a Tennessee player was all over Pickens. They originally gave Pickens a touchdown on that call in the third quarter when he was obviously out of bounds and eventually changed the ruling upon “conferencing.”

The fourth-down holding call against Porter Jr. on the final drive to keep the game going was so late, technically I think the official dropped the flag early Friday morning.

Officiating in the NFL is broken and there is no way to fix it. You can’t spell “Hey, refs, you stink without “H-U-S-S-E-Y.”

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