The Pittsburgh Steelers got their first emphatic win of the season yesterday, beating the Atlanta Falcons to improve to 2-2-1.
While the victory against Tampa Bay started out strong before petering out to only a three-point win, the Steelers went up early against Atlanta and never let their foot off the gas, winning 41-17.
The offense showed promise early by doing what Baltimore’s offense did to them last week, taking a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter. Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger reset the WiFi connection as Brown was the Steelers’ leading receiver, with 6 receptions, 101 yards, and 2 touchdowns.
James Conner showed the Steelers’ ground game can continue to be successful through his 21 carries for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns. It will be interesting to see how the team reacts to Conner’s success once Le’Veon Bell, who reportedly does not want a trade, ends his holdout during the team’s week 7 bye week.
Roethlisberger did well to keep his interceptions down, tossing one to go with three touchdowns in an area that had plagued the Steelers in previous weeks. Indeed, the Steelers only turned the ball over twice and went 75% on third down
Pittsburgh remains the most penalized team in the league after five weeks due to their four consecutive games with 12 penalties, but they kept their total down to seven today, losing only 58 yards in the process. Two frustrating examples came on the same second quarter drive, where Bud Dupree was called for hands to the face and TJ Watt for roughing the passer, both for 15 yards.
The Steelers’ defense, consistently a weak spot this season, had a field day, sacking Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan six times for 43 yards, including twice in one drive before halftime, holding the Falcons to a field goal.
The icing on the cake came from the defense as well, when T.J. Watt forced a fumble with 3:35 left in the fourth quarter and L.J. Fort recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown.
Finally, special teams completed the trifecta of strong showings with two big plays, a punt that pinned Atlanta deep in their own territory just prior to halftime, and a blocked punt late in the third that put the Steelers deep in the Falcons’ territory.
All in all, it was a great showing from the Steelers in week 5, one that we haven’t seen in some time, and one that will give Steelers fans hope leading into the week 6 game against the Bengals.