Steelers are surprised by Cowboys fourth quarterback of the year

The Steelers were able to get the win over the Cowboys despite it being an ugly game. Garrett Gilbert was surprisingly good in this one.

When I described Garrett Gilbert starting for the Cowboys in previous articles, I thought of him as nothing more than a fourth-string quarterback. Gilbert showed that he can be the guy going forward for the Cowboys with his performance against the Steelers. He almost beat the undefeated Steelers.

Garrett Gilbert was 21 for 38 for 243 yards and one touchdown pass according to ESPN. Equally as impressive was that he only threw one interception in the game as an inexperienced quarterback. Although he did not dominate the Steelers, Gilbert played well enough to scare the Black & Gold.

Gilbert was not highly regarded in the league until this game. He has bounced around to many different teams and hasn’t really gotten a chance with any of those teams. One of the things that was right about the situation for Gilbert is they needed someone with some NFL experience even if he did not have game experience.

I think the Cowboys should roll with Garrett Gilbert going forward. The Cowboys don’t have a good option at quarterback with Dak Prescott on the reserve/injured list. The Cowboys need to find some spark and there is a chance that Garrett Gilbert is that spark. He has somewhat underperformed in his career after being a star in Texas High School football.

I don’t think Andy Dalton would have done better against the Steelers. Andy Dalton has faced the Steelers many times but has really had trouble beating them. The Steelers would know how to play Andy Dalton having faced him in the AFC North when he was a longtime Cincinnati Bengals quarterback.

One of the reasons the Steelers were held in check was because Ben Roethlisberger suffered a minor injury. Although they would call it a knee injury, I think he also took a hard shot to the head from Neville Gallimore and DeMarcus Lawrence.

The predictions for this game were strongly favoring the Steelers. Everything in this game seemed to break for the Cowboys. Gilbert caught lightning in a bottle, Ben Roethlisberger got hurt and the Steelers special teams were horrible.

The Black & Gold did end up winning this game because their defense made plays, Ben Roethlisberger showed his toughness once again and Chris Boswell showed up big with a record-breaking field goal at the end of the first half.

If I were the Steelers, I would not be as confident against Garrett Gilbert. I would prepare plenty of blitzes and blitz the heck out of Garrett Gilbert. Young quarterbacks seem to struggle against the Steeler’s designed blitzes and Gilbert still struggled against some of them today.