While the Steelers started off slow, a strong second half propelled them to a win. These are the winners and losers from their Week 1 victory.
Count me as one that was surprised when the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled the Week 1 road upset over the Buffalo Bills.
It was a tale of two halves for the team, as a horrible first half led into a great second one. The defense was the only constant, but at the end of the day, the team pulled out the underdog victory.
Here are the three winners and two losers from the 23-16 victory over the Bills.
Steelers winner: The defensive line
Despite the Steelers being down starter Stephon Tuitt, this defensive line showed up today in a major way. While the individual stats weren’t there, the starting line was consistently beating the Bills’ offensive line in this game.
Chief among them was Cameron Heyward.
While he rarely has a bad game, he was playing on another level this week. His lone sack doesn’t scream elite play, but he was regularly terrorizing Josh Allen and forcing him out of the pocket.
That doesn’t mean that Tyson Alualu was bad either. The veteran still looked like he has some juice left in him despite his age. Even Chris Wormley played well despite him being a backup. Add in Carlos Davis holding up in run defense and overall, it was about as elite of a performance that you could have hoped for in this first game.
Even with the injury to Tuitt, this group still showed up and is making the argument as being one of the best in the league.
Steelers loser: Ben Roethlisberger
While Ben Roethlisberger didn’t play badly in this game, he certainly didn’t play like many expected him to. While the offensive line did him no favors (more on that soon), Roethlisberger seemed off most of the game. While he didn’t throw an interception in the game, he wasn’t making plays to push the ball down the field.
Add in his fumble in the pocket and that alone led to a mediocre game for him. What was really concerning though was his lack of accuracy throwing the ball. He was regularly missing receivers on underthrown and high passes.
No player felt this worse than Najee Harris.
The rookie back had quite a few opportunities to reel in a catch, but he never could get his hands on the ball due to them being overthrown.
Again, I want to emphasize that the offensive line did Roethlisberger little favors. They were consistently letting the defenders into the backfield and allowing pressure on the Steelers’ offense. That said, it isn’t an excuse for a veteran like Roethlisberger. He struggled for most of the game and even when his play improved, it still wasn’t elite. If the Steelers want to be a competitive team this season, they will need their quarterback to improve in the pocket.
Steelers winner: EDGE defenders
While the Steelers’ defensive line was on point during this first game, no singular position was better than the EDGE defenders.
Let’s get this out of the way now: $28 million a year for T.J. Watt is well worth it.
Despite being limited all preseason as he worked on getting his contract worked out, he came out and dominated. While he only officially registered two sacks, he was a force in the backfield on the regular and dominated the tackles that he faced.
Next up is Alex Highsmith, who had one of the best camps in recent Steelers history. He followed that up a great first game against the Bills. While he didn’t register anything major on the stat sheet, he was a force off the edge and regularly beat his man. Add in some solid run defense and Highsmith had a great debut as a Steelers starter.
Finally, Melvin Ingram looked great in his Steelers debut. He was unstoppable in both the rushing and passing game and the fact that he will be a rotational piece this season is honestly scary. The Steelers found a way to get all three players on the field, and each were effective in their own right.
This edge group is elite this year, and all teams ought to have been put on notice after their performance.
Steelers loser: Offensive line
I highlighted multiple times just how scary this offensive line looked in the preseason, and they looked just as raw as they appeared on paper this week. In the passing game, this team struggled to hold their blocks and provide Roethlisberger adequate time to make a read and throw the ball. This led to some of his issues at quarterback, as he was forced to throw to his first read on every play.
In terms of run blocking, this group was putrid. There was very little push-up front, and as a result, the running game was lackluster. Harris only averaged 2.8 yards per carry, which was worse than what I had imagined that he would average.
Despite the front office’s desire to reestablish the rushing game, this line didn’t show up.
Moving forward, the Steelers don’t have a lot that they can do right now to remedy this situation. While Zach Banner should return in a few weeks, this group really needs to find a way to gel as a unit and block better. In the short term though, there is little reason to believe this unit will get better going forward from here.
With tougher front lines coming up in the future, the team really has to focus on getting this unit in better shape for the upcoming weeks.
Steelers winner: Cameron Sutton
While I was excited about the prospect of Cameron Sutton becoming a starter this season, there was a concern as to how he would hold up on the outside full-time. He looked ok in the preseason, but there were certainly some questions that were surrounding his overall play. He had a tall task in Week 1 in stopping the Bill passing offense, and overall, he showed up.
He was regularly in tight coverage, as he was integral in holding Stefon Diggs to only 70 yards. On top of that, he was a secure tackler, racking up five total tackles during the game. His only negative play was the touchdown to Gabriel Davis. Frankly put, Allen put that ball right where it had to be, and Davis came up with a great catch.
Moving forward, there should be little doubt as to what Sutton can do for this secondary. Add in the solid play from James Pierre as well (not quite deserving of being a winner, but he was solid) and you have a young secondary to build around. With a stout front seven and a dangerous pass rush, this secondary can rebound from the losses they suffered in the offseason.
Sutton can and should be an integral part of this secondary going forward.
Despite being heavily favored to lose, the Steelers showed up in the second half of the game and delivered a huge win. While the game had its fair share of losers, the winners were easily integral in delivering the win. Hopefully, the winners from this list only build off their strong start.