The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Charges 20-10 to win their 2024 home opener at Acrisure Stadium and start the season at 3-0.
Going into the game veteran Steelers journalists Mike Prisuta and Jim Wexell agreed that this would be a “Fist Fight at the Fifty.”
- And a fistfight certainly did break out Sunday afternoon at Acrisure.
The Steelers prevailed for two reasons: First, because Pittsburgh’s defense punched at its weight for one half, and then pivioted to pulverizing the Chargers in the second. Second, because the offense did just enough to create its own opportunities against a stingy San Die… ur, um Chargers defense.
Cam Heyward sacks Taylor Hienicke with an assist from T.J. Watt. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review.
First Half – Chargers by The Nose in a Veritable Stalemate
The Chargers didn’t just bring the NFL’s number one rushing attack to Pittsburgh, they brought it with leading rusher J.K. Dobbins former Baltimore Raven who has played pretty well against the Steelers. Going into the game the Steelers had the NFL’s 3rd best rushing defense, but hadn’t really been tested.
From the very outset, Mike Tomlin and Jim Harbaugh deployed their chess pieces just as they were scripted to do.
Both offenses committed to pounding it out on the ground, while both defenses doubled down on stopping the run. For most of the first quarter, the age old contest of the immovable object vs the irresistible force stood at a stalemate, as the teams trade punts.
Justin Herbert was the first to ad-lib, feigning just long enough to fool Joey Porter Jr. into breaking off his coverage and firing off at Quentin Johnston who found the end zone a step before Minkah Fitzpatrick could get there.
- But Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith had his own tricks up his sleeve.
A 20 yard hook up between Justin Fields and Scotty Miller on third and 4 got the Steelers into the end zone. From there runs by Najee Harris and Cordarrelle Patterson gave the Steelers a 3rd and 3 at the 5.
There Smith unleashed his surprise. Everyone watching figured Smith was content on girding it out. That’s what Smith was counting on as Field faked a hand off to Jaylen Warren and then used Warren as a blocker as he ran into the end zone, tying the game.
The tie did not stand long, as the Chargers answered with a field goal. With only three minutes left in the first half both teams played aggressively, possessing the ball 4 times, with Chris Boswell missing a 62 yard field goal, and Justin Herbert almost completing a Hail Mary as time expired.
The Steelers were holding their own in the first fight, but the Chargers had the lead. Could they translate that into momentum in the second half?
Steelers Defense Does What It Was Designed to Do: Dominate
The Pittsburgh Steelers defense is supposed to be good. This is hardwired into the franchise’s DNA. But having a “good” defense doesn’t satisfy the masses. They want to Steelers defense to dominate.
And if is true that we’ve seen Steelers defenses in recent memory flash dominance – think for a couple of halves in 3 games in 2017 before Joe Haden got hurt; think much of 2019 and again in 2020 before injuries ravished it, its been a long time since we’ve seen a Steeler defense ransack as they did to the Chargers.
The conventional wisdom coming out of halftime was that, in a game like this, the team that secured the first turnover would likely win. In the middle of the third quarter the pundits got their turnover as Justin Fields tried to force the ball to Cordarrelle Patterson only to have several players until former Steelers Bud Dupree came down with it.
- It seemed like the Chargers had shifted the momentum.
Actually, it should have. The Steelers defense had already proven to us that we all should have known better.
Nick Herbig had essentially ruined the Chargers first drive with a hellacious strip-sack of Justin Herbert. Herbert however, hadn’t gotten the message and was preparing to try to throw deep, when Elandon Roberts sacked him for a nine-yard loss. Herbing stopped J.K. Robbins for one yard on the next play, and after a face-saving 4 yard run the Chargers were punting again.
The Chargers next series would see Joey Porter Jr. reading a play perfectly and stopping Dobbins for a loss and T.J. Watt sacking replacement quarterback Chris Heinicke on third down.
Next and last time the Chargers got the ball, Nick Herbig and Cam Heyward would take turns sacking Taylor Heinicke for 10 yard losses on first and third down. Thanks to a 4 yard Dobbins catch, Los Angeles only lose 14 yards on the dive.
When it was all over the J.K. Robbins, the man who’d averaged over six yards against the Steelers going into the game, rushed for under 50 yards and averaged below 3 per carry. The Los Angeles Chargers had 4 possessions in the second half.
They ran 15 plays and netted a total of -5 yards. Yes, you read that right. -5 yards for an entire half.
Najee Harris breaks one in the 4th quarter. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Spirit of Ron Erhardt Evident on Offense
Ron Erhardt may have only been the Steelers offensive coordinator for 4 years in the early 1990’s, but his philosophy of “Throw to score, run to win” remains a healthy one. During the third quarter, the Steelers offense authored two, workmanlike drives resulting in field goals.
- Pat Freiermuth and George Pickens caught passes while Najee Harris led an “OK” rushing attack.
On their fourth possession, Arthur Smith opened it up – just a bit, as Justin Fields hit Calvin Austin in the middle, and Austin took off for a 60 yard touchdown reception.
The next time the Steelers got the ball, with a 10-point lead and just over five minutes remaining, Smith in true Erhardt fashion took the air out of the ball. Yet they couldn’t stop Pittsburgh, as Cordarrelle Patterson logged runs for 14 and 12 yards while Najee Harris ripped off runs of 11 and 21 yards.
Yes, at that point the game was already lost for the Chargers. But the fact is that Los Angeles knew Pittsburgh was going to run the ball, but were powerless to stop the Steelers.
Perspective on Fields
Inertia is building in Justin Fields’ favor. It is going to be very hard to bench any quarterback who has started 3-0. And a temptation to look at the stat sheet and conclude that Fields should remain the starter when Russell Wilson returns to full health will be tempting.
- Everyone should treat that temptation with caution.
Yes, Fields has won three in a row. And now he’s done it against a good defense. And Arthur Smith was a little more aggressive with Fields than he had been against either Atlanta or Denver. But let’s remember that it is a long season and while Fields is playing well, is he playing well enough enough to keep a Super Bowl veteran on the bench?
That’s the tricky question Mike Tomlin has to answer this week, and it is a question that is only going to be more difficult the longer Fields continues to win.
Maybe the reason this game was such fun to watch was that we weren’t left just hoping the defense could stop the Chargers, we realized we were watching the defense kick their asses. Okay, it really got to be fun when Herbert aggravated the high ankle strain – and especially when he exited the game,. Then it eventually became a “Deebo kicks ass” or even Steel Curtain shut down.
Essentially, they fought to a draw in the first half. But in that draw, Chargers players were worn down and some key players were injured. And after that, the Steelers kicked the crap out of the survivors or their replacements.