Taken from the grade book of a teacher pleased to see his students back to the business of winning here is the Pittsburgh Steelers Report Card for the 2024 win over the Raiders.
Najee Harris dives for a 36-yard touchdown. Photo Credit: AP via Tribune-Review
Quarterback
Justin Fields went 14-24-0-0 for 145 yards through the air while running 11 times for 59 yards, including 2 touchdowns and several first-down scrambles. Although Fields turned in a winning performance his legs rather than his arm was his biggest weapon. He had an ugly interception erased by a penalty, and he erased a touchdown pass by throwing from way beyond the line of scrimmage and threw a terrible lateral that should have been a turn over. While he did make a couple of nice throws, he also missed a couple of key targets, and the Steelers only had to punt 3 times, they also only went 4-13 on third downs. Grade: C
Running Backs
This was the Najee Harris we’ve been waiting for. Harris ran 14 times for 106 yards and a touchdown. Even if you take out his 36-yard touchdown run, he was still averaging 5.3 yards per carry. Harris was hitting the holes with more authority and forcing the piles forward. Jaylen Warren had 6 carries for 7 yards, but he did bail Fields out on a blown lateral and was strong in run blocking. Aaron Shampklin and Jonathan Ward combined for 4 carries. Grade: A-
Tight Ends
Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward combined for 4 catches for 26 yards and the tight ends came up big in the blocking game. Grade: B
Wide Receivers
The Steelers wide receivers combined for 5 passes for 88 yards, with 31 of those coming on a stat-padding play to George Pickens late in the game. Calvin Austin had the other two catches for those of you taking notes for next week’s fantasy football starts. All of this isn’t on the receivers, but the Steelers clearly need more here. A lot more. Grade: D
Offensive Line
The running backs enjoyed their best run blocking of perhaps the entire season, and this is in no way coincidental with the fact that the Steelers were able to field the same 5 offensive lineman (until Zach Frazier got hurt, that is.) Still, Justin Fields got sacked 3 times and had to run out of pressure on several others. Grade: C+
Defensive Line
The Steelers shut down the Raiders rushing attack, and that starts with the defensive line. Cam Heyward led the unit with 4 tackles and a critical sack, while Keeanu Benton batted down a pass and covered first forced fumble. Grade: B+
Linebackers
The Raiders held T.J. Watt all day, but Watt continued to wreak havoc, making tackles behind the line of scrimmage and making not one, but two game-changing forced fumbles. Elandon Roberts had another strong game and Payton Wilson continues to quietly carve a role for himself in this offense. Jeremiah Moon wasn’t a liability – not bad given his status as 5th stringer. Grade: A
Secondary
DeShon Elliott made a heads up play in recovering and returning the second fumble for 10 yards, and Donte Jackson helped seal victory with his third interception of the season. Why where both of these guys so easy to acquire? The Raiders had a nice opening drive that made it look like it was going to be a long afternoon. At the end of the day it was a long afternoon – for Las Vegas as the Raiders went 2-11 on third downs. Grade: A-
Special Teams
Chris Boswell went 4 of 4 on field goals including the first two which went for 52 and 49 yards respectively. Jaylen Warren returned the opening kick off far enough that the Raiders didn’t let him do it again. Minkah Fitzpatrick recovered the on-sides kick attempt, and Corliss Waitman did a fantastic job of punting.
The real star was Jeremiah Moon who took a perfect angle and blocking the first punt of the 2nd half allowing the Steelers to dictate the tone of the final 30 minutes. Grade: A
Coaching
It would be a little strange to criticize Arthur Smith for an offensive effort that put 32 points on the board, a season high and a total that they only topped once last season.
So we won’t.
The Steelers running game was at its best all season. Some of this was due to improved execution on the part of Najee Harris, but some of it was due to better coordination between the rusher and the blocker. (See the pitch to Harris that finally worked.)
- And the Steelers showed once again that Justin Fields is a dangerous weapon in the Red Zone.
But 32 points, while representing progress, shouldn’t obscure the fact that this team’s passing game doesn’t remotely look NFL-ready. The 1988 Steelers passing attack was far more potent. Some of this is tied to personnel, some of it is tied to execution. One can see Arthur Smith is trying to make the best with what he has. The effort may continue.
It says here that the Las Vegas Raiders offense probably doesn’t provide a good measuring stick to judge an NFL defense.
So be it. During the first three weeks of the season, Teryl Austin looked like he was fielding a Super Bowl quality defense. The unit slipped a two weeks ago, and last week that looked like an outright mirage.
The Steelers defense dominated the Raiders. Yes, they gave up an easy touchdown on the first drive, but the Raiders never made a serious threat to contest the game after that. By the time Aidan O’Connell was throwing his final interception the entire Raiders squad looked like it really just wanted to hit the showers.
Patrick Queen tackles Ameer Abdullah. Photo Credit: Karl Roser, Steelers.com
One week after they were left “squashing grapes” instead of drinking wine, the Steelers authored the type of bounce back name they needed to, and that is to Mike Tomlin’s credit. Grade: B
Unsung Hero Award
For the first five weeks of the season this player was getting talked about not so much for what he had done, but for what he was failing to do. While he hadn’t made any blaring errors, he still didn’t seem to make much of an impact. Against the Raiders, he led the team in tackles, dropped several runners behind the line of scrimmage and used his speed as an asset throughout the game and for that Patrick Queen wins the Unsung Hero Award for the Steelers 2024 win over the Raiders in Las Vegas.
