Team Grades: Steelers Improve In Week 9 Win Over Raiders
By Christina Rivers
The Pittsburgh Steelers improved to 5-4 on the season after defeating the Oakland Raiders, 38-35, in a close game. Back in the wild card hunt, the Steelers played a more disciplined game (for the most part) until the final quarter. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was running an efficient offense until he suffered another injury that will sideline him for weeks, forcing Landry Jones to enter and finish out the game. The Steelers continue to struggle in several areas, but improved and finished as a team instead of relying on just the defense or offense to be successful. Overall, the team looked more comfortable with each other and stuck to their game plan.
Steelers offense grade: B
Pittsburgh started off slow, unable to create much of a drive in their first offensive possession. On their second drive, Roethlisberger looked much more relaxed than in Week 8, targeting his receivers and handing off to DeAngelo Williams at running back. Williams looked to make a statement, rushing for 170 yards on 27 carries. Early drops by receivers were a concern. Roethlisberger got antsy and threw an easy interception on a play he tried to force to Antonio Brown who had a career day, catching 17 receptions for 284 yards. The offensive line was effective in the red zone and pass protection, giving the needed push up front to help Williams find holes and score two rushing touchdowns. They were guilty of a few procedural penalties, something head coach Mike Tomlin emphasized as needing to be corrected earlier in the week, but kept Khalil Mack from having a big game for the Raiders. When Roethlisberger was forced out of the game due to a left foot injury (the leg that he has been wearing a brace on), Jones entered and did enough to keep the offense moving down the field to set up the winning field goal.
Steelers defense grade: B
Although they were able to hold Oakland to just 139 yards rushing, it was the passing game that hurt the Steelers defense the most. Derek Carr was about to find targets in the open field that were unguarded twice for easy touchdowns. Credit goes to Ryan Shazier for a hit on Latavius Murray that resulted in a fumble that allowed Mike Mitchell to recover it. Unfortunately, Mitchell had stepped out of bounds, but it forced the Raiders to punt. Ross Cockrell also grabbed an interception. The defense only allowed the Raiders to convert six of 14 third downs, forcing Oakland to punt seven times. A partial block of a punt gave the Steelers offense good field position and negated a roughing the kicker penalty.
Steelers special teams grade: B
The expectation upon signing Jacoby Jones was that he would boost the special teams play. He dropped the opening kickoff and recovered it for a small gain. He was unable to gain significant yardage and that was due, in large part, to a lack of blocking up front and poor visualization of the open field. While Jordan Berry had a decent game, place kicker Chris Boswell watched a 41-yard field goal attempt swing wide left and sent a kickoff out of bounds to give Oakland a possession at their 40-yard line. He redeemed himself by making the game-winning field goal.
Coaching grade: B
Tomlin and company appeared to have come up with an effective game plan on offense and defense for dealing with the Raiders. The Steelers successfully went for a two-point conversion after a touchdown and pulled the trigger on a fourth-and-short to convert and keep the drive alive. They opted to play for the win, as Tomlin put it, instead of playing not to lose. Defensive backs coach Joey Porter looked disappointed by blown assignments in the backfield that led to Raiders touchdowns, but was able to get his squad back on track to create two turnovers (only one was given to the Steelers). Keith Butler dialed up several different blitz packages that kept Carr from being able to target a single receiver, forcing him to move around and work to complete passes. There is still room for improvement.
The Steelers will stay in Pittsburgh next week as they play host to the 2-7 Cleveland Browns. Pittsburgh will prepare for Cleveland without Roethlisberger, who is slated to miss "a couple of weeks."
Christina Rivers has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers and National Football League professionally as a journalist and photographer for over a decade. Rivers studied Exercise Physiology and Sports Psychology at Brigham Young University as a student-athlete. Christina is a freelance writer covering all things NFL as well as a published author. Her work can be found on
Examiner.com.
