5 Steelers surprises in Sunday’s win against the Ravens
Each week our SCU staff and contributors picks the “surprises” from the Pittsburgh Steelers latest matchup. Check out more below to see which plays and situations surprised us the most!
On Sunday the Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the Baltimore Ravens for their Week 4 matchup at Acrisure Stadium.
The Steelers improved to a 3-2 record with a 17-10 victory. Here are some of the surprises from that game.
Victory!
Who would’ve thunk it? One week after laying an egg in Houston the Steelers improved to 2-0 in the AFC North with the most unlikely of wins.
To get to 17 points the Steelers converted three field goals, a safety and a touchdown, but missed a two-point try.
They did it mostly through defense, forcing Baltimore to turn the ball over six times (twice on downs and fumbles, and once each via safety and an interception).
The Linebackers
The Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers, both the inside and outside units, were fierce on Sunday.
Typically all of our love is shown for T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith – and rightfully so, as Watt had two sacks while recovering a fumble forced from Highsmith.
The inside linebackers had a game for the ages as well, with Kwon Alexander having his best showing in a Steelers uniform. Alexander would add a sack and three tackles for loss. Cole Holcomb also registered a hit on the quarterback, tackle for loss and a pass deflection. He led all defenders with eight solo tackles.
Joey Porter Jr.
The Steelers rookie cornerback saw a career-high 28 snaps on defense and made the most of them as Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded cornerback of the entire weekend.
The highest-graded CB in Week 5:
Steelers rookie Joey Porter Jr – 91.3 👀 pic.twitter.com/GjqyD0T2YG
— PFF (@PFF) October 9, 2023
Porter would also factor into the turnover column, picking off Lamar Jackson during a key third down redzone play.
Blocked Punt
Miles Killebrew specializes in one thing: blocking punts.
The safety by name but special teams captain by trade made a huge impact by blocking a Ravens punt in the fourth quarter, which ended up with the football barely getting out-of-bounds as TE Rodney Williams tried to recover it for a touchdown. Instead the Steelers would settle for two points, but the momentum certainly shifted in the game at this point.
The next Steelers series would see the team inch to within two points.
Gunner’s Fumble
Though the momentum had shifted in Pittsburgh’s favor, it nearly went back to Baltimore in its entirety, as the Ravens forced punt returner Gunner Olszewski to fumble. The ball was recovered by the Ravens on the Steelers seven-yard line, setting up the series that led to Joey Porter Jr. bailing out Gunner and his mistake.
This isn’t the first time that Olszewski had made a huge error in a game, having fumbled a ball on a return against the New England Patriots that led to their game-winner in Week 2 of the 2022 season.
It’s uncertain as to why Olszewski was returning punts in this game – especially with Calvin Austin and Desmond King available. Hopefully the special teams coach Danny Smith and the Steelers staff has seen enough and decides to move on Gunner’s ball security issues, which luckily didn’t cost them a chance of winning on Sunday.
