Photo: steelers.com
Steel City Underground presents our 2024 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers would finally play their home opener in Week 3 of the NFL season, as they hosted a new and improved Los Angeles Chargers team who came to town boasting an identical 2-0 record.
The Steelers were off to a slow, but strong start, winning their first two games, both on the road, against the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos with backup QB Justin Fields leading the way. Fields would once again substitute as the starting quarterback with Russell Wilson sidelined against LA: incidentally, this would be Fields’ best game of the season.
Justin Fields got off to a slow start against a Chargers defense that is a tough nut to crack. They played hard-nosed football in nearly every aspect, something the Steelers defense embodied as well. LA would go up 7-0 early on a Justin Herbert to Quentin Johnston connection of 27 yards. After also punting twice to start the game, the Steelers would answer with a scoring drive of their own, 13 plays for 70 yards, capped off by a Fields five-yard touchdown run to knot the score at seven-all.
Fields would register one of his best games in his fourth season as a pro quarterback, totaling 245 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception: good for a 96.0 quarterback rating. Also, Fields only has six career games with more yards passing. Fields’ lone interception was a result of a ball bouncing among several players at the line of scrimmage, before being scooped out of the air by former Steeler Bud Dupree.
Regardless, Fields had a day. His 78.1% completion rate on 32 pass attempts: his third-best percentage in his career for games with at least 25 attempts.
The Chargers would lead going into halftime, 10-7, but the Steelers would eventually tie and then take over the game, following an exit by the injured Herbert. The Steelers defense, already strong throughout, smelled blood all afternoon, despite the team facing their own setbacks.
Van Jefferson suffered an eye injury which gave Calvin Austin and fellow receiver Scotty Miller more opportunities to make plays. Both had some big catches. Miller finished with two for 31; his longest went for 20 yards. Austin finished with four for 95 with his longest being the 55-yard catch and run for a touchdown.
Alex Highsmith was forced out of the game due to a groin injury, which led to Nick Herbig stepping in, and stepping up to the tune of two sacks. The second-year outside linebacker from Wisconsin has had few opportunities to showcase his talents for the Steelers due to playing behind two high-caliber pass rushers on the same team: perennial league defensive MVP T.J. Watt and Highsmith. Herbig would register not one, but two sacks in the Steelers victory, including a strip-sack on Justin Herbert.
Cornerback Cory Trice suffered a hamstring injury but Beanie Bishop entered the game and helped the secondary limit the Chargers to just 107 yards of offense in the receiving game and only 3-of-11 third down conversions (zero fourth down conversions).
In fact, Pittsburgh’s defense didn’t give up any yards to the Chargers offense in the second half of Sunday’s game. LA would net a negative five yards: a milestone that hasn’t been seen in the Steel City in 23 years.
The previous time an NFL team was held to minus-5 or fewer yards in a half was Jan. 9, 2022 when the Buffalo Bills held the New York Jets to minus 16 yards in the second half, per @EliasSports. https://t.co/nufIElRXQo
— Gerry Dulac (@gerrydulac) September 23, 2024
With a fourth quarter 55-yard touchdown sprint by Calvin Austin, the Steelers would go up by ten and grind the clock in a coming out party for Cordarrelle Patterson. The 33-year-old Swiss Army Knife of skill positions would give Najee Harris a breather late in the game, lining up in Pittsburgh’s backfield and bulldozing his way to 33 yards rushing on four carries: an 8.3 average with a 14-yard long.
Patterson ran with reckless abandon, helping the Steelers secure the victory with a near five-minute drive that would eat the remaining time in the fourth quarter.
The final drive would extinguish the clock as the Steelers secured a 20-10 victory to climb to 3-0 to start their season. More impressive is how they did it.
The Steelers had given up a total of 26 points through three games to start the season, relinquishing 10, 6, and 10 points to opponents. They had yet to give up more than 250 yards passing or 100 yards rushing combined against the Falcons, Broncos, or Chargers, as another road trip – this time to Indianapolis – was on deck for Week 4.
Join us here for our next Season Recall column was the series explores the Colts game and takes a look at other storylines surrounding the team following their first month of the 2024 regular season.
