The Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers might be heading in opposite instructions entering into Week 4. The Steelers appeared drab in losing to a Cincinnati Bengals group that’s long been the AFC North punching bag.
The Packers resembled simply the opposite, returning to knock off the San Francisco 49ers with a walk-off basket. Pittsburgh will hope to transform things around this Sunday in the inhospitable environs of Green Bay’s Lambeau Field. It will be an uphill struggle.
” Forever Pittsburgh’s had a team and talent bordering them where you constantly felt that they were champion quality and had the chance to make it to a Super Bowl,” according to NFL On CBS lead reporter Tracy Wolfson. “And it just appeared to fall short yearly. And also this year, particularly, you’re seeing perhaps, as they’re aging, their pieces aren’t suitable with each other. And also it’s not looking good. Then you look at the other side of it. Aaron Rogers goes to the top of his video game … When you have a new young coach, you have some young pieces bordering him, and also it’s a group entering a various direction.”
The Steelers are attacked on both sides of the sphere, and also it revealed against the Bengals. They struggled to control the line of scrimmage, surrendering (or repaying) huge plays on infraction, and stopping working to cause several on defense. Each of the 5 offending electrician was penalized at least when. Najee Harris rushed for just 40 backyards on 14 carries, for an average of 2.9 lawns per lug. Those numbers look substantially even worse when thinking about that half of the yardage began one play.
The makeshift offending line stood up enough in the death game to permit Ben Roethlisberger to toss for 318 yards, though he went 38-58 with a passer score of 70.9. As well as he paid the rate. Large Ben was sacked four times as well as hit five even more. Harris was his leading receiver, with 14 receptions out of the backfield, adhered to by Chase Claypool with nine. Juju Smith-Schuster left the video game early with a rib injury, as well as Diontae Johnson really did not play. Both are questionable this week.
Can the Steelers offending line bog down a Packers pass thrill that stayed in the 49ers backfield? The system was missing out on linebacker Za’Darius Smith however still managed to sack Jimmy Garoppolo 4 times in Week 3 and struck him 11 more. Garoppolo went 25-40 for 257 lawns and 2 goals. The Packers shut down the 49ers running game, however, permitting just 67 yards on the group’s 21 lugs.
This Packers group still belongs to Aaron Rodgers, of course. As well as he showed it once again in Week 3, making use of 2 long passes to Davante Adams in the final min to offer kicker Mason Crosby a possibility to kick for the win. Crosby transformed his 54-yard effort.
” You need to be able to shut those video games out and have the confidence to do it,” Wolfson emphasized. “Aaron Rodgers has it. LaFleur has it. Davante Adams has it. As well as with this team, it’s so evident if you provide him 37 secs, he’s going to have the ability to march down there, and allow them to kick the basket.”
On the game, Rodgers completed 23 passes for 253 lawns, two TDs as well as a passer score of 113.3. He found Adams a total amount of 12 times for 132 yards. Aaron Jones balanced an effective 4.3 backyards per carry on his 19 carries.
If the Steelers have any kind of chance at staying with the Packers this Sunday, their defense will need to tip up. The vaunted Pittsburgh pass rush fell short to sack or hit Joe Burrow even once last week. And also the Bengals offensive line is amongst the worst in the organization. The return of Watt and Highsmith would certainly assist the Steelers produce even more stress, though both were limited in method as of Wednesday.
” They’re going to have to find a means [to press Aaron Rodgers], since Aaron Rodgers likes to get the round out. He can relocate. He’s going to locate Davante Adams down the field,” stated Wolfson. “I think the secret for them is actually focusing on– and I’m gon na make use of a term that Brandon Staley utilized in the Chargers game– put a roof on it. Let’s just bury everybody, and also let’s eliminate that long deep death video game as well as not permit explosive plays … Take away the deep pass. You’re not going to always obtain that stress. With any luck they will certainly have possibly Alex back, possibly T.J. Watt. I do think they have to take the dynamite plays away as well as force Green Bay to defeat them an additional way.”