Man, it is so much nicer watching the film on winning football 3 weeks in a row!
Overall - sloppy game, as we all know. Don't know if it was a trap game or if we simply were coming off an emotional low after the 2 weeks on the road. Whatever the case, it was great to see us overcome 5 turnovers and still win the game. The defense is looking more and more legit each week. We'll talk about the specific areas that I want to highlight.
Jimmy G - In my opinion, he played his best or at least second best game of his career. There was only one play where I thought he made a poor decision, and it still was a completion over 10 yards. Pittsburg mixed up man, cover 3 and a fire zone blitz as their primary coverages and did a really good job of hiding when they were in each one. That allowed them to get free runners at Jimmy several times, nearly every time he was able to make them pay, hung in there and did what really good QB's do to opposing teams. I don't put quite as much on the O-line as I would've before watching the film, PITT, like I said, did a really good job of hiding their blitzes and scheming a pass rush, Jimmy was just better than really good. If Kwon Alexander were to describe Jimmy's performance, it'd be one word, "legendary".
Defense - They played really well at all 3 levels and we're starting to see the elevated play and pass rush created by the D-line trickle down to the other positions. Sherm is looking like he did in Seattle when he was a dominant corner. Able to do what he does best and smother anything to his side of the field.
When I watched the game live I thought Moore took a really bad angle on the Smith-Schuster play but after watching it from all-22, he didn't take a bad angle, JuJu just gave him a little half stutter. Just a really good player making a good play.
The pass rush was intense all game and it made Rudolph extremely uncomfortable in the pocket, hurrying his reads and making him throw off target. PITT's LT Villenueva had a rough day. He got bull rushed by 3 different guys. We have enough quality on that line to keep coming at offenses with numerous players. It was awesome to watch.
Offense - While sloppy in many areas, they still drove the ball, almost at will, chewed up a ton of yardage and won the game for us. Lots of good stuff, but, we gotta clean up those turnovers.
Overall, great game. Should have been a blowout. We won in all 3 phases of the game and our coaches out-coached the other side. That's saying something considering Tomlin is one of the best in the game. But, there's no doubt we had a better plan on both sides of the ball.
