Fresh off a win on Monday Night Football, the Steelers will have a quick turnaround as they travel south to face Atlanta Sunday at 1 p.m.
With six games left on the schedule, four of the opponents Pittsburgh (4-7) will face currently have losing records, including the Falcons (5-7).
The Steelers came out firing on all cylinders Monday at Indianapolis, jumping out to a 16-3 halftime lead before reverting to a stick-in-the-mud look in the third quarter, but rallying and hanging on late for an important road win.
One thing Pittsburgh hasn’t been able to do in 2022 is string together a pair of wins, and Sunday would be a perfect time to start the season’s first winning streak.
“Better be a good time to start stacking wins,” said Pittsburgh tight end Pat Freiermuth. “We’re in a good position right now to stack them and we’ve got to continue that.”
Atlanta has been an up-and-down squad so far, knocking off the likes of Seattle and San Francisco but coming up short against teams like the Bears, Panthers, Saints and Rams.
Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin, who improved to 19-3 all-time in Monday night games with the win over Indy, touched on the challenge of defending a quarterback like Atlanta’s Marcus Mariota, who is just as capable of making a big play with his legs as he is with his arm.
“Mariota’s mobility is a challenge,” the coach pointed out. “Their schematic use of his mobility is a challenge. I think it starts there. I think any time you’re looking at a quarterback with a unique skillset in the area of mobility, and they have schematics to match, that has your attention.
“Those are the type of things that level the playing field, that create space, that produce splash plays or big plays, and we just can’t have that.”
Mariota has thrown for 2,052 yards and 14 touchdowns (8 interceptions), while also rushing 82 times for 421 yards and 4 scores.
Veteran Cordarrelle Patterson is a unique weapon out of the backfield (97 carries for 506 yards and 5 scores in just 8 games), but is also the league’s all-time leader in kick-return touchdowns.
After giving up 225 yards on 5 Indianapolis returns Monday — including an 89-yarder by Dallis Flowers and a 45-yarder by Isaiah Rodgers — Tomlin knows that his team must get down the field in a hurry and limit Patterson’s dangerous home-run capabilities on kick coverage.
“I’ll talk about Patterson and what a dynamic return man he is,” said Tomlin. “The field-position component of play, his resume, what he has been, man, needs no endorsement from me. It’s just been nothing short of special.”
Rookie running back Tyler Allgeier — who Virginia fans may remember after he rushed for 266 yards and 5 touchdowns against the Cavaliers in a 66-49 BYU win last season — leads the Falcons in carries (121) and rushing yards (552). Caleb Huntley is another first-year back out of Ball State that has been a productive component of the Falcons’ ground attack (71 carries for 347 yards
UVA’s all-time receptions leader, Olamide Zaccheaus, is Atlanta’s top receiver on the season (30 catches for 465 yards and a pair of touchdowns), despite seeing 30 fewer targets (39) than star rookie Drake London (69), the eighth pick in the draft out of USC, who has had mixed results in his initial NFL campaign, but is capable of busting loose at any moment. London has hauled in 41 receptions for 438 yards and 4 touchdowns.
After topping the 1,000-yard plateau last season as a rookie, Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts hasn’t quite enjoyed the same success this year (28 catches for 356 yards in 10 games), but he’s still a guy to keep an eye on.
As for the Steelers, Najee Harris has been much more productive and consistent over the past few weeks, but suffered an abdominal injury at the end of the first half against the Colts and didn’t play after halftime.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the injury is not considered serious and his availability for Sunday is unknown. Harris averaged 45.1 yards per game and scored just 1 rushing touchdown across the first eight weeks, but has gone for 224 yards and 3 scores in his last three.
In Harris’ stead Monday, along with the absence of backup rookie Jaylen Warren (hamstring), Benny Snell Jr. and Anthony McFarland Jr. combined for 92 yards and a touchdown on the night, as each saw their first carries of the season.
“I thought they stayed within their skillset,” Tomlin said of the duo. “Benny is a deliberate one-cut downhill runner, ‘AntMac’ is bursty and explosive and good in space. I just thought they leaned on their strengths.”
Snell (12 carries, 62 yards and a TD) has played in every game this season, but had been limited to special-teams work, while McFarland (8 touches for 41 yards) was called up from the practice squad to fill in for Warren. Tomlin loves what each guy brings to the table.
“This is football at its highest level,” he said. “I think all guys know and understand that, and that’s why they walk in the building with the spirit that they do every day. You’ve got to earn it daily. Those guys continue to walk in with that spirit, regardless of what the division of labor might be, because they need to be ready for their next opportunity.”
Depending on Harris’ and Warren’s availability, the two could be asked to carry the load on Sunday.
Rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett had arguably his best game as a pro on Monday, completing 20 of his 28 attempts (71 percent) for 174 yards, and posting season-highs in both passer rating (87.5) and QB rating (62.7). He didn’t throw a touchdown pass, but also didn’t throw an interception for the third week in a row.
Although there won’t be as much time to prepare, Tomlin knows how important it would be to come out of the ATL with a W.
“It’s business,” Tomlin said of the short week. “We’re not paid by the hour. We embrace that. We’re competitors — this is a competitor’s week.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Steelers are a 1-point road favorite (42 over-under), according to Caesars Sportsbook.
Injury Report
Harris’ availability will obviously be the biggest storyline of the week, and Tomlin admitted Tuesday that he didn’t have enough information to give a prediction on whether he’ll be able to give it a go.
“As always, his participation in practice, and the quality of that participation, will be our guide in terms of developing a role for him and what that might look like,” Tomlin said.
Also mentioned by the coach Tuesday were S Minkah Fitzpatrick, LBs T.J. Watt and Myles Jack, and DT Larry Ogunjobi, but none of those issues sound too concerning.
“We don’t anticipate any of these guys missing time,” said Tomlin, “but these guys — along with others because we’re working on a short week — may be limited, particularly in the early portions of the week.”
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