Pittsburgh clinched its first winning streak of the season on a Minkah Fitzpatrick interception in the closing seconds Sunday, hanging on for a 19-16 win at Atlanta.
The Steelers (5-7) controlled possession and jumped out to a 19-6 advantage midway through the third quarter before the Falcons’ ground game came to life, as Atlanta chipped away and got within three on a Younghoe Koo 28-yard field goal with 5:27 to play.
Pittsburgh drained the clock, and Pressley Harvin’s backspin punt pinned the Falcons (5-8) deep at their own 2-yard line with just 42 seconds remaining. On the ensuing snap, Atlanta quarterback Marcus Mariota fired a pass from his own end zone looking for star rookie Drake London, who posted a game-high 95 yards on 6 receptions, but Fitzpatrick made a perfect read on it and stepped in front, running out of bounds inside the 5-yard line to avoid the chance of a turnover to seal the W.
“It’s just good to get contributions from all three phases in the waning moments to secure victory,” said Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin. “We had to possess the ball some there, obviously you’d like to possess it all the way out. We didn’t. We had a high-quality special-teams play with that punt, and then the defensive play to finish it. And so some good signs.”
Kenny Pickett didn’t put up huge numbers (16-for-28 for 197 yards and a touchdown), but also didn’t throw an interception for the fourth week in a row. In addition, Pickett avoided being sacked for the first time in his eight starts.
“He’s growing, and that’s a reasonable expectation,” Tomlin said of his rookie signal caller. “He’s a smart guy. He’s got talent. He works at it. He’s gaining experience with each and every play and each and every day. So I think it’s a reasonable discussion to acknowledge that he’s going to get better at fundamental things, taking care of the ball, managing us, communicating, having an opinion or suggestion. He’s just growing in all areas.”
The Steelers had another productive game in the rushing department, playing at full strength with starter Najee Harris (abdomen) healthy and primary backup Jaylen Warren (hamstring) returning from injury. Combined, Pittsburgh rushed for 154 yards on the day, with Harris leading the way with 86 yards on 17 carries.
Matthew Wright, still filling in for injured kicker Chris Boswell, drilled four field goals (46, 46, 48, 33) on the day, while rookie tight end Connor Heyward hauled in the Steelers’ lone touchdown — the first of his career — on a 17-yard strike over the middle that gave his team a 10-point lead midway through the second quarter.
Pat Freiermuth, who led Pittsburgh on the afternoon with 76 receiving yards on just three catches, got 57 of those on the play that helped set up the score, as he made a grab on third-and-4, broke a tackle, kept his footing and stiff-armed his way down the sideline, dragging would-be tacklers with him to Atlanta’s 12-yard line.
“I’ve got some pretty big legs, I guess. I don’t know,” Freiermuth humbly admitted with a laugh when asked how he kept his balance on the play.
After rushing for just 28 yards in the first half, the Falcons finally got things rolling, picking up 68 yards on seven-straight run plays before Mariota capped the scoring drive with a 7-yard TD toss to tight end MyCole Pruitt to trim the Pittsburgh lead to 19-13 with 43 seconds left in the third quarter.
Following a quick Steelers three-and-out to start the fourth, Atlanta again worked the run game behind BYU rookie Tyler Allgeier and veteran Cordarrelle Patterson, advancing to the Pittsburgh 10-yard line, down by six as the clock went under seven minutes.
Patterson appeared to knot the score with a 10-yard touchdown run, but the Falcons were called for holding, bringing the ball back to the 20. Atlanta committed a false start a few plays later and had to settle for the Koo field goal and rely on its defense.
The Falcons ultimately held, but could’ve managed the clock better. Snapping with 2:39 to play on a first-and-10 from midfield, Pittsburgh was stopped for a short gain, but Atlanta head coach Arthur Smith elected to not use one of his three remaining timeouts.
As a result, the Steelers took it down to the two-minute warning, then picked up a crucial first down on a pass to Diontae Johnson on the next play, and were able to get three more plays off and milk more clock, leaving Atlanta in desperation mode with no way to stop the clock in the final minute, and Pittsburgh survived on Fitzpatrick’s third pick of the season.
“It feels great,” Pickett said of the first consecutive-wins experience of his NFL career. “You see all the hard work that everybody puts in being in the building all week, and to go out here and get back-to-back wins and feel the momentum a little bit, it feels great.”
The Steelers will try to make it three-consecutive wins next Sunday at 1 p.m. back home at Acrisure Stadium for the first of two important meetings against first-place Baltimore (8-4).
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