PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Here are some notes from the loss to the 49ers.
Injuries
Hosting the Browns next Monday night, the Steelers injury list started early and grew as the game continued.
· Cam Heyward-Steelers defensive captain suffered a groin injury early in the second quarter. He tried to come back after it initially happened, went a play and was sidelined for the rest of the game.
· DeMarvin Leal-mostly played threw a triceps or arm injury. It was also described as an elbow injury
· Pat Freiermuth-hit hard late in the first half, would come back two plays later to catch the only touchdown, but eventually left with a chest injury.
· Chukwuma Okorafor-Steelers right tackle suffered a head injury late in the game and ‘probably’ went into concussion protocol with little other information right after.
· Diontae Johnson left the game in the second half with a hamstring injury, it’s not known the severity of it.
Steelers have much better depth than recent years, it could be tested next week. Defensive tackle Isaiahh Loudermilk played a lot of snaps, but only an assisted tackle and a pair of passes defended. Nine different Steelers caught passes, none by back-up tight end Darnell Washington. Dan Moore switched over to right tackle to end the game with first-round pick Broderick Jones on the left side. Could see that in a starting capacity next week.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in the game,” said TJ Watt. “The standard is the standard like we talk about all the time, and today it definitely wasn’t enough.”
Weighty downs
Mike Tomlin talked a few times about not winning the weighty downs during his postgame comments. San Francisco was 6-13 on third down and didn’t punt for the first time until late in the second quarter. Niners were also 1-1 on third down.
“Just lack of play-making,” Watt said. “I think that’s what it boils down to. I think I will have to watch the film and see where we can improve.”
Notable stats
· Niners averaged 6.3 yards per pass play to 3.9 for the Steelers. Gone were the chunk plays.
“I don’t think they were letting us get behind them at all really,” said QB Kenny Pickett. “They were making us kind of throw it underneath.”
· Rushing yards-188-41 San Francisco, Steelers attempted 10 running plays
· Time of possession—SF 37:23, Steelers 22:37
“It became a time of possession component of it,” Tomlin said.
“The defense that’s on the grass is going to die on the vine in early September.”
· Teams combined for 17 penalties (11 on SF for 85 yards)
· Niners lead the all-time series 13-10 (7-5 lead in Pittsburgh)
· Steelers now 16-8 in home openers at Acrisure Stadium
Number 1 share
TJ Watt tied James Harrison’s franchise record of 80.5 sacks finishing with three on Sunday along with a tackle for loss, five quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles and a pass defended.
“I mean, really, I don’t want to diminish what it is, but I’m just super upset about the result of today,” Watt said. “Not happy with it, not acceptable on many levels, and there’s so many more plays to be made out there, myself included.”
Quotable
“We have to be a lot better in so many ways,” said linebacker Alex Highsmith. “They are a great team and they came in and played like it and we didn’t. We will see how we respond this week.”
“I think San Fran’s starting defense is a little bit better than some teams in the preseason we played,” Pickett said. “They’re a good team, but at the end of the day, we didn’t secure anywhere near at the level that we need to or want to. Have to get a lot better.”
Inactives
• Mason Rudolph (dressed as emergency QB under new NFL rule)
• Desmond King-DB
• Dylan Cook-OT
• Gunner Olszewski-WR
• Armon Watts-DT
Up Next
Steelers host the 1-0 Browns on Monday Night Football on September 18.
