PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was a feeling around the offense on Saturday that carried over into the game Sunday as the Steelers offense woke up after just one touchdown in the first two games, scored 30 points in a win over Cincinnati.
It was something in the message from head coach Mike McCarthy.
“It was to get us to believe in each other, to trust each other, cut it loose, believe,” said receiver Ben Skowronek, who caught a touchdown. “We got to have belief to win. You got to have belief in yourself to play well. That’s a big thing. Your mind is just as big as important body. You got to be confident. You got to have that belief.”
“It was necessary,” said receiver Roman Wilson, who caught a touchdown. “As an offense we had our ups-and-down, but this was a big week for us. I could just feel the energy (Saturday).”
“It sucks that you have to have something like this happen after a loss, sometimes you have to get punched in the face in order to learn,” said Steelers tackle Troy Fautanu. “The message was winning this game.”
Aaron Rodgers said McCarthy always says to try and cut it loose, it’s just they had been so bad on third down and Sunday, it changed, especially with the run game going and Jaylen Warren rushing for 127 yards.
“If you can't run the ball efficiently, there's no point in people respecting that, but I thought we ran the ball really well early, which was important, and we were good on third down,” Rodgers said. “I thought we had a good plan on the third down, as good a plan as we've had all season, and then we executed.”
McCarthy credited a couple of things after the game.
- Self scout, even in game planning
- Pairing down the plays and schemes
- 3rd down-it was an emphasis & started on the 1st series
- Offensive line-‘started up front today’
- Big plays-Steelers were able to hit a couple of explosives and had the biggest one called back on a questionable holding penalty
- Complementary football-all contributed-offense, defense, special teams
“We had a nice game today,” Rodgers said. “We put up over 400 yards and 30 points, and it could have been a lot more. But every week is a different week, different challenge, different opponent, different defense. We got to be critical of some things. There's a lot of things to clean up, but I thought it was a tighter week for us mentally as far as execution-wise.”
“It felt good to come out there and put a performance like that. It shows what we can do as an offense as a group.”
Explosive plays key Steelers win over Cincinnati
“We definitely needed it,” Skowronek said. “It was uncharacteristic of us, throughout camp we felt really confident in what we were doing, moving the ball. The first few weeks, we weren’t us. Credit to the coaching staff, guys in the building, we locked in this week.”
“We knew we had to have it. We knew we could do it. We’ve been doing it since Latrobe. I’m proud of the group the way we played after the first two weeks.”
Final stats
- Rodgers 19 of 34 for 292 yards, 3 TD, interception
- Warren 17 carries for 127 yards, 7.5 average
- Washington 3 catches for 67 yards
- Wilson 3 catches for 60 yards, TD
- Warren 3 catches for 49 yards
- DK Metcalf 3 catches for 31 yards, TD
Offensive reaction to 30-27 win over Cincinnati
Offensive reaction to 30-27 win over Cincinnati
