The Steelers’ Dominant Defense
After losing to the Bills for the last two consecutive seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers came into Sunday’s week one contest in Buffalo extra motivated to get the job done. Last year, they lost to the Bills late in the season when they were on a slump and could not get themselves out of it. This year, the Steelers started the game slow losing 10-0 at halftime but rallied back in the second half for a crucial victory.
Much of the Steelers’ success against the Bills comes down to their dominant defensive performance, nearly shutting out the Bills entirely in the second half. The Bills did put up a couple of field goals late in the game, but they weren’t enough on the day as Pittsburgh came away with the 23-16 win.
“I felt fresh all week and I didn’t want to get too confident with how I felt coming into a game atmosphere.” Steelers’ outside linebacker T.J. Watt said following the victory. “Obviously, all the hype and adrenaline comes with it, but the three-man rotation that we have with Alex [Highsmith] and Melvin [Ingram] is something that’s going to be really special. We are a very unselfish group and that’s why I’m looking forward to playing with both of them.”
Watt was one of the stars for Pittsburgh on the day with an impressive stat line reading 3 tackles, 3 solo, 2 sacks, 1 TFL, 5 QB Hits.
“I don’t want to say a dominant performance because obviously there’s still a lot left on the table and I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of film to watch and make corrections, but I’m very happy with where we are, especially in Week One.” Watt added. “I love playing with this group. We fly around. We handle adversity really well.”
The Bills came into the campaign as one of the favorites to reach the Super Bowl after going all the way to the AFC Championship game last season. They averaged 30 points a game last year and terrified opposing defenses with their lethal offense. That certainly wasn’t the case in week one this season though.
“Huge.” Watt said when talking about Cam Sutton’s massive 4th down stop against the Bills in the second half. “I think the play before, I came up and under the tackle and I shouldn’t have. Minkah [Fitzpatrick] came down like a missile from the middle of field and made it fourth-and-one. Just plays like that were happening all day. I’m so excited to get back and watch the film because there were tremendous plays like that all over. Then Cam Sutton made a tremendous play on that fourth-and-one as well to get the ball back to our offense.”
The Steelers are in hot pursuit of their fourth AFC North division crown in the last six years and will look to keep the good times rolling in week two action against the Las Vegas Raiders. Pittsburgh host the Raiders on Sunday afternoon at 1 pm E.T. at Heinz Field.
After losing to the Bills for the last two consecutive seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers came into Sunday’s week one contest in Buffalo extra motivated to get the job done. Last year, they lost to the Bills late in the season when they were on a slump and could not get themselves out of it. This year, the Steelers started the game slow losing 10-0 at halftime but rallied back in the second half for a crucial victory.
Much of the Steelers’ success against the Bills comes down to their dominant defensive performance, nearly shutting out the Bills entirely in the second half. The Bills did put up a couple of field goals late in the game, but they weren’t enough on the day as Pittsburgh came away with the 23-16 win.
“I felt fresh all week and I didn’t want to get too confident with how I felt coming into a game atmosphere.” Steelers’ outside linebacker T.J. Watt said following the victory. “Obviously, all the hype and adrenaline comes with it, but the three-man rotation that we have with Alex [Highsmith] and Melvin [Ingram] is something that’s going to be really special. We are a very unselfish group and that’s why I’m looking forward to playing with both of them.”
Watt was one of the stars for Pittsburgh on the day with an impressive stat line reading 3 tackles, 3 solo, 2 sacks, 1 TFL, 5 QB Hits.
“I don’t want to say a dominant performance because obviously there’s still a lot left on the table and I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of film to watch and make corrections, but I’m very happy with where we are, especially in Week One.” Watt added. “I love playing with this group. We fly around. We handle adversity really well.”
The Bills came into the campaign as one of the favorites to reach the Super Bowl after going all the way to the AFC Championship game last season. They averaged 30 points a game last year and terrified opposing defenses with their lethal offense. That certainly wasn’t the case in week one this season though.
“Huge.” Watt said when talking about Cam Sutton’s massive 4th down stop against the Bills in the second half. “I think the play before, I came up and under the tackle and I shouldn’t have. Minkah [Fitzpatrick] came down like a missile from the middle of field and made it fourth-and-one. Just plays like that were happening all day. I’m so excited to get back and watch the film because there were tremendous plays like that all over. Then Cam Sutton made a tremendous play on that fourth-and-one as well to get the ball back to our offense.”
The Steelers are in hot pursuit of their fourth AFC North division crown in the last six years and will look to keep the good times rolling in week two action against the Las Vegas Raiders. Pittsburgh host the Raiders on Sunday afternoon at 1 pm E.T. at Heinz Field.
