By: CJ Lester, @CJLester58
SteelerNation.com
The Pittsburgh Steelers are now 7-0 and the team just keeps rolling. Last Sunday, the Steelers won the battle that came down to the last play against the Baltimore Ravens, 28-24. There was a total of five lead changes last week and fans were able to get the game a lot of us expected, a hard-fought AFC North, 5-star matchup. On the final play of the game, Steelers’ All-Pro free safety, Minkah Fitzpatrick broke up a potentially game winning touchdown pass. This week, the Steelers will go back on the road to take on the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys come into the game with a record of 2-6 and in 3rd place in the weakest division in the NFL, the NFC East. The Cowboys have battled an injury plague this year, but none bigger than franchise QB Dak Prescott. QB's Garrett Gilbert and Cooper Rush have battled it out during practice this week and Cowboys head coach, Mike McCarthy has named Gilbert the starter against the Steelers. Let’s take a look at last week’s 3 things to keep an eye before we dive further into this week’s matchup against the Cowboys.
Last week in review
The three things I noted that we should keep an eye on last week were:
- Contain Lamar Jackson
The Steelers’ defense was tasked with containing last year’s NFL MVP. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson finished with a mediocre stat line against the Steelers defense. He finished going 13 of 28 for 208 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. On the ground, Jackson finished with 16 carries for 65 yards. The aspect of the game that had the biggest impact on the results was the amount of times, Jackson turned the ball over. Not only did the Steelers defense minimize the impact Jackson had on the game, they forced him to turn the ball over 4 times. In addition to the 2 interceptions thrown, Jackson also coughed up 2 fumbles. The Steelers were able to quickly capitalize on half of those turnovers, with one being a pick-6 at the very start of the game. ILB Robert Spillane read Jackson’s eyes perfectly and broke on the pass, intercepted it and returned it for a 33-yard touchdown to score the game’s first touchdown. The Steelers defense also sacked Jackson 4 times and registered a QB hit 10 times during the game. Like every week, the pressure was on! The Steelers defense did give up 65 yards to the QB on the ground, but they did not allow the QB’s running ability to take over the game like many other defenses have this season and last.
- Blitz Pick Up Against the Ravens Defense
We knew going into the game last week that the Ravens defense blitzed on 47% of defensive snaps prior to the matchup. We knew that they were going to try to get to Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger as many times as they could. The Steelers offensive line held up well as the Ravens only got to Roethlisberger twice. The Steelers offense as a whole picked up blitzes pretty well and kept Roethlisberger upright for most of the game. Roethlisberger continued to get the ball out quickly to his playmakers, especially in the second half, when the offense went no huddle in a “backyard yard football” type of offense.
- Jump Out to an Early Lead and Keep the Foot on the Gas
The Steelers jumped out to a very early lead last week. With Spillane picking off Jackson’s first pass and returning it for a touchdown within the game’s first minute, the Steelers jumped out to a 7-0 lead. After that, the Steelers eventually fell behind 17-7 at the end of the first half. The Steelers seemed to put their foot back on the gas during the second half and scored 14 unanswered points to take the lead back. After two more lead changes, the Steelers defense stopped the Ravens from scoring on their last drive and held on to a 28-24 win. The final score wasn’t dominant at all as the game was extremely competitive, but the Steelers showed resiliency and fight in all three phases of the game.
Let’s take a look at 3 things we should watch for in Week 9 against the Cowboys:
- Don’t Play Down to the Competition
It is no secret that the Steelers have a much better record than the Cowboys this season. Fans and analysts tend to look at the record alone and automatically chalk these types of matchups as a win for the team with the better record. The Cowboys have lost many players to injury this year and have been struggling. We all know that anything can happen on any given Sunday in the NFL as the 2019 Steelers proved last season. The Steelers are 14.5-point favorites against the Cowboys and the last thing any of us want to see is the Cowboys keeping this game competitive. The Cowboys defense comes into this week’s matchup ranked 24th in yards allowed per game and give up over 170 yards per game on the ground this season, which is the most in the NFL. The Steelers should look to take advantage of this weakness and run the ball more frequently. We should expect RB James Conner to have a big game on the ground tomorrow. In all honesty, this is probably one of the biggest mismatches in the NFL that we will see all season and it should not be close. This is the week the Steelers need to jump out to an early lead and not let up.
- The Steelers Defense: Be Ready For ANYTHING
As we saw with the Steelers last season, when your franchise QB goes down and then his backup also goes down, offenses have to get creative in order to gain yards. The Steelers defense has to be prepared for all types of gadget plays. The Steelers defense is extremely aggressive, but that will not be the biggest test this week. The biggest test is for the defense to play extremely disciplined football this week. Last week against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cowboys ran a fake outside zone play that turned into a double reverse to WR CeeDee Lamb. Make no mistake about it, even though the Cowboys haven’t played well this season, they have many playmakers on offense. The Steelers defense cannot allow these gadget plays or the many plays from "wildcat" to catch them off guard. Staying disciplined is key in this week’s matchup.
- Next Man Up: Can the Steelers Get Back on Track Against the Run?
Before last week’s matchup, the Steelers defense was ranked first against the run. Last week, the Steelers were gutted for 265 yards rushing between Jackson, RB JK Dobbins, and RB Gus Edwards. DT Tyson Alualu went down in the first quarter of the game and it was a noticeable loss for the Steelers run defense. Alualu has been playing out of his mind this season. After the injury, the Steelers brought in 2nd year defensive lineman, Isaiah Buggs. Buggs struggled in the first half, but picked up his play during the second half. The team will need the second half version of Buggs all game this week, as Alualu has already been ruled out for the contest. The Cowboys are going to get creative, but they also have a Pro Bowl running back that is capable of taking a game over. He may be struggling this season due to injuries up front for Dallas and opposing defense’s stacking the box against him due to poor QB play, but Ezekiel Elliott is more than capable of dominating. However, the Cowboys running back is questionable for tomorrow’s game due to a hamstring injury. If he plays, the Steelers defense will key on stopping him. The defense will need to focus on stopping the different types of run plays they will likely face against the Cowboys, whether Elliott plays or not.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? What should we watch for in Week 9 against the Cowboys? Sound off in the comment section below, or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
