We entered Thursday night’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans expecting a vintage snoozefest. Instead, we got a low-key quality game between two solid AFC playoff contenders, ending in a 20-16 win for the Steelers. Sometimes, the NFL can pleasantly surprise us, dearest readers.
With the second half of the NFL season now officially underway, there’s a lot to unpack from this heated battle in Pittsburgh. Unsurprisingly, it might have a lot of ramifications — particularly of the tiebreaker and No. 7 seed variety — on the AFC postseason race.
Let’s examine the biggest winners and losers from Steelers-Titans on Thursday evening.
Winner: Will Levis, while shining against a tough Pittsburgh defense
Levis’s numbers (22-of-39, 262 yards, one game-ending interception) from Thursday night don’t completely pop off the page. However, they’re not indicative of the impressive poise he showed against the Steelers’ vicious defense while playing on a short week on the road in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers entered Thursday with the NFL’s No. 9 defense in DVOA efficiency. They had forced 15 takeaways in just seven games, with only the Jacksonville Jaguars (18) having more. Oh, and T.J. Watt was doing typical T.J. Watt things. On paper, this was an objectively horrific matchup for a rookie quarterback making just his second career start. None of that mattered. A gutsy Levis made tough throw after tough throw, and it deserves recognition, even in defeat.
Will Levis senses pressure and makes an off-platform throw to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine for a first down!#TENvsPIT on Prime Video
Also available on #NFLPlus https://t.co/SEBKoOkzMq pic.twitter.com/cN1oW4GuaH— NFL (@NFL) November 3, 2023
That’s what we call a coming-out party in front of a national audience, folks.
Loser: Matt Canada, by failing to spark his still-broken offense
It almost always comes to a point of predictable desperation for sputtering offenses. Heading into Thursday evening, Canada wanted to help ignite the Steelers’ offense by calling plays from the sideline for the first time in his career. The idea was that he’d be closer to the action and be able to understand the game flow better before calling his plays (i.e. spamming needless curl and hitch routes over and over). Weirdly, Amazon probably didn’t help on the live broadcast.
And predictably, Canada’s strategy amounted to little difference. As has usually been the case for the Steelers offense, they came alive very late and gutted out a fourth-quarter victory.
Pittsburgh accumulated just 20 points and 326 total yards. This happened against just the NFL’s 24th-ranked defense with not much reliable secondary or linebacker talent. A trademark Kenny Pickett performance (a middling 5.3 yards per pass attempt) where he essentially sleepwalked for three quarters before coming alive at the end didn’t help matters. Canada’s offense will undoubtedly have to be better moving forward if Pittsburgh is to contend in a stacked AFC. I’m not sure that’s going to happen.
Loser: Anyone looking for logical consistency on roughing the passer penalties
In recent years, roughing the passer penalties have become more controversial as the NFL has made the basic call more rigid and favorable toward the offense. We saw not one but two examples of this on Thursday night.
First, the Steelers’ T.J. Watt was penalized for a routine form tackle on Levis because he used his body weight. (Which still doesn’t make sense.) Then, Titans’ defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons “followed through” while hitting Kenny Pickett and was also called for roughing. While I understand that these rule qualifications are for player safety, I’m genuinely unsure how grown men can break the laws of physics when making regular hits:
The latest roughing the passer penalty is against the Titans after taking down Steelers QB Kenny Pickett.
Jeffery Simmons could not believe the call. 🏈🦓👮♂️ https://t.co/boBjNO4X4M pic.twitter.com/fYK0HeK8Az
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) November 3, 2023
As much as it sucks to watch these kinds of penalties sometimes derail games, I fear this is just something we’re going to have to live with as football fans.
