Black & Blue: Steelers Week 1 Recap

Welp….not how any of us would have envisioned the first game going. Obviously, Pittsburgh was an underdog for a reason…the San Francisco 49ers are one of the best teams in the NFL but still….this was a whooping from the first whistle. After such a great pre-season and a lot of good additions added to the roster, the Steelers were ready to take a big step forward this season.

 

Well, the 49ers reminded us that we have a long way to go. There’s a reason that the 49ers were in the NFC championship last year! If not for every QB on the team going down with injury in that game, they might have been in the Super Bowl last season. So, the 49ers came out ready to prove themselves! Last year wasn’t a fluke. They played like a team who was offended that they were only a 2.5 point game favorite.

 

The closer the game got this week the more and more NFL analyst started picking Pittsburgh to win in an upset this week. Even more bulletin board material for San Francisco. I always try to keep my biased out of games when I’m picking a winner and a loser but, even I thought that Pittsburgh would win the game. The 49ers QB Brock Purdy was coming off an injury and didn’t play much in the pre-season. So there was some questions about whether he was ready or did he come back too soon.

 

Well, Brock answered those questions quickly. He’s obviously back to being 100 percent and he seems like he’s even better than he was last year! That was one of the storylines headed into this game! Which year two QB would play better? Kenny Pickett or Brock Purdy. Which QB would take the leap and
get their team off to a winning start?

 

The stats will obviously speak for themselves, let’s take a look at both QB’s numbers for game one.

Kenny Pickett:
31/46: completions /attempts
232 yards
1 touchdown, 2 interceptions
Brock Purdy:
19/29: completions/attempts
220 yards
2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions

Both QBs played decently well but it was Kenny who had the two turnovers. He also missed some wide open throws but that’s because he was under pressure the entire game. He got sacked 5 times in total. Brock also got sacked 3 times himself and even lost a fumble by TJ watt who was honestly the only bright spot for this Steelers in week one. TJ tied James Harrison with a franchise record 80.5
sacks.

Speaking of defensive players, Nick Bosa from the 49ers got a brand new contract making him the highest paid defensive player in the entire league. He earned some of that money today with his play. It was no surprise that the 49ers defense is great but it was a surprise that the Steelers defense didn’t show up. They allowed the San Francisco 49ers offense to score 30 points. Meanwhile the Steelers offense only managed 7 points.So, while many of us might have expected a week one loss to the 49ers, I don’t think many of us expected the blowout loss. This one definitely hurt. It feels like we took one step forward in the pre- season and now two steps back in the regular season. But, as the old quote goes, “You can’t win a season in one game, and you can’t lose a season in one game either”

Will this be the beginning of a frustrating season or a promising one? I personally would like to think today was more about how good the San Francisco 49ers are and not about how bad the Steelers are. We see good teams lose in the first game of the season every year. Even the defending Super Bowl champions lost their first game. We might have came out of this game a little black and blue but, we
are still in the fight.

 

Week one final score: 49ers 30 / Steelers 7
Steelers record: 0-1
Next weeks game - (1-0) Cleveland browns at (0-1) Pittsburgh
Steelers for Monday night football