Pittsburg, PA
Can the Steelers bring home a Week 1 win? Pittsburgh’s three keys vs. Atlanta Falcons
![Can the Steelers bring home a Week 1 win? Pittsburgh’s three keys vs. Atlanta Falcons Can the Steelers bring home a Week 1 win? Pittsburgh’s three keys vs. Atlanta Falcons](https://www.pennlive.com/resizer/v2/UMUEPDXESFDQHAMVVUXQ2X5NCU.jpg?auth=fd031557f7c691fddaea95b4937907d8e2d91b79d91ffa4655a7625897e49b51&width=1280&quality=90)
The Pittsburgh Steelers will head to Atlanta on Sunday in hopes of claiming their first win of the season. The matchup is primed to be tough, with the Falcons looking like a much-improved team overall.
However, the Steelers still have some advantages they could exploit against the Falcons, who did not play their starters in the preseason. Here are the Steelers’ three keys to beating the Falcons:
1. Keep Grady Jarrett and Matt Judon in check
While the Falcons have a wonderful secondary with Jessie Bates, Justin Simmons, and A.J. Terrell, the Steelers will lose this one from the jump if they can not stop Grady Jarrett and Matt Judon from taking over the game up front. If you want, feel free to throw David Onyemata in here, too. The Steelers will have to keep Russell Wilson or Justin Fields upright to win this game. They need to give their wide receiver and run game a chance. Spencer Anderson is starting at left guard with rookie Zach Frazier at center. That matchup feels like one where Jarrett should dominate, but Anderson and the team feel up to the task.
“Well, he’s definitely a twitchy rusher,” Anderson said. “We know who he is and how great he is. But there, you focus on yourself and your technique. You play with good pad level and hand usage. You have to focus on yourself just as much.”
If the Steelers can run the ball between the tackles and force Atlanta’s linebackers to make plays, the Steelers might have a chance to ride Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren in this game. That has to be the plan, but it all starts up front.
2. Beanie Bishop balls out and proves himself
The Steelers, defensively, have one glaring hole in this game. Yet, it is actually a hole, or is it just an unproven player? Slot cornerback Beanie Bishop played well in the summer but looked just okay against the Houston Texans in his first starting spot in the preseason.
The Steelers know the Falcons will have an X-crossed right towards No. 31. Until he proves he can stop guys like Kyle Pitts, Drake London, and Darnell Mooney, the Falcons will go right to them in the slot.
“You never know. I just look at it like this. Like most things, we always prepare our guys so that if you’re a young guy out there, you just have to be ready. You will be tested and if you, if you handle the test, then they’ll go away from you. But if you don’t handle the test, you can expect it to keep coming,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said about Bishop.
The Falcons will try to attack him, but Bishop will not shy away from the challenge that the Falcons will likely bring him. If he can back up the challenge and show what he is made of, the Steelers can slow down this talented Falcons offense.
3. The ‘other eligibles’ step up
The Pittsburgh Steelers have two standouts in the passing game that will stick out in George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth. Yet, with Terrell, Bates, and Simmons in the secondary, they can erase the two of them through coverages. The Steelers might have to win their other matchups.
As stated above, the other obvious outlet is the running game. Warren and Harris figure to be the two big time players featured. However, the Steelers might need one big play from someone else. That could be Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin III, or someone else. The Steelers do not have the juice in the passing game to expect those two to be enough against a secondary like this on paper. Someone else has to step up, and if one player does, it might be enough to crawl the Steelers over the finish line.
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Pittsburg, PA
Steelers’ Russell Wilson Suffers Injury Setback
![Steelers’ Russell Wilson Suffers Injury Setback Steelers’ Russell Wilson Suffers Injury Setback](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3600,h_2025,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/all_steelers/01j71qa7srzgscdpe3c2.jpg)
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback Russell Wilson was limited in the team’s practice on Thursday afternoon with lingering effects from a calf injury, throwing a late curveball into the team’s plans just days before their Week 1 bout with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Wilson was seen around the team, though he did not have his helmet on and never took a snap throughout the day.
Head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters that Wilson’s calf tightened up on him and that he is visiting a doctor to have his situation further diagnosed.
Wilson did not appear on the team’s injury report that released following Wednesday’s practice and had been a full participant in recent days.
The Steelers are taking all of the proper precautions to ensure his injury doesn’t worsen ahead of his regular season debut with the team. Per Tomlin, however, there isn’t much concern from the team regarding his long-term availability.
Wilson initially suffered the injury during the Steelers’ conditioning test at the beginning of training camp that limited his involvement in team sessions and even opened the door for Justin Fields to come in and challenge him for the starting job.
Wilson sat out of the team’s opening preseson contest against the Houston Texans before playing a combined six series over their following two games against the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions.
He was officially named the starting quarterback last week and was also awarded the offensive captaincy for Pittsburgh on Monday as a result.
Wilson is coming off of a 2023 campaign with the Denver Broncos where he threw for 3,070 yards, 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions with a completion percentage of 66.4%, the third-best rate of his 12-year career.
The Steelers signed Wilson to a one-year this offseason after the Broncos released him from a $245 million contract, taking on $85 million in dead money in the process.
Make sure to bookmark Steelers OnSI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more.
Pittsburg, PA
Pittsburgh will see a return of rain and storms chances starting on Friday
![Pittsburgh will see a return of rain and storms chances starting on Friday Pittsburgh will see a return of rain and storms chances starting on Friday](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/09/05/b6d6f83b-76d0-49c8-8191-f5a3a7d0154f/thumbnail/1200x630/38ac4d85d50ba05b3a8e258d43135a34/temp2.png?v=631cf5f2b4e8db7f9bc428589402864d)
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – We return to the 80s today for highs – no, really this time.
I have highs reaching into the mid-80s today for most places with Pittsburgh seeing a high of 83 degrees. A pleasant, if not a little cool, morning will once again greet you on your way out the door with temperatures dipping to the low 50s in Pittsburgh.
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Some places will again drop to the upper 40s. If you’re traveling through the Laurel Highlands there will be pockets of thick valley fog that should burn off by 9 a.m. Skies will be sunny from start to finish.
If you notice a thin haze it is likely Canadian wildfire smoke. I have noon temperatures in the mid-70s with light winds of 5mph coming in out of the southeast.
Most of Friday will look very similar to what we see today with morning lows in the mid to upper 50s and highs hitting the mid-80s. Clouds will roll in with partly cloudy skies for the entire day. A line of rain and storms will slide through our region after 6 p.m.
I expect some high school football games will be dealing with rain as they’re played. As the line arrives there should be a brief downpour with potential lightning filled by another 10-15 minutes of steady rain.
Light rain and drizzle will continue overnight and into early Saturday morning. The best rain chances should be out of here by sunrise on Saturday morning.
Finally, new US Drought Monitor maps are released at 8:30 this morning. Since Tuesday, August 27th, we have seen 1.91″ of rain in Pittsburgh.
I will take it and it should lead to slight improvements in local drought conditions.
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Pittsburg, PA
Pittsburgh Steelers new safety has never seen a ‘freak of nature’ like George Pickens
The Pittsburgh Steelers will rely upon George Pickens to be the top target in the team’s passing offense. With a bunch of unproven names behind him on the wide receiver depth chart, Pickens needs to step up and become a true No. 1 target for the Steelers to have a successful passing game.
New Steelers safety DeShon Elliott has seen a lot of great wide receivers in his time around the NFL. He played with Tyreek Hill in Miami in 2023, so he knows what top wide receivers look like daily. Elliott says that he has never seen someone like Pickens, though, who makes alien-like catches every single day.
“I had Tyreek Hill on my team,” Elliott said on The Sick Podcast — Steelers Crazy. “I have never seen a freak of nature like George Pickens.”
Pickens looked like he had another gear in his game this training camp. He put up an excellent performance, catching passes all over the football field, including as an intermediate route runner. Over the last few seasons, Pickens has largely only been a deep ball player with occasional flashes on underneath balls. Yet, suppose he can put it all together and become a dynamic route runner and separator. In that case, the Steelers will have something serious to work with in this offense, even if the pieces around Pickens in the wide receiver room are suboptimal.
Pickens has great body control and hands. That will carry with him no matter what routes he runs. The Steelers can scheme up significant mismatches even with the rest of the wide receiver room just by using Pickens in innovative ways.
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