The Pittsburgh Steelers welcome the Los Angeles Chargers to Acrisure Stadium for the team’s home opener. Both franchises are undefeated after two weeks in 2024 with eerily similar approaches to football. The game should be an old-school battle where defense, rushing attack, and field position rule the day.
Defensive Faceoff In Pittsburgh
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There will be defensive stars on both sides of the football when the Steelers host the Chargers on Sunday. Names like TJ Watt, Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack, and Minkah Fitzpatrick are why these defenses are considered to be the strengths of the respective franchises. Jim Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin are cut from the same coaching cloth, which means it will be a heavy dose of smashmouth football where points are scarce and special teams could be the reason for a win on either side.
The Steelers dedicate 52.5% of the team’s salary cap to defense (first in the NFL), and the Chargers aren’t far behind (fourth in the NFL), with 42.8% spent on the defensive side of the roster. The difference could be how the respective secondaries play against a pair of offenses relying heavily on the running game. Thanks to new names in black and gold, like Jalen Elliot and Donte Jackson, the Steelers seem to have a reliable, solid secondary, while the Charger’s defensive backs have yet to find their identity. Whichever side rises to the occasion will reward their team with a 3-0 start to 2024.
A Battle Of Running Games
JK Dobbins was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and he hit the ground running with 805 yards and nine touchdowns in his rookie campaign. However, things got very challenging after that, with Dobbins missing the entire 2021 season with an ACL tear. More knee issues marred Dobbins’ 2022, and in the 2023 season opener, he suffered a ruptured Achilles. The Chargers took a risk on the running back, and he is paying them back in 2024 by leading the league in rushing with 266 yards in only two games.
On the other side is Pittsburgh’s two-headed monster comprised of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Both teams will be leaning on the rushing attack and expect to find success doing so despite each defense knowing full well what is coming. The Steelers have 278 total yards rushing in 2024, which means Sunday will be a matchup between a concerted effort and a bell cow. Style points won’t matter, so both teams are expecting a slow, brutal crawl to the finish line.
Injuries Playing A Big Role
The Chargers’ franchise quarterback Justin Herbert will be a game-time decision for Los Angeles as team doctors are still unsure about his ankle injury. If he can’t play, then it will be a battle of backups, with Justin Fields preparing for his third straight start in 2024. Pittsburgh’s rookie offensive lineman Troy Fautanu was moved to Injured Reserve (IR) on Saturday, which means the offensive tackles for the Steelers will be Dan Moore Jr. and Broderick Jones.
With defenses as talented as Sunday’s contest will showcase, backup quarterbacks and uncertainty regarding the bookend protection could spell a long day for either side. Injuries are a fact of life in the NFL, but avoiding a dip in production requires more than a few planets to align, which rarely happens. Tomlin has built his impressive career on his uncanny ability to navigate his teams through injury-filled campaigns without ever having a single losing season. With that kind of resume, it’s hard to bet against the Steelers when it comes to the next man up.
Steelers Are Desperate For WR Help
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George Pickens has been as advertised and more through two 2024 games with 114 yards, eight receptions on 11 targets, and his usual brilliance on deep, contested catches. However, those numbers are much less than he should have, as controversial officiating has wiped out three big plays over the first two weeks. Pickens wanted to be seen as a number one receiver in the NFL, and the Steelers’ new offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith, is targeting him often for good reason. The issue for Pittsburgh, though, isn’t what Pickens is doing; it is what everyone else isn’t.
Every receiver other than Pickens has a combined five catches for 28 yards in 2024. Fifth-year tight end Pat Freiermuth is second in receiving on the team with 66 yards, then Warren with 32 yards, but after that, only Van Jefferson (15 yards on three catches) and Calvin Austin III (13 yards on two catches) are receivers with any receptions at all. The good news is that rookie Roman Wilson will be making his NFL debut against Los Angeles, and it couldn’t come at a better time. If Wilson can manage anything close to average receiver production, it will open up Pickens to do his thing.
Defense Happy To Finally Be Home
It’s hard to believe that not only has Patrick Queen only played two games for the Steelers, but he was with the Baltimore Ravens for the first four years of his career. Queen made a point to voice his excitement over the Steelers having the home opener on Sunday, especially for the treasured traditions that come with playing in Pittsburgh. When the black and gold need a boost late in games, the epic Styx song, “Renegade,” will play and electrify the energy throughout the place. The moment has been known to shift the direction of more than a few games over the years, and the Steelers will need that magic again.
I’m ready to hear Renegade in the fourth quarter. That’s what I’ve been waiting on, but I just can’t wait to be in front of the fans and just play our hearts out. Play as hard as we can, we give the fans the best game [we] can, and get a win in there.
X-Factor Matchup
Games can turn in a single moment, and the players involved aren’t always the ones people expect. In Pittsburgh on Sunday, the contest looks on paper to be evenly matched and a low-scoring effort that may very well come down to the final thirty seconds. While names like Watt, Bosa, Pickens, or Dobbins should have their fair share of impact, don’t discount the battle that will be going on between Pittsburgh’s secondary and the Chargers’ wide receivers’ group.
Porter, Jackson, Elliot, and Fitzpatrick came into 2024 with chips on their respective shoulders because their unit was considered the defense’s weak link. However, after two weeks, the defense is clearly a cohesive unit without a weak link. Los Angeles fields a suspect set of receivers led by second-year Quentin Johnston and Ladd McConkey and a currently questionable Joshua Palmer. Pittsburgh’s defensive backs have already intercepted four passes, and Sunday’s 2024 home opener should be the perfect opportunity to give those takeaway numbers a significant boost.
Wrap Up And Prediction
The entire Steelers’ offense has been reminding each other in the locker room that they are right on the edge of breaking out, with the offensive coordinator, Smith, voicing his confidence in where the unit is early in 2024. The Chargers represent the perfect litmus test for the Steelers. Considering that Pittsburgh has the most challenging schedule in the NFL, the battle against Los Angeles will show the Steelers how legitimately good the team is. Unless it turns into a “Tomlin trap game,” Pittsburgh will walk away with a 3-0 record and a ton of earned confidence.
Steelers 17 – LA Chargers 7
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