Category: 2023 Season Week 7 – Steelers vs Rams

Double yoi! 4 Steelers hit with fines stemming from Week 7 Rams win

There’s a reason why they call it the No Fun League.

There’s a reason why it’s called the No Fun League. Another week, another fine for your Pittsburgh Steelers — this time it wasn’t one, it wasn’t two, but four players who have to pay the piper.

This is the second fine for Jaylen Warren this year, who was fined the same amount for illegal use of helmet versus the Cleveland Browns in Week 2. As an undrafted free agent, these fines are nearly the equivalent of a game check.

With the NFL slapping fines on Steelers nearly weekly, you’d think they were the most penalized team in the league. However, according to Spotrac, that honor belongs to their Week 8 opponent, the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Here are the four Steelers now a little/a lot lighter in the wallet.

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Mike Tomlin said Steelers took ball 1st vs Rams to protect the defense

The Steelers pulled off the upset win over the Rams on Sunday.

Typically when a team wins the toss, they will defer to the second half, the other team takes the football and life moves forward. But when the Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, Pittsburgh chose to take the football after winning the toss.

On Tuesday, head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the curious decision to put his offense on the field. According to Tomlin, it was done to protect his defense was dealing with Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford after 13 days off.

The decision delayed the Steelers defense by only mere moments as the Steelers offense showed off its first-quarter ineptitude with yet another three-and-out.

The Steelers used a huge fourth-quarterback comeback by quarterback Kenny Pickett to pull off a big 24-17 upset win over Los Angeles.

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5 surprises from the Steelers snap counts against the Rams

Here are some things that stood out from the Steelers snap counts against the Rams.

On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the comeback kids once again, using a strong second half to put together a big 24-17 comeback win over the Los Angeles Rams. Now that we’ve had a chance to go over our charting of the Steelers snaps we wanted to share some surprises.

T.J. Watt on Steelers’ awful run defense: ‘Stopping the run was, again, an issue’

The Steelers only played two donwlinemen and they wonder why teams can run the football on them at will.

Despite being down their top two running backs, the Los Angeles Rams were still able to have success running the football against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Royce Freeman had 66 rushing yards on 12 carries and Darnell Henderson had 61 rushing yards on 18 carries. This is better than any Steelers back had in the 24-17 win over the Rams.

Steelers EDGE T.J. Watt acknowledged the continued concerns with stopping the run when he spoke to the media after the game. Watt is a perfectionist and you could see his frustration on the field.

You can hear Watt’s full comments about the problems stopping the run below in his post-game presser below.

There’s no secret as to why the Steelers were giving up chunks of rush yards on Sunday. Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Teryl Austin opted for a modified 4-2-5 base defense for much of the game where the faux defensive ends are outside linebackers Watt and Alex Highsmith. This put the Steelers at a serious size and strength disadvantage at the line of scrimmage.

Pittsburgh felt it appropriate to play Larry Ogunjobi and Montravius Adams on the inside but either the two of them only played 72 and 68 percent of snaps respectively. Defensive end DeMarvin Leal was next with only 34 percent of snaps and he is not a run stuffer by trade.

The rub is, that Pittsburgh had to commit to an extra defensive back because the Rams have some elite weapons in the passing game. An absolute Catch-22 for the Steelers that they can’t get out of as long as the secondary continues to struggle.

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Fanboy Najee Harris shares hilarious interaction with Rams’ Aaron Donald

Najee Harris was a bit star-struck going against Los Angeles Rams’ defender Aaron Donald.

Color Najee Harris a bit star-struck going against Los Angeles Rams’ defender Aaron Donald on Sunday.

“I was asking for his autograph,” Harris told Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko after the game.

The interaction was a little one-sided, though. “He wasn’t talking to me, I was talking to him. I was like, ‘Hey AD, if you tackle me, that would be my dream.’ He didn’t say nothing. It was just me. I was just being a fan.”

Harris finished the day with 53 yards on 14 carries and three receptions for 15 yards. It was the most he’d been targeted in the passing game all season, and his rushing touchdown was his first of the season.

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Steelers WR Diontae Johnson responds to taunting penalty vs. Rams

Diontae Johnson was amped for his first game back since injuring his hamstring in Week 1.

Diontae Johnson was amped for his first game back since injuring his hamstring in Week 1. He showed it by helping get the Pittsburgh Steelers offense back on track and reveling in a little jawing with his defender.

Said defender happened to be former Steelers cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, with whom Johnson is “cool.” Only the referees didn’t know that — not that it would’ve mattered anyway.

“I got too excited in the moment,” Johnson admitted to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko. “I didn’t really do nothin. I kinda went like this to him (using the quiet gesture). We cool… but the refs wouldn’t know.”

After two seasons in Pittsburgh, the team cut Witherspoon in May. He’s enjoyed a career resurgence since joining the Los Angeles Rams in June, notching two interceptions, four defended passes and 12 tackles (one for loss) in six starts.

In hindsight, Johnson knew he should’ve taken the higher road. “It was just one of those situations I could avoid and just be smart.”

Taunting typically carries a loss of 15 yards, but since Witherspoon interfered (if you can call it that) with Johnson, the penalties offset.

Johnson’s was the second taunting infraction of the game, as George Pickens got called for it on the previous drive.

Mike Tomlin has to reign in the stupid, avoidable penalties. But he’d rather say ‘whoa than sic ’em,’ so the players must show self-restraint in the future.

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Studs and duds from the Steelers 24-17 win over the Rams

The Steelers won on another up and down performance on Sunday.

I put this list together every week and every week it is more and more confounding as to which Pittsburgh Steelers to put where. In the Steelers 24-17 win over the Los Angeles Rams, there were some guys who played like studs. Mostly. And others who played like duds. A lot of the time.

But finding guys who were either good or bad for an entire game is just about impossible. So when you see this list and you think to yourself, “Hey that guy had some good plays, he’s not a dud” remember this team is all about the Jekyll and Hyde routine when it comes to playing.

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett on the Diontae Johnson effect

Diontae Johnson is back, and he showed up in a big way in the Steelers’ wild win over the Los Angeles Rams.

Diontae Johnson is back, and he showed up in a big way in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 24-17 win over the Los Angeles Rams.

In what was only their second third-down conversion of the day, Kenny Pickett hit Johnson for a 39-yard gain late in the third quarter.

“It was a really good route for him,” Pickett said in the postgame press conference. “He’s a great route-runner, gets separation. I just wanted to give him a chance to convert on third down.”

“It was great to have him back. I think you saw the effects it had having him and George out there on both sides, moving guys inside and out. They’re two tough guys that cover.”

Though the catch led to a game-tying Jaylen Warren score, he’s still looking for his own. A cloud hanging over Johnson’s head is a 20-game streak without a touchdown — his last came in Week 16 of the 2021 season.

Johnson finished the day with 79 yards on five receptions, his best showing since Week 15 last season.

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T.J. Watt, Kenny Pickett praise Steelers fans after wild win vs. Rams

T.J. Watt praised Steelers fans for showing up & showing aht in L.A.

It can be said time and time again: Pittsburgh Steelers fans represent on the road better than any other team in the NFL. This afternoon was no different as Steelers nation traveled to Los Angeles to witness another wild win.

T.J. Watt, the game’s defensive star with a 24-yard interception return that led to a Kenny Pickett rushing touchdown, praised the fans for showing up and showing out in L.A. The away crowd forced the Rams to use a silent count throughout the matchup.

“Steelers Nation is incredible,” Watt said in a postgame press conference. “They’ve been incredible all season long. And I want them to understand how important that is, especially for us on defense. Anytime you can get offense going to a silent count, it helps us out tremendously.”

Pickett seconded that emotion. “I truly believe we have the best fans in the world. It’s like a home game when we go on the road,” he told Fox sideline reporter Pam Oliver after the game.

The Steelers have five more away games, including at Cleveland, Seattle and Baltimore in the remaining 11 weeks.

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Social media reacts to the Steelers upset win over the Rams

Social media is all over the place after the Steelers upset win.

Sunday was a huge day for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The team traveled out to Los Angeles and after their usual rope-a-dope through three quarters, Pittsburgh ramped things up and pulled off a 24-17 win to go to 4-2. Here’s what X, the artist formerly known as Twitter had to say about the win.