Yesterday marked my ninth NFL stadium trip, outside of my first game and my first game with my son this was my favorite. The fans were very receptive to us outsiders. The game itself was a roller coaster.
It starts if I’m typical Steelers fashion with pretty good defense and inept offense. We get two three and outs but luckily Presley Harvin has become the punter we wanted bombing 55+ yarders on each. The Raiders’ second drive is when things become dicey. They managed to move the ball to our 32-yard line and we get them to 4th and 1. A play fake and bad coverage by Patrick Peterson led to a 32-yard touchdown.
With the offense looking inept and the defense giving up a touchdown I head to the bathroom as our offense trots onto the field not wanting to watch two runs for three yards and the bubble screen leads to another three and out. To my surprise, as I wait in line Calvin Austin gets behind the defense and ties the game up with a 72-yard touchdown.
The half continues as a pretty good defensive battle (Levi Wallace interception and TJ Watt sack) as the offenses manage to only get in position for 2 40+ yard field goals (both by Boswell ) and we head to the half up 13-7. A six-point lead and a Lil Wayne halftime show have us feeling comfortable.
The defense takes the field and forces a three-and-out. Kenny and the boys managed to get Boswell within 57 yards of the goal post and he banged home another three and were up nine. The Raiders did manage a first down on their next drive before Patrick Peterson redeemed himself from his earlier failure and picked off Jimmy G. The offense then puts together a nice drive and Kenny finds Pat Freiermuth (yes he’s still on the team) in the back corner of the end zone with a beautiful pass to put the Steelers up 23-7 and the normally pensive Steelers fans relax as we have a decent lead. Little did we know the refs had a different game plan in mind. The Raiders and Steelers trade punts before the refs decide the game isn’t close enough. The Raiders get to the Steelers 1& yard line before Minkah Fitzpatrick hits a beautiful delayed blitz and a textbook tackle that is flagged for roughing the passer (every Raiders fan around me said it was a fantastic play) so instead of a third and 18 the Raiders have first and goal at the nine, putting the ball in the end zone three plays later. On the ensuing two-point try the defense flushes Jimmy G from the pocket as Alex Highsmith chases him with an arm around his neck in front of the ref that isn’t seen but a fantom pass interference is called in the end zone. The Raiders from the one get the two-pointer and the game is one score.
The Steelers get the ball back and promptly went into pucker up your butt hole and waste no time offense. A two-yard run sandwich between two incompletions ran less than a minute off the clock. Presley Harvin’s shortest punt of the day (41 yards) is returned 16 yards to get the Raiders in excellent field position. The defense bends a little bit and gets the Raiders to a 4th and 1 at the 25. They line up to go for it but a false start pushes them back. With more yardage, Josh McDaniels opts for the field goal instead of going for it. On the try, DeMarvin Leal is called for leverage and the Raiders receive a fresh set of downs. But the defense holds again and McDaniels once again goes for the three points with a little over 2 minutes remaining and all three timeouts.
The Steelers get the ball back needing two first downs to ice the game. They promptly and to the surprise of all in attendance and around the world get one with relative ease. On the ensuing first down, however, Najee Harris gets tackled in the backfield for a three-yard loss. Jaylen Warren manages to get two of those back on the next two plays and the Steelers are set to punt with 23 seconds on the clock. Presley Harvin booms another 56-yarder that is fumbled by the return but recovered by the Raiders at the 15-yard line. Jimmy G leads the offense into the field needing 65 yards in 12 seconds. On the first play Jimmy throws the ball to Levi “Sieve” Wallace’s side who promptly comes down with his 2nd interception to go along with the 100+ yards he allowed on the ray making it almost a wash. Kenny comes out for one victory formation snap and the crowd leaves mostly happy.
James