On a night when Pittsburgh Steelers legend Franco Harris was honored, this young Steelers team stepped up and finished an emotional day with an emotional win over the Las Vegas Raiders. The win improves the Steelers record to 7-8 and keeps them in the playoff hunt. Here are four big takeaways from the win.
Cameron Heyward just gets it
When the Steelers defense needed a play late in the game, it was defensive tackle Cam Heyward who delivered. Heyward finished with two sacks, three tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries and seven total tackles. The ageless wonder took the magnitude of the night and fed off it for his best game of the season.
Robert Spillane steps up again
On defense, only three players played all 53 snaps on Saturday. One of those players was backup inside linebacker Robert Spillane. The fact Spillane isn’t listed as a starter doesn’t change the fact he continues to be the best inside linebacker on the roster. Spillane finished with 12 tackles and led the charge against the Raiders rush offense.
Kenny Pickett looking like Big Ben on the final drive
On the team’s game-winning drive, rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett took over. The team went up-tempo, put the decisions into the hands of the rookie and he delivered. 73 yards passing on seven of nine passing on the final drive and a perfect touchdown to George Pickens with just 45 seconds to play.
Secondary was huge
Once the Raiders realized the Steelers were not going to allow Raiders running back Josh Jacobs to beat them on the ground, quarterback Derek Carr started to take some shots downfield. But the Steelers secondary stepped up with three different defensive backs picking Carr off.
