There’s likely no saving this Steelers season, but at least for one game, redemption was achieved in Charlotte.
Mitch Trubisky took care of the ball, the Steelers dominated the line of scrimmage and the long-shot hopes of a winning campaign were preserved in a 24-16 victory at Carolina, improving their record to 6-8.
The Panthers (5-9) had been running all over opponents lately, but the Steelers held them to just 21 yards rushing as they jumped out to leads of 7-0, 14-7 and 21-7 behind a strong ground game of their own. Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren split a couple of touchdowns in the first half, each running hard behind an offensive line that was pushing the pile. The final rushing tally for the Steelers was 157, their third-most this year.
Trubisky finished with 179 yards on 17-of-22 passing, but the most significant stat beyond his 1-yard touchdown run was a zero in the interception column. Mike Tomlin kept his starting quarterback decision to himself all week until giving Trubisky the nod Saturday, and he did his part to manage the game, completing his first seven passes, including a 38-yarder to George Pickens. Even a Matt Canada jet sweep worked to near-perfection, producing the longest run of the day, 22 yards by Steven Sims.
That was part of a 21-play, 91-yard drive that erased 11:43 of clock to begin the third quarter and gave the Steelers enough cushion to hold off a Panthers rally that was ignited by an especially bizarre penalty on backup linebacker Marcus Allen. Allen, whose entire job in lieu of injuries ahead of him is to get the defense off the field by performing his special teams duties, walked into the Panthers huddle and jawed with some players in between the third and fourth quarters.
It was over when: Chris Boswell also redeemed himself from a blocked field-goal attempt last week, drilling a 50-yard field goal with 1:06 left to put the game out of reach for the Panthers, who lost a step in the NFC South race and have now dropped seven in a row to the Steelers. The Panthers managed a 52-yard field goal from Eddy Pineiro with 19 seconds left but couldn’t recover the ensuing onside kick.
Player of the game: Diontae Johnson. If you take out his taunting penalty in the third quarter, Johnson was just about perfect, catching all 10 of his targets for 98 yards, much of that coming after the reception. He still hasn’t scored a touchdown this season, but Johnson finding his groove again as an always-open target — sometimes out of the slot, too — is a good development for when Kenny Pickett is back under center the rest of this season and beyond. And, finally, some of his circuitous routes to pick up more yardage paid off by making defenders miss. Johnson also did most of his work with No. 1 cornerback Jaycee Horn following him around the field.
Trending up: Larry Ogunjobi. In addition to outside linebacker Alex Highsmith playing in his home state, Ogunjobi also played his college ball at Charlotte and looked plenty effective in a homecoming of his own. A week after the Steelers were physically dominated by the Ravens, Ogunjobi — who didn’t practice until Friday because of a bad toe — almost single-handedly set the tone by pushing around the interior of the Panthers’ offensive line as they tried to establish their running game. Getting an early lead in this one was key, and credit Ogunjobi for showing up at the line of scrimmage with five tackles, two going for a loss.
Trending down: James Pierre. With Ahkello Witherspoon on injured reserve, Pierre has had a chance to work his way back into the coaches’ good graces at outside cornerback. Instead, he’s been inconsistent in the opportunities he gets, allowing a 40-yard catch to Terrace Marshall down the left sideline that set up Carolina’s first touchdown. Pierre has had moments matching up with bigger wide receivers this season, but likely needs to improve his discipline in zone coverage to carve out any sort of long-term role on defense. It also didn’t help that he failed to down a Pressley Harvin punt at the 1 by stepping on the goal line.
Next up: Christmas Eve against the Raiders, who come to town one day after the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception.
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