While they may not have looked particularly special yet this season, the Pittsburgh Steelers have still found a way to get to 2-2 after four games, leaving them a game and a half back in the AFC North. They are finally starting to get healthier and go into this game looking to build on Sunday’s win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
With just one win from their opening five games, and their starting quarterback missing time through injury, it’s safe to say this wasn’t the start to the season the Tennessee Titans envisioned. Scraping out a win in overtime against the Detroit Lions, which they almost threw away due to a late Lions comeback, their four losses have come by a combined 106 points.
While a lot of things point against them, the Titans have enough good players to make life tough for the Steelers in this matchup of former AFC Central rivals. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the three key areas to focus on this Thursday night.
Pittsburgh’s Wide Receivers vs Tennessee’s Cornerbacks
Despite his holdout in the offseason, Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace remains an integral part of the team’s offense. With 19 receptions from the 30 passes thrown to the 2009 third round draft picks, he has also added three touchdowns in four games. That all adds up to a quarterback rating of 123.1 on passes thrown to him. Antonio Brown (-0.5) may not have quite as high a rating as Wallace (106.9), however the player who broke out in a big way for the Steelers a year ago is averaging 2.08 Yards Per Route Run with 326 yards from his 157 snaps in route. He’s also been their most consistent big play threat from the position, with at least one reception of 20 yards or more in the opening four games. The team’s third receiver, Emmanuel Sanders (+1.0), has yet to have a breakout game this season but has managed to bring in 13 receptions from the 20 passes thrown to him.
The star of the Tennessee defensive backfield, Alterraun Verner (+10.0) has had a quiet past two weeks after being our second highest and highest graded cornerback in Weeks 2 and 3 respectively. Still yet to allow a touchdown in his coverage this season, Verner has broken up three passes while picking off another. Opposite him, Jason McCourty (+1.6) hasn’t looked quite as impressive as a year ago but has still been solid enough, allowing 18 catches for 204 yards on the 24 passes thrown into coverage. Third corner Ryan Mouton (-3.9) has struggled with an increased role on the Titans’ defense, giving up 141 yards through the air. In the past two games however, he has as many pass breakups (two) as he has yards allowed so things appear to be looking up for the 2009 third round pick.
Pittsburgh’s Pass Rush vs Tennessee’s Offensive Tackles
It’s frustrating for the Steelers that just as they get outside linebacker James Harrison (+1.0) back on the field, LaMarr Woodley (+3.1) goes down with his own injury. Fortunately for the Steelers, it doesn’t appear to be serious but it looks to be enough to keep him out for Thursday night. The man who filled in for Harrison, Jason Worilds (+0.4) will be the one asked to try and replace Woodley’s two sacks, three hits and six hurries so far this season. While not looking awful, Worilds Pass Rushing Productivity (PRP) Rating of 8.9 was a little disappointing but last season he was more productive from the left side (12.2 PRP) so the Steelers will hope for more from him in Woodley’s spot this week. In his first game back from injury, Harrison managed to register three hits and a hurry from 21 snaps as a pass rusher, giving him the fifth highest PRP Rating among 3-4 linebackers in Week 5 with a rating of 14.3.
Fortunately for the Titans, both of their offensive tackles have impressed in pass protection through five weeks. Left tackle Michael Roos (+4.5) is our eighth highest rated player at his position in terms of pass blocking grade, allowing a sack, two hits and eight hurries so far this season. His teammate on the right, David Stewart (+1.5) is the sixth highest graded right tackle. His pressure allowed numbers are almost identical to Roos, allowing a sack, a hit and eight hurries. Both rank in the top 25 in terms of their Pass Blocking Efficiency Rating and when combined with Matt Hasselbeck’s speed of release (no quarterback gets rid of the ball sooner after the snap on average than Hasselbeck) the Titans have the tools to limit the impact of the Steelers’ potentially ferocious pass rush.
Mendenhall’s Return
Showing how important he can be to the team’s offense, Rashard Mendenhall (+1.9) announced his return from injury with an impressive performance against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. Averaging 5.8 per carry, he forced four missed tackles on 14 carries. That gave him an Elusive Rating of 89.3 and also looked to help Isaac Redman (+2.1) who had carried the load in his absence. After breaking seven tackles in the team’s opening three games, Redman managed four of his own this week.
Our lowest graded safety through five weeks, Michael Griffin (-15.5) has been the Titans’ biggest offender in terms of missed tackles with his 12 leading the team, and all safeties, while nobody else on the Titans roster has missed more than five. However, after seeing the Steelers top two running backs break eight tackles between them a week ago, they will have to be careful not to allow either to break the game open. One thing that goes in the team’s favour is the play of Akeem Ayers (+2.4). Ranking 17th among all 4-3 outside linebackers with a Run Stop Percentage of 9.4%, Ayers has made 15 defensive stops from his 160 plays on the field against the run. The Titans will need him to continue to find ball carriers close to the line of scrimmage otherwise history dictates that they will wreak havoc in the Tennessee secondary.
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