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Photo by Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNobody Needed a Fifth Sack
Steelers Wire put three numbers on this game Saturday and missed all three, the Bijan Robinson one by 113 yards. It still got the result right, and the reason the sack count missed is the reason the Falcons lost.
The receipt was wrong about everything except the result.
Ray promised this morning that Tilt would grade it. Here is the grade.
Saturday morning, Andrew Vasquez of Steelers Wire printed three bold predictions. Bijan Robinson "fails to go over 60 total yards on Sunday." Pittsburgh takes advantage of "third-string-turned-starting quarterback Cooper Rush, sacking him five or more times en route to a Week 1 victory." DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman "go over 150 receiving yards combined in the matchup."
Robinson: 173 from scrimmage, 83 on the ground and 90 through the air. He passed 60 with 8:58 left in the second quarter. Sacks: 4. Metcalf and Pittman: 98. Three numbers, three misses, the Robinson one by 113 yards.
Pittsburgh 20, Atlanta 13.
The piece went 0-for-3 on the numbers and 1-for-1 on the result, and I am not here to laugh at it. The miss on the sack count is the whole game.
Pittsburgh never needed a fifth sack. Rush gave the ball away twice without one. Second quarter, he overthrew Jahan Dotson deep and Jaquan Brisker carried it to the Atlanta 31. Four plays later, Pat Freiermuth, touchdown. Fourth quarter, Atlanta down three, second-and-10 at its own 44, Rush threw short for Robinson and T.J. Watt caught it instead. 35 yards, touchdown. Pittsburgh 20, Atlanta 10.
Count it once. Pittsburgh's offense scored 13. Watt scored 7. Atlanta lost by 7.
Kevin Stefanski's message to Rush before kickoff, per ProFootballTalk: "Get the ball out quickly to your playmakers." The pick-six was a quick throw to the playmaker.
Vasquez predicted a pass rush that would bury a backup. What showed up was a backup who buried himself. The touchdown that decided Mike McCarthy's first win as Pittsburgh's coach did not need a sack. It needed a catch.
Grade the numbers: three misses. Grade the premise: it held, just not as written. The Steelers never had to get to Rush. Rush got to them.
The Tilt
Cooper Rush did more for Pittsburgh's defense than Pittsburgh's pass rush did.
— Dex Ponce
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