The Tennessee Titans defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 16-9, at Heinz Field on Sunday afternoon, moving to an unexpected 1-0 record.
Tennessee started the game in a fashion never before seen in the NFL when it took a safety on the opening kickoff. The Titans would almost pitch a shutout the rest of the afternoon, however, as the Steelers sputtered aimlessly throughout the day.
Ben Roethlisberger had nowhere to hide behind a makeshift offensive line, which will be worse in the future considering center Maurkice Pouncey is out for the year with a torn ACL/MCL. Roethlisberger was sacked five times, halting a bevy of drives.
Over at Behind The Steel Curtain, Neal Coolong writes about another concern, which is the lack of a running game:
Blocking, executing and timing, the Steelers lacked consistency in all areas. Isaac Redman's fumble was partially on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, but the other fumble was not. It was one of many zero and negative gains on the game. The strength of this team was supposed to be running the football. The Steelers are a long way from being in that category.
Music City Miracles pointed out a few stars for the Titans on the defensive side of the ball:
Both defenders wreaked havoc on the Steelers offense. Both ended up with two sacks. The only difference is Zach Brown was all over the field leading the Titans with eight tackles (all solo). Jurrell Casey on the other hand was impossible to move. As a run defender he dug in and clogged up running lanes. And on defense he blew up would-be blockers. Kudos to the entire defense, but these two were just too good to ignore.
Tennessee will try to keep the good times coming against the Houston Texans next Sunday while the Steelers travel to face the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night.
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