The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the New York Jets by a final score of 24-20.
The big story of the game today was Kenny Pickett taking the reigns from Mitch Trubisky at the halfway mark in the game.
The Jets had their way with the Steelers in the first half. The game started with the Steelers yet again having to punt in their first possession of the game, making it four in a row to start the season.
Mitch Trubisky just couldn’t get firing this game going 7/13 in passing with only 84 yards, 58 being passing yards, and 1 interception.
The Jets went up on a field goal in the first quarter then would proceed to start off the second quarter with some trickery, doing their own take on ‘The Philly Special’.
This was Zach Wilson’s first TD involvement of the season after coming back from injury and also the first Jets QB ever to score a touchdown on a receiving play.
The score was 10-0 Jets, when the Steelers were actually able to start stringing together some offense. They had 3 first downs in a row and then Trubisky threw a seed to Dionte Johnson at the edge of the end zone, but was ruled out of bounds by the toe of his left foot.
The Steelers ended up settling for a Chris Boswell FG to make it 10-3. The Jets started to waver at the end of the second period when they could’ve widened their margin, but Cameron Sutton was there to pick off Wilson.
The Steelers would only be able to kick another field goal through Boswell to make it 10-6 at the half. The 59-yard FG would mark the longest one ever hit in the history of Acrisure Stadium.
The fans were chanting, twitter was raving, and finally Mike Tomlin gave in. The team came back out being led by their 1st round draft pick, University of Pittsburgh’s all-time passing leader, Kenny Pickett.
Kenny would have a shaky start though, with his first NFL pass attempt being an interception. Minkah Fitzpatrick returned the favor by intercepting Zach Wilson a few plays later.
Pickett then capitalized off the opportunity and score his first touchdown by rushing into the end zone from the one-yard line to give the Steelers a lead in the game for the first time at 13-10.
The offense continued to click into the fourth quarter as Kenny started to find his groove. He would then again score from a rush to make it 20 straight points for the Steelers to make it 20-10.
Wilson was relentless towards the end of the game to where he was able to manufacture two more touchdowns in the last 7 minuets of the game making it 24-20 Jets.
The game really took a turn in the second half, becoming a high energy battle between two young quarterbacks. It ended with a hail mary attempt from Pickett that was ultimately intercepted.
Pickett ends his day going 10/13 with 120 yards and 3 interceptions. Despite the interceptions he looked a lot more confident and effective on the field than Trubisky did.
We can only wait and see to what he’ll be able to do in a full game, if Mike Tomlin chooses to do so in the near future.
The now 1-3 Steelers will be back in action against a tough opponent in Josh Allen in Buffalo against the Bills next Sunday.