Steelers Grind Out Road Win Over Falcons

ATLANTA -- The Pittsburgh Steelers have come out of the bye week hot, winning two of their first three games following the midyear break after defeating the Atlanta Falcons, 19-16 at Mercedes Benz Stadium. Connor Heyward caught the first touchdown of his career, Najee Harris ran for 86 yards and Matt Wright made all four off his field goal attempts while the Steelers won time of possession handily to grind out a tight victory. 

The Steelers got the ball first and marched confidently into Falcons territory, gaining four first downs before a busted read-option run was stopped for a five-yard loss. Two incompletions from Kenny Pickett later and Matt Wright was on to attempt a 46-yard field goal, which he made despite hitting the right upright. 

Trailing 3-0 with 7:28 left in the first quarter, the Falcons got first downs on three of their first four plays but a holding penalty set them behind schedule. A false start penalty pushed them even further back and they eventually had to punt. 

Steven Sims fumbled the kick but was able to recover it on the Steelers' 14 yard line. Tough running from Najee Harris, Sims and Pickett got the Steelers inside the Falcons' 30 yard line, but another drive stalled and Wright knocked through another 46-yard kick to put his team up 6-0 less than two minutes into the second quarter. 

Atlanta responded with a field goal of its own. Marcus Mariota hit on some long pass plays to get Younghoe Koo in range for a 50-yard attempt, which he made. Cam Heyward finished off the drive with a sack.

The Steelers finally broke through with a touchdown on their next possession. Pat Freiermuth caught a short pass and ran for a 57-yard gain to put his team on the doorstep. Pickett capped the efficient drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass in the back of the endzone to Conner Heyward, the first score of his career. 

The Falcons opened the ensuing possession strong, with Mariota finding Drake London down the sideline for a 37-yard gain despite an illegal contact penalty on his defender, Levi Wallace. But the next three plays weren't as successful and Koo was brought back out to knock through his second 50-yard field goal of the day and bring the Falcons back within a touchdown at 13-6 with 5:10 left in the first half. 

The Falcons couldn't make anything of their next possession and the Steelers ran out the remaining clock. They entered halftime with a lead for the third consecutive week. 

One first down is all Atlanta could manage before having to punt on their first drive of the second half. Pickett and company took over at their own 10 yard line at the 12:22 mark of the third quarter. The Steelers stuck with the ground game, running on eight of their 13 plays to move 75 yards. But once again, penalties killed a promising drive. The Steelers had to turn back to Wright, who stayed perfect on the day by making a 33-yard field goal to extend the lead to 19-6. 

The Falcons offense finally found a rhythm when they got the ball next. Cordelle Patterson started to pick up steam, running for 45 yards on four carries and Mariotta's only pass on the drive went for seven yards and a touchdown to MyCole Pruitt. 

The Steelers clung to a 6-point lead as the game turned to the fourth quarter and couldn't add to it on their next possession. What was initially ruled a fumble out of the hands of Diontae Johnson got reversed and called an incompletion after a review. Still, the Steelers punted to a Falcons team that had stolen back some momentum. 

They ran on ten of the first 11 plays of the drive with great success. Patterson thought he had a 10-yard touchdown run on first and goal but it was nullified by a holding penalty. A false start moved them back further and threw them out of range of a touchdown. Koo came back out to kick another field goal from 28 yards away and nailed it to bring the Falcons closer at 19-16. 

The Steelers got the ball back with 5:27 left in the game and ran down more than five minutes of clock before Pressley Harvin pinned Atlanta on their own two yard line. The offense couldn't finish the game but the defense did. Minkah Fitzpatrick picked off Mariota on the first play of the drive and Pickett knelt to end the game for certain. 

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