Steelers beat Raiders in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – The Steelers just need a trip to Las Vegas to forget the offensive struggles that plagued them in the first two games.

The only thing is, this trip is not for the purpose of rest and relaxation. It was a business trip for the Steelers. And on Sunday night, business was going well.

Playing in front of a very pro-Steelers crowd at Allegiant Stadium, the Steelers got two touchdown passes from Kenny Pickett to defeat the Raiders, 23-18 here on Sunday night.

“I'm really proud of the effort and the play,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. "We did what we needed to do to win. It's only the beginning of the year. We have a lot to learn and a lot to teach, but it feels good to do it with this win."

Pickett, who threw just two touchdown passes and three interceptions to open the season, had the first multi-touchdown pass of his young career, throwing scores to Calvin Austin III and Pat Freiermuth in when throwing 235 yards.



“It will never be perfect,” Pickett said. "There are always things I want to improve and go back to the drawing board. But I think it's a big step for us as a team to go on the road and get back-to-back wins in the early going , listen."

This match was all about punching and counterpunching as both teams looked for openings.

The Raiders (1-2) forced the Steelers (2-1) into a three-and-out on their first two possessions, and after the second, they scored on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Garoppolo for Devante Adams. Play action on fourth and inches to make it 7-0.

But the Steelers, who had yet to score a first down at that point, didn't bother scoring on their next possession.

Facing third-and-7, Pickett finds Austin behind cornerback Marcus Peters and safety Marcus Epps 40 yards downfield between the hash marks for a 72-play touchdown pass yards tied the game at 7 -7.

The touchdown was the longest of the season for the Steelers, rushing George Pickens for 71 yards last week against the Browns and was Pickett's first completion of the game on fourth down.

The Raiders had a chance to take the lead early in the second half, but Levi Wallace jumped inside rookie Michael Mayer's clutch at the Las Vegas 31 to intercept Garoppolo.


This gave the Steelers a 43-yard Chris Boswell field goal with 8:33 left in the second quarter and the Steelers took a 10-7 lead.

The Steelers forced a three-and-out on Las Vegas' next possession and drove all the way to the Raiders' 24 on the next possession before stopping and settling for another Boswell field goal, one This is at a height of 42 meters, with a score of 13 -7. took the lead with 1:56 remaining in the first half.

  The Raiders got the ball back and pushed downfield, but T.J. Watt got his second hit of the game on third, forcing another Las Vegas punt that ended the first inning.

Garoppolo wasn't sacked in the Raiders' first two games. The Steelers did that four times in this game.Watt's six sacks are the most by a Steelers player in three games in team history.

The Steelers forced the Raiders into a three-pointer early in the second half, but Las Vegas punter A.J. Cole made a powerful punt that went out of bounds at the Pittsburgh 9-yard line, flipping the field.

That didn't matter, however, as Pickett connected with Pickens for a 32-yard gain on third-and-5, moving the ball to midfield and setting up a 57-yard scoring play by Boswell that gave the Steelers the lead brought.led 16-7 atthe start of the third quarter.

Watt struck again on Las Vegas' next possession, forcing Garoppolo to make a bad pass as he approached. Garoppolo attempted to throw the ball to Jakobi Meyers, but Patrick Peterson intercepted the ball and blocked it before leaving. on the way to Pittsburgh 19.

The Steelers went 81 yards from there, getting a 17-yard play from Pickens, 16 yards on a screen from Jaylen Warren and a 17-yard run from Najee Harris before Pickett threw for a 13-yard score.touchdown pass to Freiermuth for a 23-7 lead with 3:56 left in the third quarter.

The Raiders ran a rushing attack for the rest of the game, but turned the ball over early in the fourth quarter before driving 80 yards for a 2-yard touchdown pass from Garoppolo to Adams on the play. 5:41 left in the game. Adams caught 15 passes for 172 yards and scored twice on 19 targets.

Garoppolo connected on a two-point conversion pass to Meyers to give the Steelers a 23-15 lead.The Steelers tried to win overtime, but Pickett's third deep pass to Freiermuth was deflected by Nate Hobbs and the Raiders got the ball back at their 48.
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Raiders quit on first try Wednesday". and called for Carlson to kick a field goal, but DeMarvin Leal received a personal foul on the kick, giving the Raiders new life at the Pittsburgh 14-yard line. But the Raiders still had to convert and score a field goal from there. Another field goal, this time from 26 yards, cut the lead to 23-18 with 2:22 left.

 "You just have to hold them off. That was our mindset," defender Alex Highsmith said. "We knew we'd probably show up again. But we had to keep them. We weren't perfect, far from it, but we got going."

But the Steelers scored first down and forced the Raiders to use all three timeouts before returning the ball to Las Vegas with 12 seconds left before Wallace intercepted Garoppolo a second time to tie it up.

“Our job is to get the ball and get ready to score points,” Wallace said. "We want to get them into the short fields as much as possible. When we do that it's good."