STEELERS VS. TITANS By: Tyler Ruban

 

Two 3-0 teams game gets postponed after a few positive Covid-19 tests from the Tennessee Titans. Now the game will be kicked off on October 25th, 2020 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had elbow surgery throughout the offseason and told reporters that this is the first season that he has not had elbow pain when throwing the football. This obviously is key to the Steelers and their success because Roethlisberger quarterbacking this offense is special and adding no elbow pain will only help this Pittsburgh offense. Mike Tomlin along with the rest of Pittsburgh were frustrated when hearing that their game against Tennessee was postponed to a later date. “I’m disappointed because we were planning to play and we’re not getting the opportunity to,” Tomlin says.  

Expect to see Pittsburgh attack the ground game early and often in this game. When they are forced to throw the ball they will have to lean on the play of their second, third, and fourth string receivers. This is because Juju Smith Shuster will be matched up this week against Malcolm Butler. Malcolm Butler has proven year after year that he is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Roethlisberger will have to throw to some of his other options such as Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson, and James Washington. Tennessee’s largest and smallest flaw both come on the defensive end. Their passing defense is phenomenal but on the other hand their run defense needs a lot of work. This is the reason you will see James Conner getting a lot of touches out of the backfield against this lackluster Tennessee rushing defense. Pittsburgh has been a very solid team so far this year offensively and defensively but their only weakness is not being able to run away with games. Week after week Pittsburgh has the opportunity in the second half to put the game away by taking such a massive lead that the other team can’t come back from but, they can never do so.

The rivalry of Pittsburgh and Tennessee goes all the way back to when Tennessee was the Oilers and not the Titans. Pittsburgh leads this series 46-32. Pittsburgh for the most part has been able to come out on top when facing Tennessee. Tennessee hasn't been a top team in the last ten to 15 years until recently. The Titans acquired new players which helped their team become much better than in previous years. Both Pittsburgh and Tennessee are 5-0 so far this year. Last season, Pittsburgh finished their season 8-8 while Tennessee finished 9-7.