Chris Boswell, Steelers defense carry offense to win over Falcons

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The Pittsburgh Steelers offense sputters, the defense dominates and kicker Chris Boswell carries the team to a victory. It was an all-too-predictable formula for the Steelers as they found a way to get past the Atlanta Falcons 18-10 in Week 1.

The preseason wasn’t great for Boswell, but he made everyone forget that by going 6-for-6 on his field goals, including three kicks beyond 50 yards. This is the first time in franchise history a kicker has made three fields goals of 50 yards or more in a single game.

Defensively, it was all about that pass rush. As the game wore on, the Steelers defensive front wore the Falcons down and ended up sacking Kirk Cousins twice and hitting him seven times. Edge rusher T.J. Watt had one sack that counted and two strip-sacks that were negated by penalties. Watt also had two tackles for loss and recovered a fumble.

The Steelers offense was held under 300 yards and didn’t get a touchdown. This isn’t acceptable, and it was hard to watch and not think of former offensive coordinator Matt Canada and his plodding offense of a year ago.

Fortunately, the Steelers got just enough out of running back Najee Harris (70 rushing yards) and George Pickens (85 receiving yards) to help Boswell put up all the points.

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