LAS VEGAS (AP) — The similarities between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Las Vegas Raiders are numerous. Both teams are 1-1 but could just as easily be 0-2 given their subpar performances. Neither side has been able to run the ball. The quarterback play has been erratic. The offensive lines have been suspect. Each defense has at times been pushed around. Barring a tie, one team will emerge from Sunday night’s game 2-1 and with some genuine hope of establishing early playoff positioning. The team that is 1-2 will face even more questions about its immediate future.
Kickoff is Sunday, Sept. 24 at 8:20 p.m. ET at Allegiant Stadium.
Fans looking to watch this NFL game can do so for free by using FuboTV or DirecTV Stream, which both offer a free trial and RedZone. SlingTV has promotional offers available, and NFL+ airs all local market games.
Who: Steelers Vs. Raiders
When: Sunday, Sept. 24 at 8:20 p.m. ET
Where: Allegiant Stadium
Stream: fuboTV (free trial and NFL RedZone); Sling; DirecTV Stream; NFL+
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Steelers and Raiders both have room to improve heading into Sunday night matchup
By The Associated Press undefined
The Pittsburgh Steelers play the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday night at Allegiant Stadium. Las Vegas is a 2 1/2-point favorite according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Both teams are 1-1. Each team ranks near the bottom of the NFL in several statistical categories. The Steelers won last season’s meeting 13-10 in Pittsburgh. The Raiders have won six of the previous nine meetings. The Steelers’ last beat the Raiders outside of Pittsburgh in 1995. This is their first meeting in Las Vegas.
PITTSBURGH (1-1) AT LAS VEGAS (1-1)
Sunday, 8:20 p.m. EDT, NBC
OPENING LINE: Raiders by 2 1/2, according to FanDuel SportsBook.
AGAINST THE SPREAD: Pittsburgh 1-1; Las Vegas 1-1.
SERIES RECORD: Raiders lead 17-14.
LAST MEETING: Steelers won 13-10 last season in Pittsburgh.
LAST WEEK: Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns 26-22; Raiders lost 38-10 at the Buffalo Bills.
STEELERS OFFENSE: OVERALL (31), RUSH (31), PASS (18), SCORING (26).
STEELERS DEFENSE: OVERALL (30), RUSH (32), PASS (16), SCORING (23T).
RAIDERS OFFENSE: OVERALL (30), RUSH (30), PASS (21), SCORING (30T).
RAIDERS DEFENSE: OVERALL (23), RUSH (27), PASS (18), SCORING (25T).
TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Steelers plus-1; Raiders minus-4.
STEELERS PLAYER TO WATCH: QB Kenny Pickett. Pickett pulled off a last-minute game-winning drive to edge the Raiders in Pittsburgh last Christmas Eve, the first real signs that he had the potential to become a franchise quarterback. Yet the leap Steelers coach Mike Tomlin expected from Pickett in his second season has instead looked more like a step back. Pickett is completing just 60% (46 of 76) of his passes and has looked shaky under pressure.
RAIDERS PLAYER TO WATCH: RB Josh Jacobs. After missing training camp over a contract dispute, Jacobs said he would be more rested than his teammates who went through the grind of 100-degree practices. He might avoided the preseason wear and tear, but Jacobs had averaged 1.6 yards on 28 carries. Maybe this will be Jacobs’ breakout game. The Raiders need it to be just that.
KEY MATCHUP: Steelers offensive line vs. Raiders defensive line. Pittsburgh’s offensive line has struggled and Las Vegas, outside of DE Maxx Crosby, can’t get into opposing backfields. This could be an opportunity for the Steelers to finally establish a run game and give Pickett time to throw. Or it could be Raiders chance to disrupt an offense.
KEY INJURIES: Pittsburgh WR Gunner Olszewski (concussion) did not practice Thursday and S Minkah Fitzpatrick (chest) was limited. Las Vegas CB Jakorian Bennett (hamstring) and DT Bilal Nichols (hamstring/hand) were limited in practice.
SERIES NOTES: Even with last season’s Steelers victory, the Raiders have had the upper hand recently, winning six of the past nine meetings. … Pittsburgh has especially struggled in this series when the Steelers have had to go on the road. The Steelers’ last beat the Raiders outside of Pittsburgh in 1995. … This is the first meeting in Las Vegas. … Last season’s game was QB Derek Carr’s last start in a Raiders uniform. He was benched four days later and signed with the New Orleans Saints in the offseason.
STATS AND STUFF: The Raiders scored a touchdown on the opening drive of each of the first two games. That’s the first time they have done that since 1989. Those two drives account for more points (14) than Las Vegas has scored in the other series combined (13). … Las Vegas is the only team that has not given up a sack this season. This is the second time the Raiders have not allowed a sack through the first two games, the other time occurring in 1977. … LB Robert Spillane played the past four seasons for the Steelers. He leads the Raiders with 21 tackles, including two tackles for loss and a sack. … K Daniel Carlson is three points shy of 600. Only five other Raiders have accomplished that. … The Raiders are two victories short of 500 in franchise history. Nine other teams have reached that mark. … WR Davante Adams has receptions in 117 consecutive games, the NFL’s fifth-longest active streak. … Steelers LBs T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith became the first teammates to get a sack and score a touchdown in the same game since the sack became an official statistic in 1982 when both of them reached the end zone last week against Cleveland. … Watt and Highsmith’s touchdowns compensated for a defense that struggled against the running game for a second straight week. The Steelers have allowed 386 yards on the ground through two games, worst in the NFL. … While Pittsburgh has dominated on “Monday Night Football” (last week’s victory over the Browns improved their home winning streak on Monday night to 21), things are a little more even on Sunday nights. The Steelers are 31-27 on Sunday nights, including 20-15 under Mike Tomlin. … Pittsburgh has struggled when playing out West for years. The Steelers are 20-37 in the Pacific time zone. … This is the first of three trips out West for Pittsburgh, who plays at the Los Angeles Rams on Oct. 22 and at Seattle on Dec. 31. … The Steelers have struggled to get anything going on offense, particularly early in games. Pittsburgh needed five drives to earn a first down against San Francisco in Week 1. It took four drives to get a first down in Week 2. Pittsburgh’s 24 first downs are last in the NFL through two weeks. … Against the Browns the Steelers became just the second team since 1991 to win a game it was trailing in the fourth quarter despite having negative yardage over the final 15 minutes. … Watt is the only player in NFL history to get at least 80 sacks and 15 takeaways in his first 100 games. Sunday night will be Watt’s 90th game in the NFL.
FANTASY TIP: Steelers RB Najee Harris. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of the past two seasons, but has just 74 yards through two games this season. The Raiders allow 4.9 yards per rush, so if Harris is to get going, this could be the time he does it.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada is getting booed. Time to silence fans may be running out
By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Matt Canada has been here before.
Many times.
At LSU. At Maryland. At Wisconsin and nearly every other stop during the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator’s nomadic coaching career.
Pressure comes with the gig when you make a living sitting in “the chair” as Canada calls his seat in the coach’s box.
Still, what happened in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s game against Cleveland was new, even for someone as well-traveled as Canada.
When Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett was overrun for a 3-yard loss with just over three minutes to play, forcing a punt that gave the Browns one last possession, chants of “Fire Canada” bounced from one side of Acrisure Stadium to the other.
The outburst was brief. It was also unmistakable. And, to hear Canada tell it, understandable.
“They want us to play better,” Canada said. “There’s nothing wrong with their passion and those things … We’re not running away from it. We expect to be better. We’re going to be better. I firmly believe that.”
Time may be running out to prove it.
Two years ago, he was a first-year NFL coordinator who had to walk the fine line between implementing his system without alienating Ben Roethlisberger. The results were mixed.
Last fall he oversaw the transition from Mitch Trubisky to the then-rookie Pickett, trying to make sure he didn’t give the young franchise quarterback more than he could handle. The results were mixed.
They were not mixed during the preseason. Pickett led the first-team offense to touchdowns for all five drives he was on the field. Optimism abounded.
It took all of eight quarters of games that actually counted for the good vibes, or “mojo” as coach Mike Tomlin put it, to vanish, replaced by frustration internally and palpable anger externally. The group that looked ready to take a massive step forward in August now looks much as it has each of the past two Septembers: inconsistent and ineffective at best, overmatched at worst.
The Steelers (1-1) head to Las Vegas (1-1) on Sunday having scored exactly two offensive touchdowns through two games. And while San Francisco may have the best defense in the NFL and the Browns not too far behind, it’s the way Pittsburgh’s offense is playing that’s troubling.
Pickett is occasionally forcing throws and missing open receivers. The offensive line has been unable to open holes for running backs Najee Harris or Jaylen Warren.
Asked this week if the offense has any identity, Pickett shrugged.
“Clearly, we don’t have one,” he said.
Maybe because it’s hard to develop one when you can’t stay on the field. The Steelers have all of 24 first downs through two weeks. No team has fewer.
In the center of it all is Canada, the straw-hat wearing, sunglass-rocking, beach-house-owning self-described football junkie who is struggling to find the success he enjoyed during previous career stops, most notably at the University of Pittsburgh in 2016 when the Panthers averaged more than 40 points a game and upset both Penn State and eventual national champion Clemson.
He is well-versed in how things work. He knows the quarterbacks get all of the credit when things go well and all of the blame when they don’t, even though neither is actually true. It’s even worse for offensive coordinators, who get none of the credit and all of the blame.
Still, he insists “it’s an awesome job.”
For how much longer is uncertain. Canada has never stayed in one place more than four years. He’s currently in his fourth season with the Steelers, spending 2020 as quarterbacks coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2021 when Randy Fichtner was not retained.
His weekly debriefings with reporters are littered with the same phrases over and over again. He makes it a point to never criticize a player publicly or get too detailed in what mistakes were made. He is trying to remain upbeat, repeatedly praising his players’ attitudes and energy.
“We’ve got to find (a rhythm) and we will find it,” Canada said. “I just know it’s going to happen. Just based on our players. Players get all the credit. We’re going to start playing the right way and get ourselves going and making those plays and it’s all going to take off from there.”
The earlier in games the better. The Steelers didn’t get a first down until the final two minutes of the first half in the opener. It came a little earlier against the Browns but not by much. The game script isn’t exactly going to plan. Not by a long shot. And Canada’s boss has taken notice.
“We have to anticipate schematics of those that we play against a little bit better,” Tomlin said.
The translation is simple. Adjustments need to be made sooner, not when the halftime act is warming up.
Pittsburgh has one of the youngest offenses in the league. Pickett is in his second year. So is wide receiver George Pickens. Harris and tight end Pat Freiermuth are in their third. All came from successful college programs. All won at a high level. They haven’t won at a high level yet in the NFL, and if the Steelers’ sluggish start lingers, Tomlin knows there’s a chance their confidence could get rattled.
“It can’t paralyze you,” Tomlin said. “And it certainly can’t paralyze us in terms of training them and demanding that they continue to work and position themselves to be what they’re capable of being and what we need them to be.”
What Canada needs is a step forward against the Raiders. Then another one next week against Houston. Until that happens, the questions about what is going wrong will keep coming, and so will the boos.
And a coach who has hopped from job to job, sometimes by choice, sometimes not, knows it.
“We’ve got to do everything better,” Canada said. “And until we do it, there’s nothing else to say.”
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