It won’t have the identical which means or really feel that it as soon as did, however a matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Las Vegas Raiders at 4:05 p.m. Sunday inside Allegiant Stadium is an enormous one for each groups.
The Steelers must bounce again after two ugly losses to the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys in back-to-back weeks, whereas the Raiders are going by means of fairly a little bit of turmoil and must discover a option to proper the ship.
Each groups are considerably banged up coming into this matchup, too, so there will likely be loads of new faces and names to find out about forward of kickoff.
There will likely be video games throughout the sport to observe, just like the turnover battle, tackling battle and extra. Make sure that to keep watch over key particular person matchups, although. There are many them this week prime to backside in all three phases for the Steelers in opposition to the Raiders.
Beneath are my 4 key matchups to observe on Sunday.
STEELERS OLB JEREMIAH MOON VS. RAIDERS LT KOLTON MILLER
As soon as Nick Herbig left the sport with an harm in opposition to the Cowboys, the go rush from the Steelers largely dried up. That’s as a result of the Cowboys might focus all of their consideration on T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward, and that basically hindered the Steelers, who didn’t blitz, both.
Now, Herbig is ready to overlook the sport in opposition to the Raiders. Alex Highsmith has been out a number of weeks, too. So reverse Watt, Jeremiah Moon has to step up and win his share of 1-on-1 matchups in opposition to Raiders’ LT Kolton Miller.
Miller has allowed 14 pressures on the season and has been charged with 6 sacks allowed by means of the primary 5 weeks of the season, in keeping with Professional Soccer Focus. There’s an actual alternative there for Moon, who had only one stress on 14 go rush reps in opposition to Dallas.
If Moon can deal with his 1-on-1 reps and generate some stress, that may take some weight off the shoulders of Watt and Heyward from a go rush perspective. That’ll go a good distance in direction of forcing Raiders’ QB Aidan O’Connell into errors, which ought to assist the Steelers win the sport.
RAIDERS TE BROCK BOWERS VS. STEELERS SECONDARY
With Davante Adams on the shelf and shortly to be traded, and Jakobi Meyers considerably banged up, the Raiders’ passing assault is all the way down to some inexperienced receivers going into the matchup in opposition to the Steelers. They do have a powerful rookie tight finish in Brock Bowers to work with, although.
Bowers has been excellent since coming into the league. He’s hauled in 28 passes for 313 yards and a landing on the season, and has been a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses. Thus far this season, Bowers traces up within the slot 56% of the time. He wins typically there on account of his route operating and basic really feel for timing and house. It’s what made him nice on the collegiate degree, and it’s very clearly carried over to the NFL.
He’ll be a tall process for a Steelers secondary that has had some communication points in latest weeks, and hasn’t gotten the extent of play anticipated within the slot to this point this season. It appears impossible the Steelers would match rookie Beanie Bishop Jr. up in opposition to Bowers, so guys like DeShon Elliott, Terrell Edmunds and Minkah Fitzpatrick will possible get the assignments.
Take away Bowers, and the Raiders shouldn’t have the ability to do a lot of something within the passing sport. That bodes nicely for the Steelers. They’ve the benefit on paper in that matchup proper now.
STEELERS WR GEORGE PICKENS VS. RAIDERS CB JAKORIAN BENNETT
Getting into the Week 6 matchup, George Pickens is coping with fairly a little bit of turmoil and desires a powerful response. Final season after having some angle and habits points, Pickens put up 4/195/2 in opposition to the Cincinnati Bengals. It will be good if he might try this once more this week in opposition to the Raiders.
Whereas Jack Jones profiles because the No. 1 nook for the Raiders, Jakorian Bennett is having one heck of a yr for the Silver and Black. He’s allowed simply 9 receptions on 21 targets on the yr for 100 yards. He additionally has 6 go breakups within the course of. Whenever you consider sticky protection corners, Bennett doesn’t actually come to thoughts, however he’s having an awesome yr.
Pickens goes to get further consideration from the Raiders on Sunday. He must discover a option to make performs.
RAIDERS EDGE MAXX CROSBY VS. STEELERS RT BRODERICK JONES
Maxx Crosby is likely one of the best EDGE defenders in soccer, proper there with T.J. Watt, Myles Garrett and Micah Parsons. He’s excellent.
Nonetheless, he’s coming into the matchup with the Steelers a bit banged up, coping with an ankle harm. That would sluggish him down, which is nice information for the Steelers and proper deal with Broderick Jones. Crosby traces up totally on the left aspect of the protection (proper aspect of the offense) and does most of his injury from there. He has simply 40 snaps on the fitting aspect of the protection this season, in comparison with 188 snaps on the left aspect.
The Steelers know all too nicely how good Crosby is. Final season, he had 9 pressures and a sack in opposition to the Steelers in Week 3. This time, he’ll go in opposition to Jones as an alternative of Chukwuma Okorafor. Jones has been up and down this season, however appears to be discovering his sport once more.
Jones allowed simply 2 pressures final week in opposition to the Cowboys and is beginning to settle in. He’s an awesome athlete on the place and has good energy, so he matches up nicely with Crosby. Doing it on the sector is a tall process, although, as Crosby makes even one of the best of one of the best look foolish.
If Jones can preserve Crosby at bay, the Raiders shouldn’t have the ability to generate a lot of a go rush, which ought to give Justin Fields a clear pocket to work from.
