Airing of Grievances/Feats of Strength: Pittsburgh earns new 'Boo City' nickname despite Steelers clawing out win vs. Browns

When Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi dubbed Pittsburgh “Boo City, Pa.” on Monday, I think he was referring to his own team’s fan base and their reaction to his current quarterback, Phil Jurkovec.

I don’t think he was referring to Steelers fans reacting to his former quarterback Kenny Pickett and the plodding NFL offense he has been steering of late.

But, hey, if the cleat fits, wear it.

Yes, boos from the Acrisure Stadium customers poured down for a second straight week to open the Steelers schedule. And rightfully so.

Fortunately, the Black and Gold defense outscored its own offense — and the Cleveland Browns — to give the franchise a head-scratching 26-22 victory to even its record at 1-1.

Here are this week’s “Feats of Strength” and “Airing of Grievances” as the Steelers won their 21st consecutive “Monday Night Football” game on home turf.

Feats of strength

Outstanding outside linebackers: Not only were T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith two of the best defensive players during the game, they were also the team’s best offensive players.

Highsmith had an interception return for a touchdown on the game’s first snap.

.@STEELERS PICK-6 ON THE FIRST PLAY

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— NFL (@NFL) September 19, 2023

In the fourth quarter, Highsmith stripped Browns quarterback DeShaun Watson, and Watt scooped it for a touchdown.

ANOTHER HIGHSMITH AND WATT COMBO. TOUCHDOWN STEELERS.

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— NFL (@NFL) September 19, 2023

“We both got wide. Alex just had a phenomenal rush. I was coming off a chip, so I had a little bit of room to see the play progress. I just saw the ball come out and, thankfully, I didn’t dive on it. I was able to scoop it and score,” Watt said.

Highsmith totaled seven tackles. Watt had four, two for a loss and four QB hits. Plus he tallied a sack to set the Steelers all-time record at 81.5.

Backup OLB Markus Golden also had a sack, and rookie Nick Herbig drew a facemask penalty on Watson (his second 15-yard penalty of the game, if you can believe that) on a near sack.

In all, the defense collected four turnovers.

M-V-P(ressley): Pressley Harvin followed a strong preseason punting the football with a rough Week 1 against San Francisco. But he was good on Monday night. Four of his seven punts were downed inside the 20. One of his punts went for 61 yards.

That was important because with the way the defense was allowing the Browns to run the ball (more on that to come in a moment), the Steelers needed to put the Browns on as long of a field as possible.

“Pressley punted great tonight. Putting them on long fields was huge,” Highsmith said. “We were still undisciplined against the run in different ways, and we need to get that fixed ASAP.”

Thanks, in part, to Harvin’s punting, the Browns had two drives that began inside the 10-yard line that ended in fumbles.

Pony out of the cage: Not only did wide receiver George Pickens find some room to roam, but he found it over the middle of the field. Both of those sights were rare in 2022.

On Monday, it happened a few times, and the second-year wideout took advantage of the space and the targets on routes designed to go between the numbers. That specifically happened on his 71-yard catch-and-run touchdown before halftime.

PICKETT TO PICKENS. 71-YARD TD.

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— NFL (@NFL) September 19, 2023

“We had some shots early over the middle. George did a great job on a couple of things, and that run-after-catch touchdown was huge. We want to continue to be versatile in his route tree and certain things we do with different guys,” Pickett said.

Pickens had 127 yards receiving on the night. Fifty-six of those yards came after that catch. He had only 104 yards after the catch all of last year.

Missing Myles: Cleveland’s star pass rusher Myles Garrett was largely quiet on the night. He was limited to one tackle and one quarterback hit with no sacks.

The offensive line kept Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa out of the sack column as well in Week 1.

“We just came up with a good game plan. Not putting ourselves in bad spots to let these elite pass rushers we’ve seen (beat us),” center Mason Cole said.

Next week the Las Vegas Raiders boast Maxx Crosby. He had 12.5 sacks last year.

Airing of grievances

Odious offense: The Steelers offense spent another 60 minutes suggesting many of the strides made in the offseason were limited to preseason success.

The club was 4 for 14 on third downs. Pickett was ineffective and inaccurate, missing on 15 of his 30 throws and posting a passer rating of 71.8. Of his 222 passing yards, 71 of them came on the touchdown to Pickens, and most of that was after the catch.

It wasn’t just Pickett who deserved scrutiny for the offensive inefficiency. Chuks Okorafor was busted for two false starts and was part of an offensive line that generated no push in the run game — only 55 yards on 21 attempts (eight carries for one net yard in the first half).

Plus, offensive coordinator Matt Canada had his usual awe-inspiring moments of ill-timed creativity. Like the weekly handoff to a wide receiver that killed a drive in the third quarter with a 2-yard loss and an attempt at a rarely used read option on third-and-1 in the fourth quarter that yielded a 3-yard loss for Pickett with three minutes remaining.

Receivers running low: Aside from Pickens, the rest of the receiving corps looked depleted without Diontae Johnson.

Gunner Olszewski touched the ball twice and bad things happened. He mysteriously fielded a first-quarter kickoff near the sideline that could’ve gone out of bounds. Then, later in the first half, he got popped after a reception and fumbled. Fortunately the Browns missed a field goal on the possession. Then he left the game with a concussion.

Austin, tight end Pat Freiermuth, Allen Robinson II and Myles Boykin combined for just five catches and 29 yards.

Ragged run defense: Even though Browns star running back Nick Chubb got knocked out of the game with what appeared to be a devastating knee injury, the Browns gashed the Steelers run defense.

Before leaving with the injury, Chubb had 64 yards on 10 carries. His backup, Jerome Ford, ended up with 106 yards on 16 carries including a 69-yard gallop that nearly resulted in a touchdown.

JEROME FORD REVERSES FIELD FOR THE 69-YARD RUN

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— NFL (@NFL) September 19, 2023

That was on the heels of Christian McCaffrey’s 65-yard scamper for a score last week. In total, Cleveland had 198 yards on the ground after San Francisco posted 188. Those 386 ground yards allowed are the most in football over the first two weeks.

It looks like losing Cameron Heyward in the San Francisco game is going to be an even bigger hurdle to overcome than we all thought.