Madden Monday: A play from the win over Raiders that may change the course of Steelers' season

For Mark Madden of TribLive and 105.9 The X, picking a Pittsburgh Steelers hero from their 32-13 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday afternoon isn’t easy.

But he is going with running back Najee Harris.

NAJEE HARRIS ARE YOU SERIOUS!?

????: #PITvsLV on CBS/Paramount+
????: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/6uP3rKdzdD

— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024

“Najee is the man of the match,” Madden said during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast. “He had 106 yards on just 14 carries. (T.J.) Watt — with the two forced fumbles — was great. But he’s supposed to be great. Patrick Queen had 13 tackles. I noticed him more.”

Picking an individual play of the game was easier for Madden, though. In fact, he says it may go down as the biggest play of the year.

“There was one call that could change the course of the Steelers’ season,” Madden said. “If that roughing the passer call in the second quarter that took away the interception stands, and the Steelers go to halftime trailing, I wonder who the quarterback is to start the second half. I think it may well have been Russell Wilson.”

I agree. That might have happened. Madden is referring to the first of two very questionable roughing the passer calls that went against Vegas. This one occurred from the Raiders’ 19-yard line with just over a minute left in the first half.

Watt had just created a turnover, and Fields threw an interception to the Raiders’ Divine Deablo. However, Matthew Butler was flagged for the nebulous “falling with his full body weight on the quarterback” call, even though he pulled his arms away from Fields on his way down to the ground.

So the Steelers were allowed to keep the football, and they ended up scoring a touchdown to go into halftime up 12-7.

More sports

• Feats of Strength: Timely T.J. Watt turnovers, Najee Harris' breakout day lead Steelers to win in Las Vegas
• T.J. Watt's 2 forced fumbles help Steelers shut down Raiders in road victory
• Rookie receiver Roman Wilson gets helmet for 1st time when Steelers face Raiders

With the way the offense was struggling at the time, Madden might be right. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin very well could’ve made a change to Wilson, who was deemed healthy enough for the first time to be the No. 2 quarterback.

It is a change that Madden would’ve endorsed.

“I think Fields stinks,” Madden said. “He’s a running quarterback, and he does run the ball very well. They had him do it a bit more. He certainly is good near the goal line. But he had 145 passing yards this week, and his arm was all over the place. He had 131 passing yards last week. How far is that going to get against good teams — that running stuff and not being able to throw the ball?”

While Madden would go to Wilson, he expects Tomlin to stick with Fields.

“I think everything (Fields) has done is fool’s gold,” Madden continued. “Russ was brought in here to be the QB 1. If you look at how Fields is playing, it’s not good enough. You can’t just look at the guy and say, ‘Well, he wins. Well, he wins. Well, he wins.’ Tomlin has to look forward to say, ‘What can (Fields) do? Where can he get us?’ And the answer is not nearly far enough. Will Russ do better? Will Russ get sacked a million times because of his lack of mobility? I don’t know. But you brought him in to be QB1, so you’ve got to find out.”

Madden and I also talk about the Steelers’ defensive performance, more ups and downs for George Pickens, the Penguins’ first three games and the Pirates’ offseason plans.