Pittsburgh (3-2) at Las Vegas (2-3)
Sunday, 4:05 p.m. EDT, CBS
BetMGM NFL Odds: Steelers by 3.
Series record: Raiders lead 14-12.
Against the spread: Steelers 3-2; Raiders 2-3.
Last meeting: Steelers beat the Raiders 23-18 on Sept. 24, 2023, in Las Vegas.
Last week: Steelers lost to the Cowboys 20-17; Raiders lost to the Broncos 34-18.
Steelers offense: overall (23), rush (13), pass (27), scoring (26)
Steelers defense: overall (8), rush (5), pass (17), scoring (2T)
Raiders offense: overall (24), rush (30), pass (15T), scoring (22T)
Raiders defense: overall (17), rush (23), pass (16), scoring (28)
Turnover differential: Steelers plus-4; Raiders minus-7.
Steelers player to watch
WR George Pickens. The talented but mercurial Pickens caused a stir during last week’s loss to Dallas when he wore eye black that read “open (expletive) always.” It wasn’t just the eye black that caught people’s attention. Pickens played a career-low 34 snaps and didn’t appear to handle it very well. He openly sulked on the sideline and at one point slammed his helmet on the ground so hard it leaped over the bench. Coach Mike Tomlin downplayed Pickens’ diminished playing time, calling it load management, but for a team that desperately needs Pickens to be a difference-maker every week, the 23-year-old needs to be engaged and on the field.
Raiders player to watch
QB Aidan O’Connell gets another chance at being the starter after Gardner Minshew was benched this week. Coach Antonio Pierce also turned to O’Connell midway through last season, and he went 5-4 after taking over the position. But after Las Vegas signed Minshew in the offseason, the team had a quarterback competition that ultimately sent O’Connell back to the bench. Now he has a second chance to show the trust that Pierce had in him was not misplaced.
Key matchup
Raiders RTs vs. Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt. Watt loves to line up wide left and be an absolute nightmare for offensive tackles. He already has 4 1/2 sacks this season, and that doesn’t tell the complete story of how he can wreck offensive game plans. Thayer Munford is the usual starter at right tackle, but has missed the past two games with knee and ankle injuries and his status remains uncertain. The other tackle is rookie DJ Glaze, who has allowed two sacks this season.
Key injuries
Steelers: OLB Alex Highsmith (groin), OLB Nick Herbig (hamstring), OLB DeMarvin Leal (neck), RB Cordarrelle Patterson (ankle) and S Damontae Kazee (foot) are out. RB Jaylen Warren (knee) will play.
Raiders: WR Davante Adams (hamstring) will miss his third game in a row and WR Jakobi Meyers (ankle) also is out. TE Michael Mayer (personal) was placed on the non-football illness list. RB Zamir White (groin), G Jackson Powers-Johnson (knee), T Thayer Munford (knee and ankle), LB Tommy Eichenberg (hamstring) and S Trey Taylor (knee) were questionable.
Series notes
The Steelers have won the past two meetings, but the Raiders had won four of the previous five. … This is the second straight year the teams will meet in Las Vegas. They most recently played each other in Pittsburgh on Christmas Eve in 2022 and Las Vegas QB Derek Carr was benched the following Monday. … Though the teams haven’t played each other in the postseason since Jan. 1, 1984 in Los Angeles, they have a rich playoff history against each other. They each have won three times, the first meeting being the most famous. That Dec. 23, 1972 matchup was the “Immaculate Reception” game when Pittsburgh’s Franco Harris grabbed a batted pass just above the turf for a catch-and-run score as time expired to beat the Raiders 13-7.
Stats and stuff
The Steelers have dropped two straight following a 3-0 start. While the offense’s sluggish starts have been an issue, so has a defense that has given up 803 yards combined in the two losses. Pittsburgh allowed just 687 yards combined in its first three games. … QB Justin Fields will make his sixth straight start, though he may be running out of time to make a case he deserves to be the full-time starter over Russell Wilson, who is nearing a return from a calf injury he aggravated just before the season opener. Fields is coming off perhaps his shakiest performance of the season, completing just 15 of 27 passes last week against Dallas. Wilson was a full participant in practice this week for the first time since early September and could serve as the primary backup behind Fields. … The spate of injuries at outside linebacker means Jeremiah Moon, a second-year player claimed off waivers from Baltimore in February, is in line to make his first NFL start opposite perennial All-Pro T.J. Watt. … The Steelers are expected to have the same starting five offensive linemen in consecutive games for the first time this season. Injuries forced Pittsburgh to shuffle its lineup constantly over the opening month. … The Steelers want to be known as a run-first team. So far it’s not working. Pittsburgh is 29th in yards per carry. Najee Harris is 21st in the league in yards rushing (250), but his 3.3 yards per carry average is tied for the worst among qualified running backs. … Las Vegas’ Brock Bowers leads all tight ends with 28 receptions for 313 yards. … Raiders LB Robert Spillane, who played for the Steelers from 2019-22, will try to extend his double-digit tackle streak to six games to open this season. The others to accomplish that since the statistic was kept beginning in 1999 were Ray Lewis (1999), Zach Thomas (2005), Luke Kuechly (2016) and Denzel Perryman (2021). Perryman also played for the Raiders when he hit that mark. … DE Maxx Crosby is one sack from passing Anthony Smith (57 1/2) for third place in franchise history. … CB Jakorian Bennett has given up 11 completions on 23 targets. His 47.8% completion rate allowed is the fifth lowest at that position for those with at least 20 targets. … P AJ Cole averages a league-best 52.4 yards. Six of his punts have been 60 yards are longer, second only to Cleveland’s Corey Bojorquez, who has nine. … QB Aidan O’Connell has won three of his past four starts, all to end last season. He threw eight touchdown passes and no interceptions over that span. This is his first start since then. … The Raiders have had at least three sacks each of the past two games, and only three teams have a longer active streak. The Baltimore Ravens have the longest at four games.
Fantasy tip
The Steelers defense. Pittsburgh is tied for second in allowing 14.6 points per game, and it faces a Las Vegas offense with a new quarterback and without its top wide receiver and potentially its top running back. Not that the Raiders had a dynamic offense to begin with in averaging 19.2 points a game.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
