Steelers 17 (+4.5), Rams 12

1st Quarter

Steelers first drive starts with a snap over the head of Rudolph, Rams pick it up for a scoop and score. 7-0 Rams. Steelers then go 3 and out, followed by the Rams punting after picking up 10 yards. Steelers take over at their own 32 and have some success with slant passes before having to punt at the LA 44. Rams have success running with Gurley on their drive but ultimately punt at their own 42. Steelers take over at their own 18 and use 2 deep balls to Juju and Johnson to move to the LA 29. Rudolph gets picked off but is aided by a DPI call. The drive finishes with a James Washington 3 yard TD. 7-7.

2nd Quarter

Rams go 3 and out before Steelers take over at their own 14. They run the ball and continue with short passes, moving to the LA 49. A sack of Rudolph and the Steelers punt at the 50. LA takes over and completes an 18 yard pass and a DPI call to the Pit 47, before getting stopped and having to punt. Back to back punts and Pittsburgh fumbles off a James Washington reception in LA territory which leads to LA taking over on their own 38; Goff was then sacked throwing a pass, but it was ruled a fumble and Minkah Fitzpatirck ran it back for a TD. It was reviewed and looked clearly to be an incomplete pass, but the refs upheld it with 1:44 left in the half. 14-7 Steelers. The Rams on their final possession of the half end up moving the ball to the PIT 38 for a Zuerlein 56 yard FG, but it’s way wide and Pit leads at the half 14-7.

3rd Quarter

The 3rd quarter ultimately saw no drive go for more than 24 yards until the Rams final drive of the quarter. They started the drive with a nice 22 yard run from Gurley before a 24 yard completion to Robert Woods. The Rams got to the PIT 12 before they were stopped and Zuerlein settled for a 30 yard FG. 14-10 PIT.

4th Quarter

Two quick 3 and outs for both sides saw the Steelers get the ball at their own 5 yard line. Rudolph gets pressured by Aaron Donald and sacked for a safety to inch closer, 14-12 PIT with 12:46 to go. The Rams go 3 and out before the Steelers lead a long, methodical drive with 11 minutes left with a ton of short passes and runs to get to the LA 15, having to settle for a 33 yard FG to go up 17-12. The Rams would get a chance with 2:46 remaining as Goff ripped off.4 completions for 36 yards to get to the PIT 30, but followed that up with 4 straight incompletions to turn the ball over on downs, effectively ending the game. Steelers win 17-12.

Stats
• Rams 306 yards vs Steelers 273 yards
• Rams 4.4 YPP vs Steelers 4.0 YPP
• Rams and Steelers both with a defensive touchdown, 13 points of total offense
• Goff 22/21 for 243 yards (5.9 YPA), 0 TDs, 3 turnovers
• Rudolph 22/38 242 yards (6.4 YPA) 1 TD
• Gurley 12 carries for 73 yards (6.1 YPC)
• Brown/Henderson 9 carries for 14 yards
• Robert Woods 7 catches on 11 targets for 95 yards and Everett 8 catches on 12 targets for 68 yards
• James Washington 6 catches on 7 targets for 90 yards and 1 TD and Diontae Johnson 4 catches on 6 targets for 64 yards

Matt’s Takeaway: These are two offenses that are really struggling right now. The Rams are clearly much more explosive when they use Gurley, but the mystery continues as to why he doesn’t get the carries he once received. The Rams OL is playing pitiful as Goff was under duress the entire game, and he completely panics under pressure. On the other side of the ball, the Steelers had a couple okay drives but ultimately were not able to get much going. Rudolph is a below average QB but he has some great weapons. I wouldn’t want to buy the Rams stock by any means but I don’t know if the Steelers necessarily outplayed the Rams in this one. They both were pretty stout on defense and pretty ugly on offense, but the Steelers were able to move the ball just slightly better than the Rams.