Charles LeClaire-US Presswire
Many times in the second week of an NFL season, things that seemed to be unreal in the opening week disappear and what was expected seems to happen. Week two’s match up between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets was a prime example of this coming 100 percent true. The Steelers dominated the Jets in every phase of the game, which led to the lopsided 27-10 score.
In week one the Jets’ offense seemed unstoppable in their 48-28 shellacking of the Buffalo Bills while the Steelers’ defense looked vulnerable in their 31-19 defeat at the hands of Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. During the Pittsburgh/New York battle during week two, the real teams showed their faces and now we can gauge a little bit better what to expect for the remainder of the season.
Ben Roethlisberger had a normal Roethlisberger kind of performance (24-31, 275 yards, two TD) as he led his offense to a total of 331 yards and the 27 points, most of them following the Jets initial offensive outburst. The Steelers also dominated the time of possession battle as they held onto the rock for a total of 36:36 as opposed to the Jets 23:24. Any time a team is playing the Steelers, especially in Pittsburgh, the time of possession battle is a must win for the road team and New York failed miserably at it.
Another aspect where the Jets failed at was the total offensive yardage one. New York managed to produce just 219 yards of total offense which displayed both Pittsburgh’s defensive dominance and their own offensive futility. Mark Sanchez resembled the preseason Sanchez (in which he failed to lead the offense to a touchdown on 15 possessions) much more than he did the week one Sanchez (three touchdown passes and four offensive touchdown drives), which is why the Jets offense became completely stagnant following a Nick Folk 38-yard field goal that placed them up 10-6 with 9:35 left in the second quarter. That would be the last points the Jets would score as Pittsburgh went on a 21-0 run during which Sanchez went more than 138 minutes of actual time without completing a pass.
Next on Pittsburgh’s schedule is a trip to Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, where they will take on the winless Oakland Raiders (0-2) while the Jets will head down to Sun Life Stadium to face their division rival, the Miami Dolphins (1-1) who just destroyed Oakland on Sunday.
