The Pittsburgh Steelers gave up a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter, as the New York Jets rallied from behind for a 24-20 victory at Acrisure Stadium.
Zach Wilson made his 2022 debut for the Jets, throwing for 252 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. The story of the day, though, was that Mike Tomlin made the switch from Mitch Trubisky to Kenny Pickett in the third quarter. Turnovers ruined his debut, though, and the Jets ended up coming away with the dramatic, last minute victory in front of the Steelers’ home crowd.
The Jets built a 10-0 lead in the first quarter on a 38 yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein and a two-yard touchdown pass from Braxton Berrios to Wilson.
Pittsburgh answered with a pair of field goals off the toe of Chris Boswell from 51 yards and 59 yards respectively, making it a 10-6 score at the half.
The Steelers switched to Pickett to start the second half, instantly giving a spark to the offense, leading them to two touchdowns to take a controlling 20-10 lead. Both of his scores were runs, one from 1 yard out and the other from 2 yards out.
But the Jets rallied themselves, marching down the field on two long scoring drives which would end up winning them the game. A 15 play, 91 yard drive was capped by a touchdown connection from Wilson to Corey Davis, cutting it to a 20-17 game. A 12 play, 70 yard touchdown drive ended the game, resulting in a 24-20 come-from-behind win for the Jets.
This was obviously a terrible loss for the Steelers. With a 1-3 record and a brutal part of their schedule upcoming, things do not look good for this team. Pickett provided a spark and there is clear evidence that he is the quarterback of the future for this team, but there is a lot of room to improve for this entire team, and they could be in for a very long season.
Pittsburgh will hit the road for a very difficult game next week against the Buffalo Bills. This will be Pickett’s first full week of preparation for what we assume will be a start in Buffalo.
Overall Record: 1-3
