Steelers Vs. Titans Week 9 Pregame Report: Another Rivalry Renewed In Critical Prime Time Challenge

The Pittsburgh Steelers have no time to sulk after their ugly loss in Week 8 as they’re set to play host on Thursday night to the Tennessee Titans. This will be the third of four matchup’s the Steelers will encounter this season against the AFC South division. The Steelers have yet to win against the AFC South division in 2023, while the Titans have only beaten the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC North. This week’s visitors enter Pittsburgh rising high after their rookie quarterback Will Levis tossed four touchdowns last Sunday to book his first win in the NFL. Meanwhile, Kenny Pickett (ribs) is slated to start after getting knocked out of last week’s game and needs a faster start than what we’ve been seeing. With midseason momentum on the line for both teams, let’s get into this week’s details.

Record History Between The Steelers And Titans

Similar to what we saw last week, this week’s matchup features a modernized edition of an old AFC Central rivalry. Since the team moved to Tennessee in 1997, the Steelers are 11-14 against the Titans. This series has come with its fair share of ebbs and flows, as it took the Steelers eight tries between 1997 and 2001 to log a victory over the team from Tennessee. Meanwhile, Head Coach Mike Tomlin is 7-3 against the Titans since he began his tenure in 2007. Since Heinz Field, now Acrisure Stadium, has been built, the Steelers are 6-2 against the Titans in their friendly confines along the confluence.

How To Watch The Steelers Vs. Titans

This week’s action will be available nationwide to stream on Amazon Prime. Calling this game will be longtime announcer Al Michaels in his sophomore season with running mate Kirk Herbstreit. In last year’s debut for the Steelers on the new broadcast, the Steelers lost to the Cleveland Browns. But with that said, that was the only loss the Steelers have had in front of Herbstreit. Up until that point, they never lost a game he was working. On Thursday night games, the Steelers hold a 2-1 record over the Titans.

Referee Assignment For This Week

Officiating this week’s game is John Hussey and his crew. The Steelers were the victim of arguably one of the worst officiated games of the last decade last week, and are hoping this week’s game doesn’t result in a Hussey show. With that said, the crew is fairly split in called penalties. They have made 13 calls for offensive holding against the home team so far this year, compared to only seven against the visiting teams. Meanwhile, they’ve made 12 false start calls against the road teams in 2023, and only four false start penalties against the home teams. The Steelers seem to carry some extra positivity with them in games where Hussey is assigned. The Steelers are 6-3 all-time and 2-1 at home in Hussey-officiated games.

Titans: What To Watch For

Head Coach Mike Vrabel has built his team around one thing; playing physical football. Of course, that starts with star running back Derrick Henry. Henry has seen some early success as well as slower starts than what he’s used to. In his career against the Steelers, Tomlin’s group has found ways to keep a lid on Henry’s impact on the game. In his two games against the Steelers, he’s only logged 107 yards on the ground on 27 carries with a single touchdown. Ironically enough, in each of those games, the Steelers have emerged victorious. Therefore, the formula should be fairly simple for the Steelers; shut down Henry and good things happen. But they have not faced Levis yet.

For being one of the hotter quarterback names in the 2023 NFL Draft, only to fall to the 33rd overall selection, Levis was left with a lot to prove to earn his starting spot. With Ryan Tannehill (ankle) missing last week’s game and Thursday night’s game, Levis was given the keys to the offense and did not disappoint. On Sunday, Levis completed 19 of 29 passes for 238 yards and four touchdowns. He showed to have a strong connection with DeAndre Hopkins, especially deep down the field, and we can expect to see a similar scheme this week. The Steelers secondary is still licking their wounds from last week, and the Titans will be looking to take full advantage of those.

Steelers: What To Watch For

As the track record for 2023 has proved, any success the Steelers see will be on the shoulders of the defense. With that said, the Steelers defense has been a bit of a revolving door as of late to adjust to key injuries at multiple levels. Minkah Fitzpatrick (hamstring) was forced out of last week’s game in the first quarter and was subsequently declared out of this week’s game just hours after the final whistle blew. Cameron Heyward (groin) participated in the team’s preparation this week, and is expected to return soon. With Fitzpatrick out and the remainder of the secondary maintaining more of a patch-work experiment, look for the Steelers defensive front to put pressure on Levis to make errant throws and rush through his progressions.

After last week’s 10-point offensive output, it is tough to not put that unit under the microscope this week. Things seemed to have been corrected over the off-week when they left Los Angeles with an impressive victory, but the performance we saw last weekend was abysmal. One could chalk it up to Pickett having been forced to leave the game early, or the officiating crew having alternative motives, but it is difficult to win games by only scoring 10 points. However, in their game last week against the Atlanta Falcons, the Titans showed some tastes as to how to effectively move the ball against their defense, and it is more obscure than what we’ve seen.

Key Matchup to Watch

When quarterback Taylor Heinicke entered the game last week for the Atlanta Falcons against the Titans, the Titans carried a 14-3 lead. Heinicke found a way to score 20 points in only a single half of football to bring his team back to a slim 5-point loss. Hidden in that stretch are wrinkles that Pickett will need to follow to stay on the field, maintain possession of the football, and score in the red zone. One of those key wrinkles is executing on second down.

Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada has been one of the most predictive play-callers in the NFL. His cadence of run, run, pass is one that has been mocked by opposing defenses, yet remains unchanged and at the same time, unsuccessful. But if we look at Heinicke’s numbers in the second half last week, they reveal how the Titans play defense on different downs.

Overall, Heinicke completed 12 passes on 21 attempts for 175 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. While those numbers seem pedestrian, let's split those out deeper. On first down plays, he went 4-7 for 44 yards. On third down plays, he only completed one pass for 14 yards. Meanwhile, on second down plays, he went 6 for 8 for 106 yards. Looking at Pickett’s numbers so far in 2023, they are opposite of what Heinicke was able to do last week.

On first down plays, Pickett is 49 of 73 for 435 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. On third down plays, he is 32 of 65 for 522 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. On second down plays, Pickett is 40 for 60 for 368 yards, one touchdown and one interception. For those keeping track, when Pickett passes on first or second down, good things happen. But when he is forced to throw on third down plays, that is when he gets into trouble. With Heinicke showing the Titans tend to play a bit softer on second down plays, the offense must exploit that to stay on the field. If they fail to do so, there is less than a 50-percent chance Pickett completes his pass in the latter downs.

Current Odds

It does not appear as though oddsmakers expect a lot of fireworks out of this week’s edition of Thursday Night Football. The spread began the week at 3 points in favor of the Steelers, but have whittled down to 2.5 points. The point total for this game is the lowest of any other game on the slate this week, coming in at 36.5 points. The implied score oddsmakers anticipate is Steelers 19, Titans 16.

Final Score Prediction

Steelers games have been near impossible to forecast in 2023. In classic Tomlin fashion, the team rises up to big moments, only to lay down to inferior opponents. With that being said, it is hard to argue this game to be a high scoring affair. With the result likely relying on the defense to make big plays and the quarterback to execute late in the game, give me the better defense and quarterback. Prediction, Steelers 17, Titans 14.

What are you watching for on Thursday night? What do you think the final outcome will be? Let us know in the comments below!

#SteelerNation