Vikings vs. Steelers in Ireland - Pregame Thoughts
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings both took a long, transatlantic flight to Ireland for the NFL’s first regular season in the country’s history. The game will take place at 9:30 am Pittsburgh time. The Rooney family emigrated from Newry in Northern Ireland around 1846, and the late Dan Rooney is well-known for his philanthropic work, generating millions of dollars to promote peace during a time of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Later on, in 2009, he would be named the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland - there’s no doubt that the Steelers’ ties to the country of Ireland run DEEP. I bring all that up to say that this oughta feel like a proper home game for the guys, despite the fact that the game is not in Pittsburgh. The Steelers have commercial rights on the “island of Ireland” that other NFL teams don’t have, and they’re meant to spearhead the league’s efforts to expand the game into that country. Dublin is our tahn.
The Vikings figure to be the Steelers biggest challenge yet according to the eye test. Unfortunately for them, they’ll be without QB JJ McCarthy (ankle), LB Andrew Van Ginkel (neck), and OG Donovan Jackson (wrist). McCarthy was expected, but the loss of Andrew Van Ginkel is significant - a really complete football player who sets the physicality for them off the edge. Their fanbase seems pretty high on Dallas Turner, who will likely step in as the starter there, so we’ll see how that works out, but that’s tough for them. Also, their starting LG is out, so their backup is going to have to slow down the hot hand that is Cam Heyward, who has made a big play in every game so far this year. Prayers to that young man (Joe Huber - rookie UDFA).
For the Steelers, we’ll be without Alex Highsmith (ankle), but we’re getting mostly positive injury news everywhere else - DeShon Elliot (knee) was a full participant in practice yesterday and will return tomorrow, while Joey Porter Jr. (hammy) was able to log LPs all week and is officially listed as questionable. Jaylen Warren (knee) also drew a questionable tag, but word on the street is he will play - they elevated RB Trey Sermon for a second consecutive week, just in case. DeShon Elliot’s return is MASSIVE for our defense in my opinion, and he instantly injects more life into our run defense as a really high-end box safety. After a promising game against the run last week, let’s hope that trend continues against RB Jordan Mason and the Vikings. Also, if Joey Porter Jr. is able to go, then I think we’ll be able to be dynamic from a schematics standpoint, assuming DC Teryl Austin is up for the task.
The matchup between the Vikings defense and the Steelers offense is a big mismatch to me. After last week’s game, I talked about there not being much good happening on offense, and that has me deeply concerned for this particular game. Their DC, Brian Flores, likes to use pre-snap disguises, and Aaron Rodgers really struggled to diagnose things post snap when the Jets and the Vikings played last season. On top of that, he doesn’t call a scared brand of football - he’ll bring all sorts of pressure, and I know Rodgers didn’t get sacked last week, but it’s not like he was operating from a clean pocket. All that has me concerned. In the play above (NYJ vs. MIN in London from 2024), the Vikings are running a play called cover 0 “rat”, which is essentially cover 0 with man coverage everywhere, but at the snap, a LB will bail out into coverage to cut off short crossers and things of that nature. In this case, it’s Andrew Van Ginkel who slips right into Rodgers’ throwing window for a pick 6. Obviously, AVG will be out of this game, but I’m sure Brian Flores remembers this playcall - let’s hope Aaron Rodgers remembers it too. There’s a lot of the same core guys on this defense, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t go back to it. That play kinda encapsulates how the Minnesota Vikings play defense in my opinion, and I’d be lying if I told yinz I was confident in our ability to move the ball against it.
via NFL Pro.
On the opposite side of the ball, I don’t think it’s quite as big a mismatch, but I would give the Steelers defense a fairly significant edge over the Vikings offense, although I have some reservations about the Steelers coaching staff setting them up for success. We’ll see how it shakes out, but in a perfect world, we would put an early end to the run game and force QB Carson Wentz to play hero ball. Sometimes he’s on and he shreds people, but sometimes he holds onto that football too long and sets the offense on fire. We saw glimpses of that in their blowout win against the Bengals last week, but that’s the Bengals. Whatever reservations you have about the speed of our secondary, you have to acknowledge that there’s a ton of playmakers back there, and Wentz has a propensity to make mistakes. That’s why he’s a journeyman at this stage of his career. With that being said, if they get the run game going, and we can’t get home with our pass rush, he will shred us to pieces, so we shall see. With a backup guard on Cam Heyward, and Nick Herbig (rightfully) getting a starter’s share of snaps in lieu of Highsmith’s injury, I think we’re going to force Wentz into a mistake or two.
No doubt, this is our biggest challenge yet. Big Ben Roethlisberger touched on this on his podcast, and I’m going to begrudgingly agree, but I think there’s a good chance that we get outcoached in this game. I’m sorry, but based on what the tape says from the first three weeks, I am just really lacking confidence in this staff - Arthur Smith, Mike Tomlin, and Teryl Austin. Maybe they’re reserved in their playcalling on purpose in the early stages of the season, and maybe they unleash something we haven’t seen tomorrow, but until I see that I’m going to assume it’s business as usual, and business as usual won’t cut it against the Vikings in my opinion. Still, I’m an optimist at heart and I have a ton of confidence in the PLAYERS on this team, so I’m going to tune in and expect the W no less.
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