Alright so I was rewatching that Steelers vs Raiders game from last night, right? Felt like digging into who really showed up in the trenches. Grabbed my notebook during my coffee break today and decided to focus purely on tackles and rushing yards.
Started with the raw numbers
First thing I did was pull up the official stat sheet. Scrolled straight to defensive tackles section – man, Minkah Fitzpatrick popped off with 9 solo tackles! Wrote that down in all caps with three exclamation points. Then checked rushing stats and nearly spilled my coffee seeing Najee Harris hit 21 carries.
The replay grind
Cued up NFL Game Pass on my second monitor while eating lunch. Spent like 20 minutes just rewatching every single rushing attempt. Made tick marks whenever:
- A defender made a tackle right at scrimmage
- Any broken tackle where the runner gained extra yards
- Those ugly gang tackles where three guys pile on
Seriously lost count how many times I had to rewind that Jacobs run where he dragged two Steelers for five extra yards. Added a sticky note on my screen saying “RAIDERS O-LINE DESERVES COOKIES”.
Spotlight moments
Few things jumped out during my note-taking:
- T.J. Watt’s third quarter tackle behind LOS? Pure filth. Rewatched that angle four times.
- That weird play where Alex Highsmith accidentally tackled his own teammate? Still confused.
- Noticed Maxx Crosby was everywhere – even when he didn’t make the tackle, he redirected runners.
Started color-coding my notebook pages: blue for Steelers defensive wins, black for Raiders offensive successes. Looks like abstract art now.
The “ah-hah” stuff
Biggest takeaway after three hours? Steelers won through pure volume. Their top four tacklers combined for more stops than Raiders’ entire starting linebacker corps. But Raiders rushers consistently gained 2-3 extra yards after first contact. Both fanbases would hate hearing this – Steelers front seven looked better on paper, but Raiders runners fought harder per carry.
Anyway, just packed up my notebook covered in coffee rings and scribbles. Might turn these notes into proper stats sheets tomorrow… or might just nap. We’ll see.
