Two at 3-0

It was a very successful football weekend in Pittsburgh as both the Steelers and the Pitt Panthers won and improved their records to 3-0 on the season, and both teams did it in similar fashion - with suffocating defenses.

Pitt defeated Louisville 23-20.  Louisville was in the game because of two big plays - a 70+ yard run for a TD and a pass where the receiver got behind what appeared to be broken down coverage in the secondary.  Other than that, the Cardinals were pretty much impotent against Pitt's defense, which appears to be as strong as we've seen in Oakland for quite sometime.   

The other big news of the day was that Pitt was wearing an "alternate uniform" on Saturday.  It was monochromatic steel grey uniform and helmet with the Panther Head logo.  The helmet was pretty cool, the rest of the uniform, not so much.  The uniform was designed to be a tribute to the region's "Steel Heritage."  If they want to do that next year, why not make the unis back and gold and call themselves the "Steelers"?

On Sunday, the Steelers trailed the Houston Texans 21-17 at halftime, and things looked dicey, especially on defense.  However, whatever Mike Tomlin and his coaches devised at halftime sure worked, because the Steelers defense took charge and positively smothered Deshaun Watson and the Texans offense.  I think that they managed all of two first downs in the second half, and the Steelers came away with a 28-21 win.

The "feel good" story of the day was the appearance of all three Watt Brothers, JJ, Derek, and TJ, in the game.

Derek got injured early and didn't play much, JJ was held to only four tackles, and TJ had his usual big day for the Steelers, including a monster sack of Watson late in the game that pretty much ended all hope for the Texans.

One of the cooler moment of the day was the pre-game coin toss, that featured the two brothers as Captains....

Up next, Pitt takes on North Carolina State on Saturday, and the Steelers face the Titans, also 3-0, in Nashville on Sunday.  Before that, though, is a dandy game on MNF tonight, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens.  These are the two best teams in the League (according to the Grandstander Power Rankings) and a possible preview of the AFC Championship Game.