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Defense in Dublin
Irish fans got a taste of what American football, and even a bit of classic Steeler football, looks like. SIx sacks, two picks, key tipped balls and a number of hurries added up to the performance people hoped for this summer from the highest paid defense in the NFL. Nick Herbig put up 1.5 sacks, Keanu Benton had 1.5 sacks and also helped the Steelers pick off Carson Wentz by tipping the ball at the line, redirecting it towards back-from-injury Steelers safety DeShon Elliott, who performed an Irish jig after the pick.
T.J. Watt also recorded a pick during the game after another batted ball at the line of scrimmage by himself. But overall, they reached a new stat. They limited the Vikings’ rushing game to only 70 yards, closer to the under 100 stat of a dominant defense.
Splitting the D (Defense)
D.K. Metcalf arrived in Ireland with 135 receiving yards through 3 games this season. He left after recording 126 in just the first half, including an 80-yard touchdown.
Another player who showed out in Ireland was running back Kenneth Gainwell. He put up 99 yards and 2 touchdowns because of an injury to the starting running back Jaylen Warren. The offense flipped the running script like the defense did – after averaged 67 yards per game, they reached over 100 for the first time this season, with rookie Kaleb Johnson showing his best running game of the season.
Aaron Rodgers had a solid game passing for 200 yards, 1 touchdown, and a 81% completion percentage, and arguably his best performance before the bye.
First of Many
For the first time in NFL history, a regular-season game was played in Dublin, Ireland at Croke Park. The stadium is mostly known for Gaelic football, but it played host for the Vikings and Steelers this weekend.
The stadium was sold out, hosting around 74,000 fans. When the NFL hosts international games, they have a bunch of different fans coming to watch teams play, but all the twirling towels, “Renegade”, and forcing the Vikings to go silent count on offense made this felt like a home Steelers game. This was their first international game since 2013, which was also against the Vikings in London. But as an overall for the NFL, this was a huge success.
