San Francisco 49ers vs Pittsburgh Steelers: Last chance for Steelers

Life is good

Opening your season with back-to-back road games and sitting at 2-0 before your home opener must be nice. I think that Niners fans haven't been so excited about a game in quite some time. After some concerning reports from the training camp about Garoppolo, he did just fine in the first two games, completing 67% of the passes for 462 yards and 4 touchdowns. He does have a tendency to force the ball into some tight windows, which resulted in 2 interceptions. He will have to be extra careful with that vs Pittsburgh who has Nelson and Haden that are playing some very decent football on the outside.

Tevin Coleman suffered a high ankle injury, but the rest of the crew picked up the slack easily. Matt Breida is known for ending up at the top of the depth chart one way or another, despite all odds. Raheem Mostert is their change of pace back and somebody that can do a lot of damage in the passing game, while Justin Wilson is handling the goal-line work. It is interesting that their best receiver from last year (Dante Pettis) has been completely invisible. He played only a handful of snaps in week 1, while not being targeted in week 2, despite playing 35 snaps. Deebo Samuel completely outplayed him and might take over some of his work, moving forward.

Defensively, they also improved quite a bit. Robert Saleh decided to modify that Seattle's cover 3 scheme that he was unsuccessfully trying to implement since being with the Niners. They are running a wide-9 alignment upfront now that suits their defensive line players better. Considering their performance in the first two games, it works well for them.

Man down

It happens a lot in a physical sport like American football. Pittsburgh Steelers lost their starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who injured his elbow during their game vs Seattle Seahawks. Mason Rudolph is the next man up after they selected him in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The kid has a lot of talent and based on his performance last week, the market might be overreacting here on the dropoff from Big Ben to Rudolph.

He is taking over in a difficult situation. Steelers have started off with 2 consecutive defeats and can't really afford another one, because the season might be over for them. The defense needs to step up and their new addition might help them do just that. A couple of days ago, they traded for Minkah Fitzpatrick from Miami. Alabama product is a versatile defensive back. Very intelligent player that can play multiple positions in the secondary. TJ Watt needs a big game as well. Putting pressure on Garappolo and force him into mistakes will be crucial here and that will never come easier than now, with LT Joe Staley out with fractured fibula. An injury that he suffered last week in Cincinnati.

Niners vs Steelers best bet

As I hinted above, Steelers might be undervalued in this spot, because of the injury of Roethlisberger. But if the entire team rally around Rudolph in this difficult (0-2) situation and help him out, they might stay in this game and have a chance at an upset. Especially with Niners being overvalued a little bit after the first two wins against questionable opposition.

Looking at some player props, James Washington is a very popular pick today, because of his connection with Mason Rudolph, going back to their Oklahoma State days. But I wouldn't follow that theory blindly. James Washington is a one-trick pony and not a very good one. With improved play of Niners secondary, he might struggle to get open downfield, which is his bread and butter.