Kenny Pickett threw two touchdown passes for the first time as a professional and T.J. Watt continued his early season splurge with two sacks as the Pittsburgh Steelers produced a 23-18 victory over the host Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday night.
Calvin Austin III and Pat Freiermuth each caught scoring passes and Chris Boswell booted three field goals as Pittsburgh (2-1) won its second straight game. Watt, who also had two tackles for loss, has six sacks in three games.
Jimmy Garoppolo was 28-of-44 passing for 324 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions for Las Vegas (1-2). Davante Adams caught a scoring pass and accumulated season bests of 13 receptions and 172 yards for the Raiders.
Las Vegas star Josh Jacobs rushed for 62 yards on 17 carries. He has just 108 yards on 45 attempts this season after recording an NFL-best 1,653 yards last season.
Pickett completed 16 of 28 passes for 235 yards as Pittsburgh got the attack moving after scoring just 19 total offensive points over its first two games. The Steelers didn’t commit a turnover while the Raiders made three.
Levi Wallace picked off Garoppolo twice — the second sealed the victory — and Pittsburgh teammate Patrick Peterson notched his 35th career interception.
Las Vegas attempted to rally from a 16-point, fourth-quarter deficit and pulled within 23-15 when Garoppolo tossed a 1-yard scoring pass to Adams with 5:41 remaining and tacked on a two-point conversion throw to Michael Mayer.
The Raiders forced a three-and-out and got the ball back with 4:35 remaining. Las Vegas moved within five on Daniel Carlson’s 26-yard field goal with 2:22 left.
The failure to go for it on fourth down came back to haunt Las Vegas as Pittsburgh got a first down before being forced to punt. The Raiders got the ball back with 12 seconds left on their own 15-yard line and Garoppolo was intercepted again by Wallace on the next play.
The Raiders struck first on Garoppolo’s 32-yard scoring pass to Adams midway through the first quarter before Pittsburgh scored the next 23 points.
Just 52 seconds after Las Vegas scored, the Steelers knotted the score on Pickett’s 72-yard touchdown pass to Austin.
Boswell booted field goals of 43 and 42 yards to give Pittsburgh a 13-7 halftime lead.
Boswell tacked on a 57-yard field goal to increase the lead to nine with 9:28 left in the third quarter. About 5 1/2 minutes later, Pickett connected on a 13-yard scoring pass to Freiermuth to make it 23-7.
–Field Level Media