Pittsburgh Steelers: Studs and duds from Week 1 vs. Giants

The Pittsburgh Steelers kicked off 2020 with a 26-16 road win over the Giants.

The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs kicked off NFL’s 101st season on Thursday night with an impressive victory over the Houston Texans. Three days later, 26 other teams took the field on Sunday to start their 2020 campaigns. That left two more games on Monday night and it began with the Pittsburgh Steelers visiting the New York Giants.

Mike Tomlin’s team was looking to bounce back from a rough 8-8 season in which the club lost its first three games and then after forging an 8-5 mark, dropped their final three contests and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Of course, the team’s veteran signal-caller played six quarters of football a season ago.

Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would be done after a 33-3 Sunday night loss at New England and following just one half of play in Week 2 vs. Seattle. There would be offseason surgery and the two-time Super Bowl champion apparently worked very hard to get back in shape for a 17th NFL season.

But it’s 2020 and after a slow start, Pittsburgh got its act together and came away with a 10-point win over Big Blue (via Grant Gordon of NFL.com). The offense began to click midway through the second quarter and a swarming defense made its share of key plays.

So who were the team’s best performers and/or units on Monday night at MetLife Stadium? Meanwhile, who or what had a rough go of it despite the team’s 10-point road victory? For Tomlin and company, there were several worthy selections in each category.