SANTA CLARA, Calif. — All the pieces are finally in place, and the time for real football has come.
Nick Bosa is back in the San Francisco 49ers’ facility following a prolonged holdout. He’ll play in this Sunday’s season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, ensuring a neatly symmetrical setup for a tantalizing matchup between two of the NFL’s bluebloods.
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Both the 49ers and the Steelers boast loaded defensive lines, which anchor defenses shared the NFL lead with 20 interceptions last season. On the other side, both teams have promising second-year starting quarterbacks who have the unenviable task of staring down those threatening defenses.
The story of what happens when these two teams collide should be rooted in the trenches.
Bosa is back to anchor the 49ers’ front, while fellow edge rusher T.J. Watt is the best player on Pittsburgh’s side. These are the NFL’s two most recent defensive players of the year and the two best-paid players at their position, as Bosa’s deal usurped the record that Watt set in 2021.
Even their negotiations shared much in common. Both ended in the 11th hour before the season opener. Watt famously marched into Pittsburgh’s front office to end a stalemate because he so badly wanted to play again. Bosa, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, also took matters into his own hands to break the impasse with the 49ers.
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Will parallels continue on Sunday? Watt notched two sacks and five QB hits two days after signing his contract in 2021 and the 49ers would be thrilled if Bosa’s return is as productive as that one — especially considering Watt’s performance kicked off a 22 1/2-sack campaign that eventually netted him those defensive player of the year honors.
Both second-year quarterbacks, the 49ers’ Brock Purdy and the Steelers’ Kenny Pickett, would prefer for opposing elite pass rushers to stop making headlines for at least one afternoon. But there’s a reason Sunday’s opener is expected to be a low-scoring affair — both defensive lines might hold edges against the offensive lines they’ll face.
That underscores yet another parallel in this game: Both the 49ers and Steelers have a reputation for notably physical play up front. On Thursday, 49ers tight end George Kittle said that he’s dedicated extra time to studying film of Pittsburgh edge rusher Alex Highsmith, who racked up 14 1/2 sacks last season lining up opposite Watt.
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“They just paid him for a reason,” Kittle said of Highsmith. “Incredible effort. You get him on the backside of any outside zone, he shoots the C-gap. He does a great job disrupting every single play. High-effort guy.
“They put good stuff on tape. They want to out-effort you. The Steelers are known for playing bully ball. They want to out-physical you. They want to hit you. They want to let you know that their presence is there. … We’re aware of that. The Niners are also known for bully ball, for being physical. So I’m really looking forward to this competition.”
Highsmith will work against 49ers left tackle Trent Williams. Watt will primarily match up with new 49ers right tackle Colton McKivitz, who’ll be making his debut as a first-stringer following the departure of Mike McGlinchey in free agency.
T.J. Watt will be a load for new 49ers starting right tackle Colton McKivitz to handle. (Bob Donnan / USA Today)The Steelers also boast All-Pro defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, who’ll put a 49ers’ interior line of Aaron Banks, Jake Brendel and Spencer Burford — back for a second year together — to a big test. Pittsburgh might field the deepest cadre of edge rushers in the game. Beyond Watt and Highsmith, Markus Golden and Nick Herbig can all pose problems for Purdy.
“They play really hard for four quarters,” Purdy said of the Steelers, who finished 6-1 in 2022 after starting 3-7. “Last year, they got really hot as a team. They have a fire that they play with. Tough opponent. We respect them. They’re a team that brings it every play.”
On the other side, Pickett should have his hands full with a particularly top-heavy 49ers’ pass rush. Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who finished No. 2 at his position in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate last season, has joined Bosa. The Steelers are solid along the interior line, but both of their starting tackles — Dan Moore Jr. and Chukwuma Okorafor — have been average at best in their NFL careers.
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The Steelers never fielded an explosive offense in 2022. They finished ranked No. 31 in explosive play rate, largely due to Pickett’s struggles pushing the ball downfield and poor efficiency in gaining yards after the catch (YAC). Pittsburgh ranked last in the NFL by a wide margin with 3.9 YAC per reception.
Pittsburgh focused intensely on YAC this offseason and the Steelers’ coaching staff hasn’t been shy about discussing the need for Pickett to improve his timing and accuracy in order to facilitate it.
“The old cliche is ‘short catch, long run’ — quarterbacks play an integral part in that,” Pittsburgh quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan said during training camp. “As a receiver who is running inside, that ball can’t be down low and at the hip. It can’t be down at the shoelaces or up high where he has to jump. If we can hit that receiver in stride, perfect ball location so he can catch it, tuck it and go — that’s what we’re shooting for.”
The 49ers, on the other hand, haven’t had many placement issues with Purdy. They again led the NFL at 6.6 YAC per reception last season, with big credit going to Purdy’s ability to deliver short and intermediate throws accurately and on time.
Prolific weapons like Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk seem to give the 49ers a big edge over the Steelers in the skill-position department. But a potential neutralizer is All-Pro Pittsburgh safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who led the NFL with six interceptions last season.
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“He’s all over the film, just flying around, reading the quarterback’s eyes,” Purdy said. “They give him a lot of freedom to be himself and play. We’ve got to play our game. I’ve got to play within our scheme and try not to get wrapped up in one single guy because they have players all across the board.”
The Steelers also feature former All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson, who’s 33 now but still a capable cover man. On a podcast this week, Peterson predicted that he’ll intercept Purdy.
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“There are some tell signs out there that tells us what plays we’re going to get from those guys in certain situations,” Peterson said, declining to elaborate past that. “When I get my pick Sunday, we’ll talk about it.”
While it’ll ultimately be up to Purdy to execute a game plan that prevents the Steelers from continuing to run up their interception count, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin hinted that play callers might have a bigger impact on this pairing of two young quarterbacks.
“It is less specifically about Brock Purdy and is more about how Kyle Shanahan chooses to utilize his quarterback within the schematics of what it is that he does,” Tomlin said this week. “And so, whether it’s Purdy or (Sam) Darnold or (Jimmy) Garoppolo or anyone that you know, Matt Ryan, or his days in Cleveland — we just see very similar things in terms of their approach to football.
“It’s very quarterback-friendly. It doesn’t put them in a lot of adverse circumstances. It keeps them on schedule. And in doing so, it minimizes the potential for negativity. It’s a great platform particularly for a young guy to play and gain experience and I think it’s reflective of Purdy’s journey a year ago and their collective journey a year ago. But I imagine his growth and development in that experience has him and them ready to take another step, just like we are with our young quarterback.”
Therein lies the beauty of a season opener. It’s a first chance for both teams to showcase strides that they made in the offseason, and it just so happens this opportunity comes for two opponents who share so many key commonalities.
The Steelers will put Pickett on display, hoping he facilitates greater explosiveness to take 2022’s hot finish to another level — even against Bosa and company. Meanwhile, the 49ers are confident that Purdy can continue helming a high-powered attack. But they seem well aware of the formidable Pittsburgh defense, starting with Watt, that stands in the way.
Injury notes
• Charvarius Ward missed Thursday’s practice with a heel injury, but Shanahan did not seem concerned about his cornerback’s availability for Sunday’s game in his subsequent interview on KNBR.
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“(Ward) had a little thing that came up yesterday, but we’re feeling pretty confident that he’s going to be all right,” Shanahan said.
• The 49ers beat the Steelers, 24-20, in the team’s most recent meeting, which came at Levi’s Stadium in 2019. Garoppolo threw the game-winning touchdown to receiver Dante Pettis with just over one minute remaining.
The most famous game between these two teams came in Week 7 of 1984, when Pittsburgh dealt the 49ers a 20-17 defeat at Candlestick Park. That ultimately thwarted the 49ers’ dreams of an undefeated season. They finished 18-1, including a Super Bowl victory over the Miami Dolphins.
49ers vs. Steelers predictions
| Winner | Score | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|
Matt Barrows | 27-24 | 14-6 (last season) | |
David Lombardi | 20-17 | 14-6 (last season) |
Barrows: The 49ers have a few worries. Their safeties aren’t entirely healthy. Neither is their kicker and tight end. And Bosa will have taken part in exactly two practices before the team leaves for Pittsburgh. The roster is so talented, however, that the 49ers don’t need to be perfect. Purdy, Samuel, Aiyuk and, especially, McCaffrey are in peak form, and they should be enough to fuel the team to a win.
Lombardi: I’m erring on the lower-scoring side, and I’ll predict that the 49ers avenge that 1984 loss to the Steelers with the same 20-17 score — but inverted in their favor.
(Top photos of Nick Bosa and Brock Purdy: Darren Yamashita and Stan Szeto / USA Today)
“The Football 100,” the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, goes on sale this fall. Preorder it here.
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