Cam Heyward Talks Kenneth Gainwell’s ‘Fairly Particular’ Steelers Debut

The Pittsburgh Steelers struggled to run the ball all through Sunday’s win in opposition to the New York Jets. Nonetheless, Kenneth Gainwell nonetheless managed to discover a technique to make an impression in maybe probably the most sudden means. Gainwell had an enormous strip on a kick return within the second half, which ended up being a pivotal turning level within the recreation.

In line with Cam Heyward, Gainwell couldn’t have made a sweeter introduction in his Steelers debut.

“Kenneth Gainwell getting the primary freakin’ turnover,” Heyward mentioned after the sport by way of Put up-Gazette – Steelers on YouTube. “We discuss a lot about white shirts delivering on particular groups. To introduce your self to this staff, and the followers, and the NFL as a part of this staff, it’s fairly particular.”

The Steelers may not win this recreation with out Gainwell making that play. Pittsburgh had simply scored, however have been nonetheless trailing 26-24. On the kickoff, he flew down the sphere and stripped the ball from Xavier Gipson.

Ben Skowronek ended up recovering the fumble, giving the Steelers some wonderful area place. Moments later, they took benefit of it, as Aaron Rodgers rolled to his proper and located Calvin Austin III extensive open in the long run zone. That ended up giving the Steelers a 31-26 lead.

With how nicely the Jets’ offense was working the ball, who is aware of what might need occurred if Kenneth Gainwell wasn’t capable of power that fumble. New York was marching down the sphere with ease, and so they moved the ball nicely on their subsequent possession and scored. With the ability to steal a landing in that state of affairs was large, and it’s the precise kind of particular groups impression the Steelers search for.

Operating the ball, issues should be higher shifting ahead. Gainwell obtained a good workload on the bottom, working the ball seven instances. Nonetheless, he solely picked up 19 yards within the course of, a mean of simply 2.7 yards. He additionally caught three balls out of the backfield for 4 yards.

There actually are some issues to iron out offensively, and Kenneth Gainwell did have his struggles there. Nonetheless, profitable video games within the NFL normally comes all the way down to a few key performs. Gainwell made one right now, and the locker room is aware of how useful it was.