DUBLIN — As DK Metcalf curled toward the middle of the field on a post route, Aaron Rodgers dropped back and rocketed a pass toward the Pittsburgh Steelers receiver just as he hit the soft spot in the Minnesota Vikings zone.
Metcalf corralled Rodgers’ ball in stride and kept running through two converging Vikings defenders, streaking toward the sideline. He turned on the afterburners, racing up the sideline until he reached the end zone for an 80-yard touchdown, the longest touchdown from scrimmage in an international game in NFL history, according to ESPN Research.
It was exactly the kind of play the Steelers, who beat the Vikings 24-21, had hoped to see out of the Rodgers-Metcalf pairing since uniting the duo this offseason. Before Sunday, there had only been glimpses of their explosive potential. But playing thousands of miles away from the Steelers’ usual home, Metcalf played like he had found his own as he recorded his first 100-yard game as a Steeler.
“Today felt like I’m home now, I’m here,” said the receiver, who hit a max speed of 21.2 mph on the score, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. “Nothing happens without the O-line blocking and defense playing the way that they did. Really popped a couple of those for me. Running on the backside of things, taking two, three defenders out of there and giving me space to really work. So shout-out to everybody that was involved in this win.”
Not only did the offensive line help spring Metcalf for his big day, but fellow wide receiver Calvin Austin III threw a block on safety Josh Metellus to seal Metcalf’s path through the final couple of yards to the end zone.
“Aaron threw it on time, and I was able to sneak out the backside of it, but I don’t think any of that happens without CA running his butt off on the backside,” Metcalf said.
On the day, Metcalf finished with five catches on five targets for 126 yards and the score, and 122 of those yards came in the first half to mark the most receiving yards of any half in his seven-year pro career.
“Getting him the ball is always our agenda,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “Sometimes it’s controlled by other things. In previous weeks we weren’t getting off the way we would like on third down, so it minimizes offensive possessions. We weren’t winning possession downs. “… These are complex discussions. They don’t happen in a vacuum. We didn’t go get DK not to get him the ball. So, today was a reflection of our intentions, but that’s been our intentions every week.”
In addition to the 80-yard catch-and-run touchdown, Metcalf also had a tight-window catch down the sideline for a 17-yard gain on third-and-2 in the first quarter followed by an 11-yard catch on the next play on slant route to again exploit the middle of the field, continuing the success the Steelers found targeting that area a week earlier against the Patriots.
“I think last week was the first time we tried to attack it when we played the Patriots,” Metcalf said. “But once again, it really came to fruition, and we kind of hit our stride.”
While the Steelers haven’t changed the volume of their throws to the middle of the field in the past two weeks, their efficiency has improved. Rodgers has completed 17-of-21 attempts between the numbers in the past two weeks and is averaging 10 yards per attempt, according to ESPN Research. In the first two weeks of the season, Rodgers completed 23-of-34 attempts and averaged 6.9 yards per attempt.
