On Wednesday morning, Pittsburgh Steelers WR Diontae Johnson answered questions from the media regarding the team’s latest victory on Monday night in Indianapolis against the Colts and gave his thoughts on rookies Kenny Pickett and George Pickens.
WR Diontae Johnson was asked about the drive Pittsburgh put together in the fourth quarter which ended up being the go-ahead TD by RB Benny Snell Jr., Johnson mentioned that it was a great feeling to establish such a key drive late in the game after the offense has struggled to get anything going in the second half virtually all season.
“It was big, man,” Johnson said to the media Wednesday in the locker room on video from Steelers.com. “just the energy we felt behind it. You want to start like that. We came out strong. We were moving ball down the field fluently. Defense played its part, and then we just fed off the defense, stopping them and we put points on the board had like what, three field goals, two, three field goals and whatnot?”
“But we were able to get in the end zone when it mattered,” Johnson continued. “But obviously, we got to do that. Obviously try to do it every drive, but all that is not going to always happen. But just the energy that we brought out there with it, we just got to continue to do that because we get out there out front, there’s nobody that can stop us.”
HC Mike Tomlin as said on multiple occasions that style points don’t matter in football, only the end score in terms of victory or defeat. While the Steelers have had moments of style to start the season regarding impressive catches by the likes of Johnson and George Pickens, they were unable to close out several games in the second half after having the offense fizzle out completely after putting together scoring drives in the first half.
The offense came to a screaming halt in their last loss to the Bengals where they held a 20-17 lead at the half, failing to score another TD until when the game was out of reach. They lost games early in the season to the Patriots and Browns where the offense showed life to start the game but could get anything going after the intermission.
However, the offense responded on Monday night against the Colts, piecing together an 11-play 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter with a TD by Benny Snell to cap it off. Pittsburgh’s defense would be able to hold onto the lead, allowing the Steelers to leave Indy the victors.
Obviously, we want to see this offense to continue to improve and move the ball effectively and put points on the board against playoff-caliber teams in the future. Still, it was a step in the right direction for a team searching for a new identity and may have found it in the running game and improved play by their defense to step up when they needed it most.
