There is a new hop in the step of Coach Mike Tomlin and his Pittsburgh Steelers players as they accomplished a West Coast rarity…they won.
And excitingly and emphatically so with a victory over the Los Angeles Rams by a score of 24-17 under the California sun.
Traditionally, the Steelers have struggled when they’ve needed to take a long flight across the country, and this year, flying at all has been a struggle.
Yet, Pittsburgh overcame it and now they are back home rolling out the welcome mat for a jumping Jacksonville Jaguars team that is coming in with a four-game winning streak and boasting a 5-2 record.
Are the Steelers as good as their 4-2 season start would indicate?
Sigh. Long, long, sigh.
Not particularly as the struggle continues to be real on both offense and defense in many critical areas of Football 101.
However; if you’re able to just count the fourth quarter of the Rams game, when they figured out how to plug Kenny Pickett back into the wall, the Steelers offered some hopeful horizons for their weary fans.
Will they be able to build on this momentum and pick some more winberries in this three-game home stretch that begins with the Jaguars?
To explore this more fully, let’s give it a Spin.
Amazing Turnaround
After Steelers Nation humiliated itself in the season home opener in Pittsburgh by allowing an unholy infiltration of San Francisco 49’ers fans in their golden seats, they have come back resurging in an impressive fashion.
From Las Vegas to Houston to Los Angeles the faithful have been zombies invading away stadiums in relentless fashion. Their appearance in the stands against the Los Angeles Rams was so prolific I actually felt sorry for the home team’s players.
Can you imagine how terrible it is to come out of your stadium chute to tens of thousands of Terrible Towels waving in the winds? Your Mom and Dad are watching the game in the stands surrounded by fans wearing Joe Greene and Mike Webster jerseys. How awful could that be?
Keep it up Steelers Nation. We’re making a difference.
Watt The???
J.J. Watt is a surefire, first-ballot Hall of Fame player who arguably is one of the best defensive players to have ever played the game.
When his younger brother T.J. Watt got drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers he looked…you know, a little smaller. Still, I believe most of us felt that if he only turned out to be close to as good as his older bro, we would feel pumped about the draft investment.
Instead, T.J. is rapidly approaching the career accomplishments of J.J. and he’s only midway through his time under the big lights.
Yes, we know he can rush the quarterback and can defend against the run. He also is known to swat balls away at the line, cause fumbles, and even pick them up and run toward paydirt on occasion.
Yet, his game-changing interception against the Rams was one of the best ones you’ll ever see an edge rusher make. Not just that it was athletically challenging (it was), but he was so prescient on the play it was as if he was operating seven seconds ahead of the time continuum.
It was that good of a play.
How old is he? Only 29? Wow…we’ve got many years of fun ahead. J.J. can see him approaching rapidly in the rear-view mirror.
Receivership
The return of Diontae Johnson to the field of play following his hamstring injury proved to be as positive for the Steelers’ offense against the Rams as was expected.
Johnson has elite escapability on a football field, and when he’s in his groove, and his quarterback is able to find him, it’s a nearly unstoppable play to toss it in his direction.
Couple this with the fact that George Pickens is vaulting himself to the premium NFL receiver discussion and these two are as exciting of a receiving pair as you’ll be able to watch on any given Sunday. (Or Monday, Thursday, and occasional Saturdays).
All those kind words being shared…c’mon fellas! What’s with those taunting penalties that quite nearly cost the Steelers the football game?
Pickens is a repeat offender and the fact that Johnson committed the same penalty mere minutes after Pickens was receiving tongue lashing from Coach Mike Tomlin for the very same mishap is baffling.
What is it exactly that goes into the Wheaties boxes of NFL receivers? And in particular, Steelers receivers? How many Gatorade containers did Antonio Brown knock over? And that was well before he really got his money’s worth of crazy pills.
Guys. Guys. We love the entertainment of a toe-tapping touchdown, but please, let’s not forget this is a team sport.
Classic Jaguars
For some of you younger Steelers fans it may surprise you to know the Jacksonville Jaguars used to share the AFC Central Division with Pittsburgh when their expansion franchise launched.
It was the Jaguars, Tennessee Titans (remember Eddie George), Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens (who had just escaped Cleveland in midnight moving vans).
When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became an expansion team in 1976, they were many years worth of horrible (with the notable exception of their awesome creamsicle jerseys).
They were so bad they inspired one of the most memorable quotes in NFL history. When their coach John McKay was asked after yet another embarrassing loss, “What do you think of your players’ execution, coach?” he responded dryly, “I’m all in favor of it.”
The result of both the Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks (who came in at the same time in the ‘70’s) doing poorly as expansion teams was that the NFL pressed their fingers on the scales too hard when it came to the Jacksonville Jaguars (along with the Carolina Panthers) becoming an expansion franchise in 1997.
They received so many high draft picks and selections from other teams of veteran players that they became a Super Bowl contender right out of the chute. In the late 90’s the Jaguars were an extremely tough out for the Steelers.
They were led by the amazing first selection left tackle talent of Tony Boselli who snuffed out even the best Steelers edge rushers like he was deflating air from a child’s toy punching bag. They just vanished into his arms and went to sleep.
Left-handed quarterback Mark Brunell reminded many of a prime Kenny Stabler and his receivers Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell were one of the league’s best duos.
Next year they drafted running back Fred Taylor, who when healthy, was among the league’s elite.
This says nothing about their defense which seemed to give the Steelers fits and if recollection is correct, they served up a Pick 6 practically every game against Pittsburgh.
They ended up winning the AFC Central Division in 1998 and 1999 and when the league was restructured sending them off to the AFC South there were no tears shed in Pittsburgh.
They’ve had some other good seasons, notably back when former Steeler quarterback Byron Leftwich was their starter, yet their brightest days may lie ahead.
With a legitimate young franchise quarterback in Trevor Lawrence who is surrounded by talent and backed up by a solid defense, their current 5-2 record might just be the harbinger of good times to come.
Higher Times
Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada found himself some redemption with the Steelers’ fine finish in the fourth quarter against the Rams. But goodness, those television shots of Canada in the booth. He looks like he’s on a Southwest Airlines “Wanna Get Away?” commercial every time you see him in there.
He’s got to go out in a blaze of glory and turn to the cameras and give Steelers Nation a two-fingered salute. Or at least give us a peace sign. It’s too serious in that glass box. They need to pump in some more oxygen, and maybe serve up some more cheesy nachos.
My suggestion is they invite a celebrity guest into the booth to lighten things up. Maybe even to light things up.
Enter Snoop Dogg in da booth. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? There are few greater Pittsburgh Steelers fans than Snoop and he’s been known to freely give Coach Mike Tomlin advice on offensive coordinators in the past.
If you haven’t enjoyed Snoop’s play-by-play capability yet, make sure to check out his “Plizzanet Earth Iguana vs. Snakes” video on YouTube. If you don’t laugh at that, you’re unlaughable.
Can you imagine Snoop in there with the offensive coaches?
“Man, don’t be callin’ none of them bubble #$%@@ plays.”
Or…
“You gotta dial my man George’s number every play. Speed dial that son of a #%(#@, ya hear?”
Then when the home crowd at Acrisure Stadium starts offering up their favorite chanting homage to the offensive coordinator, Snoop could be there to console him.
“Nah. They ain’t sayin’ “Fire Canada”, they sayin’ “Get Higher Canada”. I got you with that.
Two Trains
Both the Steelers and Jaguars had rough starts to this season.
Pittsburgh began their journey with one of their most embarrassing losses ever at home against the 49ers, only to match its nadir with an insulting 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans.
The Jaguars began their season 1-2 with their fans questioning where their franchise quarterback was actually the real deal.
Since then, it’s been two trains moving in a positive direction, and as Coach Mike Tomlin always says, “Two trains…one bone.”
There is a lot of convincing left to do with Tomlin’s Steelers and with such a competitive division they reside in, the facts on the field are going to need to match the mellifluous rhetoric.
Pittsburgh needs an out-of-the-gate to fantastic finish premium performance and Jacksonville will be mightily hesitant to be their Washington Generals.
It will be a test of two wills, and the sparks will be flying like lightning bugs on a Virginia summer evening. Somebody’s train of momentum is going to be derailed.
Which team will it be? We’ll see you at the train station.
