The Pittsburgh Steelers put up 37 points on offense Sunday night, producing over 400 yards in their 37-15 win over the New York Jets. They passed for 260 and rushed for 149, generating 6.2 yards per play. While protecting the ball, they punched in four of their six red-zone opportunities. Including fourth downs, they went 7-for-14 on “weighty down” situations. Najee Harris rushed for 100-plus yards for the second game in a row, and multiple wide receivers found the end zone.
On the whole, there wasn’t much not to like on paper about what the Steelers did. After all, who among us has the audacity to turn their noses up when the Steelers score 37 points? That hasn’t happened since before Ben Roethlisberger retired. And with Russell Wilson under center, Najee Harris sees a different kind of offense than he’s used to. An offense poised to make a push for change.
“Sometimes we’re just got at one thing and being one-dimensional”, Harris said about previous Steelers offenses. “I think now that we’re multi-dimensional, it’s hard for teams to figure out what the focus is on. And that’s how you win games, to have a balanced run and a balanced pass. I think that’s how you go far in the playoffs, too”.
The Steelers, of course, have not gone far in the playoffs since long before Najee Harris was here. They drafted him in the first round in 2021, and they last won a playoff game in 2016. While they earned a bye in 2017, they are overdue for some postseason success.
“It’s not just one guy you’ve got to focus on, it’s the whole team. It’s a whole bunch of us”, Harris said about the variety this Steelers offense has. “Like I said, it’s the ultimate team sport, and that’s how you know if you have a good team when your [starter] could be hurt and then the backup comes in and there’s still no drop-off. There’s still a balanced attack, and that’s how a dominant team is formed”.
The Steelers benefited from contributions throughout the offense last night. Najee Harris finished last night’s game with 102 rushing yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Jaylen Warren added another 44 rushing yards. Russell Wilson threw for 264 with two touchdowns and zero interceptions, rushing for another score. George Pickens finally got into the end zone, catching five passes for 111 yards.
In all, six different players caught at least one pass and gained at least 15 yards. Darnell Washington even caught four for 36, Pat Freiermuth two for 51. Calvin Austin III found another explosive play with a 36-yard grab in the fourth quarter. And Najee Harris closed out the game strong for the second week in a row. Overall, the Steelers had better ball distribution than they generally had before.
Funny enough, Harris scoring a touchdown late might have upset his offensive coordinator. Arthur Smith just talked about “dumb football”, giving an example of trying to score when the game was already decided. In this case, at least, the Jets had no reasonable chance of coming back. For two weeks in a row, the Steelers actually won comfortably. Maybe there’s something to this after all.
