It’s Monday Night Football! The 5-2 Pittsburgh Steelers (really?) take on the 2-5 New York Giants.
Dun dun dun duuuun.
Back in the day, for those of us who didn’t live in Pittsburgh, Monday Night Football games for the Steelers were the only guaranteed time you’d be able to watch your beloved team during the regular season.
That was back when there were only three television stations, and if the signal got wiggy you’d have to send Dad up to the roof to turn the antennae, never an easy task if there was rain or lightning.
For those of us who lived out of range of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette or the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, your only connection to news of your favorite team was through a mailing subscription to Steelers Digest, where you would devour those Bob Labriola articles, savoring each sentence even though the magazine usually arrived a game or two in arrears.
In fact, when the miracle of the Internet first appeared in the ’90s through hissing and beeping 14.4 Kbs modems, the very information I pulled up first with childish awe was Steelers articles from the Post-Gazette and Tribune-Review.
A miracle! Even though it took four minutes for each text page to load up.
Still, there was nothing like Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell, “Dandy” Don Meredith, and Frank Gifford back in the day.
The highlight would always be when the Steelers got ahead in the fourth quarter, prompting Dandy Don to sing, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over”.
These days, the value of Monday Night Football games is severely diluted now that there are often two Monday night games, Sunday night and Thursday night options mid-season, Saturday games during the playoffs, and special holiday games practically every day of the week.
Off the top of my head, I couldn’t even tell you who the announcers will be for this game.
Still…it’s Monday Night Football cranking out live from the Burgh.
Are you ready for some football? Let’s give it a Spin.
The Elephant In The Room
Let’s talk about the elephant wandering around the room…wearing sunglasses, doing moonwalks, and saying, “That’s right…I’m bad.”
For those of you who were clamoring for Russell Wilson to take over on offense as Pittsburgh’s quarterback, you deserve your winnings at the high-stakes poker table.
Good win for you. Good win for us. Congratulations.
Is Coach Mike Tomlin a genius for making one of the most courageous decisions in his career by thumbing his nose at many of the talking heads and writing fingers like myself by starting Russell Wilson against the New York Jets?
The only reasonable answer is…we don’t know yet. We won’t really know until the end of the year.
But at least the game against the New York Jets seemed to work out okay. It certainly didn’t rise to the potentially disastrous outcome it could have been.
Was it a good decision in the long run?
Suppose Russell Wilson stays at the helm and carries the Steelers to a Super Bowl victory…or at the least very deep into the playoffs (say the AFC Championship). In that case, football historians will have to credit it as an act of brilliance.
That won’t be the case if the season falls anywhere short of those aspirations. For instance, if the team makes it to the playoffs…and then loses in the first round again, then it will be a failure.
Regardless of how well Wilson plays, having him at 35 years of age take away precious playing time and development from 25-year-old Justin Fields would be a foolish mortgaging of the future.
If the Ol’ Wilson Switcheroo falls short of full fields of glory, then pulling Fields off the field while he was growing into the role…would be another wasted season.
The passing game picked up quite a few notches once Wilson finally got rolling against the Jets. That’s clearly true.
But results-wise, the game wasn’t all that different than the win Fields provided just the week before against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Both started slowly, but both finished great. Each effort ended in a 30-plus point offensive performance that provided a comfortable win early in the fourth quarter.
That being said, let’s give Tomlin and Wilson their props.
That was a high-risk decision! Clearly, both the head coach and the talented and highly experienced Wilson were nervous. After the second time Russell three-hopped a screen pass, and the faithful were booing unfaithfully, it was looking like a nightmare on Elm Street.
But, to Wilson’s tremendous credit, he rallied his nerves and eventually the entirety of Acrisure Stadium. The game rapidly was so in hand that Renegade was not needed for anything more than a wild celebration.
Even for the most fervent of us Fields fans, Wilson had one clear advantage over the quarterback he replaced: He takes absolute and full charge of an offense when he is behind the center.
He was a virtuoso symphony conductor, waving his arms, directing his players’ movements with hand flicks, and foot taps.
It was his offense. Completely. And it’s probably his until this season plays its final notes.
More Applause For Tomlin
Sadly…the game’s broadcast producers were working hard to try to capture video evidence of Fields brooding from the sidelines as Wilson took over his job.
I admit, there were a few times when they fooled me.
“Fields doesn’t look too thrilled about all of this good cooking,” I thought.
It wasn’t until after the game that a video replay angle more accurately represented Fields’ true demeanor during Wilson’s return-to-glory performance that day.
It was during a critical moment in the first quarter when boos were raining down like a monsoon, and Wilson’s Steelers debut was looking debunked. This was when the former superstar Seahawk took a moonshot and tossed a deep moonball up to George Pickens, who made a great catch over the cornerback covering him.
Momentum shift. Day saved for Wilson.
If you weren’t paying close attention, you would have missed noticing a Steelers player just a few yards away from Pickens on the sidelines, jumping up and down and fist-pumping Wilson’s game-changing throw.
It was Justin Fields.
He wasn’t feeling sorry for himself…because he was too busy being there lifting Wilson up.
It’s yet another feather in the hat of Fields’ character. But it also is another chapter in the Encyclopedia Britannica volumes worth of documentation touting Tomlin’s mastery when it comes to building a healthy team culture.
Most teams would have been split like the Red Sea on a controversial decision like this. But not Tomlin’s team.
No. Tomlin is not flawless. His coaching capabilities have their share of concerns and vulnerabilities. Who doesn’t?
But when it comes to developing a strong locker room, Tomlin’s talents are undeniably Hall of Fame grade.
The Mosh Pit
Speaking of Hall of Fame…someone who is having a yellow jacket season is Special Teams Coach Danny Smith.
The Steelers have blocked a kick in three straight games and have played catch and tackle well. They also enjoyed stellar performances by the field goal unit led by the ultra-reliable Chris Boswell and by the punting unit, which overcame Cameron Johnston’s season-ending injury surprisingly well with Corliss Waitman.
Danny Smith, 70, has been with the Steelers since 2013, and we all feared for his health and safety when his players encircled him in a mosh pit of joy following another blocked kick against the Jets.
Let’s just say that loving your special teams coach isn’t necessarily a given in the NFL. Many of these coaches are forced to put their players literally in harm’s way…every time they are on the field. Most of them on special teams are the “leftovers” of the team roster, coming and going with a loose hold on the dangling waiver wires that bring them in and out.
We tend to focus on Smith’s prodigious ability to chew gum during the games. Perhaps it’s time to give him more credit for being one of the elite coaching talents at his position.
The Bookends
The Steelers defense played an excellent game against the New York Jets. When paired with their strong performance against the Raiders, they’ve enjoyed a bounce-back of sorts following a brief stumble a few games back.
Beanie Bishop, Jr. experienced a breakout performance with two critical interceptions, which properly resulted in him receiving a game ball.
Yet, quietly as always, Alex Highsmith gave the Steelers a large performance boost with his return from injury. Although Pittsburgh has impressive backups at the edge, the team always seems incomplete when Smitty isn’t on the field.
His critical role as the “other” bookend to T.J. Watt can’t be understated. Teams can’t afford to over-shift their blocking toward Watt when Highsmith is on the field.
The defense is trending up again, and with strong ball security on offense by both Wilson and Fields, the team ranks second in turnover differential.
They have improved back to second place in terms of the fewest yards given up on the ground.
This trend will need to continue against the New York Giants, who are among the league’s worst at offensive production. The Steelers should be able to dominate on defense in this game, and living up to their resume would be highly welcome, given that it is the last game before the break.
With both of the Giants’ starting offensive tackles out of the game, this might be the time for the Steelers’ talented bookends to be the brightest stars on Monday Night Football.
They Might Be Giants
As much as this has been a decidedly successful week for Coach Mike Tomlin, and the fact his teams typically perform so well during nationally televised matches, this is a game for the team to be concerned about.
Heading into Bye Week with momentum is critical for this team, with both the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals in rapid ascent. After a fairly light schedule for the early part of the season, the Steelers are about to enter hazardous terrain.
They might be giants, these New York Giants…but at 2-5, they have been mostly fallen giants, and the Steelers can’t allow them to crawl their way back up to their feet.
The Steelers have to dispatch them in the way that a 5-2 team ought to handle dispatching.
It’s an identity statement. Heading into the Bye week, 6-2 will put them in a place they haven’t been in for years.
That is…in strong consideration as one of the league’s elite. Yes, this is a big game.
Dun dun dun duuuun.
