The New York Jets may have a 2-5 record, but they have no shortage of talent on that roster. It’s still a pretty strong sign for a team that beats them, especially when it’s in blowout fashion. The Pittsburgh Steelers came away with a real confidence booster on Sunday Night Football, defeating the Jets 37-15 on the back of 31 unanswered points.
“They [The Jets] needed that game last night and they got totally shellacked and outclassed by the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Damien Woody said via ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike.
The Steelers were able to win big after looking pretty abysmal for the entire first quarter. The defense was getting stops here and there, but Aaron Rodgers was still dicing the Steelers up pretty good with rhythm passing. And the Steelers’ offense was completely inept for much of the first half. Until the final 30 seconds of the first half, they had only scored six points and still managed to get out of the stadium with 37. That means there is more meat on the boat for this offense. The unit still has yet to put up a complete game.
“The coaching matchup was a complete mismatch. Let’s just start there. Mike Tomlin, one of the best coaches, he’s going to wear a gold jacket one day, let’s just be clear,” Woody said. “You can always tell the teams that are well-coached, especially after half. Going to halftime, the real, the great coaches know how to make adjustments, do little things to get the most out of their teams. Looks at what happened last night. One team did this, was ascending, and the other team was floundering.”
Just by the way that Mike Tomlin opted to keep going for the touchdown at the end of the game, you could tell that he was trying to make a point. He really exposed himself to take heat for benching of Justin Fields and his 4-2 record, but instead he put an exclamation point on why he’s been the Steelers’ head coach for 18 seasons. Russell Wilson looked ready to elevate this team.
The Steelers look like a team that is poised to compete with anybody in the NFL. Their defense is back to being the No. 2 scoring defense in the NFL with a good chance to end the week at No. 1 if the Los Angeles Chargers struggle on Monday Night Football. The offense is finally moving in the right direction with back-to-back 30-plus-point games. It’s now roughly average in terms of the Steelers’ 23.0 points per game. They are another strong performance or two from being firmly in the top 10.
“I think they could make some noise,” Woody said.
Tomlin’s big gamble paid off, and there are now very few teams situated as well as the Steelers to compete down the stretch. Their aspirations of winning a playoff game are firmly within reach, and their aspirations of competing deep into the playoffs do not seem impossible at this time.
