Following each game in the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers season, I will highlight the event, or string of events, in the game that was the turning point. Not all turning points will be earth-shattering but are meant to give a unique look at how we arrived at the outcome of the game, one that may be hard to see during the live watch.
Football really is the best. In how many sports can you see an unlikely, unheralded player almost single-handedly dash the hopes of one of the best to ever play the sport? That is what happened in the Steelers’ game versus the New York Jets. Not once, but twice.
Beanie Bishop Jr., who many thought would be the Steelers’ downfall in Week 7 against Aaron Rodgers and his wealth of wide receivers, was one of the single biggest factors in them securing a 37-15 victory.
The Steelers scored a touchdown off his first interception at the end of the first half. That made the score 15-13, which was much more manageable than 15-6. The Jets also had a 20-yard gain earlier in that drive. It wasn’t out of the question that they could have made it 18-6, or even 22-6 before halftime. And they got the ball back to start the second half. It would have been a complete disaster for the Steelers, but undrafted rookie Bishop played the unlikely hero.
He played it perfectly, dropping into his zone and reading Rodgers’ eyes. As soon as he saw Rodgers toss the ball in the middle, he did a great job flipping his hips all the way around and made an impressive catch in front of former first-round WR Garrett Wilson.
Rodgers himself described how that interception drained the energy from his team. Not only did it significantly change the flow of the game entering the second half, but it deflated Rodgers and the Jets’ offense. That whole sequence, which included a 29-yard pass interference call on Sauce Gardner covering George Pickens, lowered the Jets’ win probability from 78 to 57 percent, per ESPN Analytics.
Beanie Bishop changed the game with this interception and sealed the game with his near pick-six in the second half. Who would have thought that the undrafted rookie who struggled mightily just two weeks ago would make the difference against Aaron Rodgers.
