Sitting at 6-2 on the season after a 26-18 win over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, things are really looking up for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The bye week gives the team an opportunity to get healthy and get some key contributors back and allows the Steelers to reset a bit and prepare for a gauntlet of a second-half schedule ahead.
On paper, that schedule remains tough, but for former NFL center and ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday, teams should be fearing the Steelers, especially in the AFC, considering what he saw Monday night against the Giants.
Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up Tuesday morning, Saturday said that with the way quarterback Russell Wilson is playing, how the run game is working, and the defense and special teams are creating splash plays, the Steelers could be very formidable in the AFC.
“Absolutely. It’s the question of, can they do it? You talk about a defense like this. Think about [Alex] Highsmith and [T.J.] Watt. Both had two sacks each. You have to have teams that you can close out. Russell Wilson is doing what they expected him to do, push the ball down the field,” Saturday said of the Steelers, according to video via ESPN. “And here’s the thing, that game’s not indicative of how well Pittsburgh really played on offense. They had a touchdown callback because of a facemask. They had a miscommunication between the receiver coming over the middle in the end zone where Van Jefferson, if he sits it down, it’s a touchdown. And then they had the [one] with the right foot, but nothing on the left foot for another touchdown. You’re talking about significant plays that were taken back by the Steelers.
“This team is a team you should fear, and here’s why. Mike Tomlin understands how to win the ball game that matters when it comes to playoffs. I know they have a tough schedule. Some way, somehow they’ll find a way to make this thing happen.”
Once again this season, some of the talk regarding the Steelers is the plays that are being left on the field. That was the case on Monday night against the Giants. Two touchdowns were taken off the board, one due to a penalty on right tackle Broderick Jones and one due to George Pickens failing to get his second foot down in the end zone.
The plays were there, and the Steelers seemingly executed well on them. They’re just missing small details overall in those instances, which kept touchdowns off the board and forced the Steelers to settle for field goals.
Outside of the two touchdowns taken off the board, the Steelers were a well-oiled machine offensively, rolling to 426 yards of total offense. The Steelers put up 6.8 yards per play and really took it to the Giants’ defense through the air and on the ground.
The offensive line played well, Russell Wilson hit shots down the field, and Najee Harris had a field day in the run game. The offense looks exactly like what the Steelers envisioned when they hired Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator and signed Wilson in free agency.
Add to that a star-studded defense that forces turnovers and is one of the best second-half defenses in the NFL as well as a big-play special teams group that finds ways to impact games week after week, and there’s no denying that the Steelers are a good team, one that teams in the AFC should fear, as Saturday says.
Having a guy like Mike Tomlin overseeing it all makes them all the more formidable. The guy knows how to win games and get the best out of his teams. It might not always be pretty, but the Steelers find ways to win. They’re doing so this season, too, and setting themselves up for what could be a deep playoff run if things continue to look like they have the last few weeks.
