It might not always be pretty, but when it matters most, the Pittsburgh Steelers find a way to win.
From top to bottom, the Steelers are doing what great teams do — getting contributions from everyone and winning games due to all three phases. That was again the case on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns in a 27-14 win. Pittsburgh’s offense did just enough on a day without standout receiver George Pickens while the defense saw guys like Keeanu Benton and James Pierre pick off passes.
Even special teams chipped in with Ben Skowronek recovering a muffed punt by the Browns to help seal the win.
The play in all three phases, not only on Sunday but throughout the season, has former Steelers head coach and Hall of Famer Bill Cowher believing a great deal in the Black and Gold.
“The one thing we saw, their offense that’s coming on track, the defense has been great. I mean, you look at what that did right here with T.J. Watt and what he’s able to do, the pressure, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig on the other side, they can get after the quarterback,” Cowher said Sunday on the NFL Today postgame show, according to video via the NFL on CBS on YouTube. “I’m gonna say this: talked about Chris Boswell. Great kicker. Corliss Waitman, he has been their punter. Six punts [Sunday], 52 yards was an average, and they got the turnover right there at the end of the game to kind of seal the game.
“So their kicking game, along with everything else, this team is solid in every phase of the game.”
Time and time again this season, the Steelers have shown they can play complementary football in all three phases.
The offense led by Russell Wilson gets a lot of attention, considering how good Wilson has been since taking over as the starter in Week 7 against the New York Jets. Wilson has helped turn the Steelers into one of the best offenses in football under coordinator Arthur Smith, putting up points in bunches even while still dealing with some question marks at receiver.
Defensively, the team continues to roll right along, taking the football away, battering opposing quarterbacks and largely shutting down the run game.
But the special teams of the Steelers are vastly underrated. Chris Boswell gets his flowers, and rightfully so. He’s the best kicker in the NFL, period, and is going to set an NFL record before it’s all said and done this season. But the work in the punting game from Waitman has been rather good, not to mention some of the coverage on punts and the splash plays the unit has provided for coordinator Danny Smith.
When it gets late in the season and the pressure ratchets up, teams that make deep runs and compete for Super Bowls need all three phases to make plays. The Steelers seem to have the right formula currently.
How that plays out in the playoffs remains to be seen, but they’re a solid team in all three phases, and that should worry everyone in the AFC moving forward.
