Every Dawg has its day, and your day’s been had.
It’s revenge week in Pittsburgh as the Black and Gold get a shot at rapid retribution when the Cleveland Browns visit only two weeks removed from their upset victory over the Steelers by the score of 24-19.
Coach Mike Tomlin has his team back to its winning ways after dispatching the Cincinnati Bengals in an exciting away game last weekend.
No one will remember the first game if the Steelers take care of business in the second. That’s the insomnia that Pittsburgh will seek in a game that is still highly relevant to winning the division and claiming a high seed in the playoffs.
Also on the undercard will be the Myles Garrett vs. T.J. Watt matchup. Garrett is up this season on all scorecards, but the fight is far from over. Watt will be highly motivated to get in his punches when it comes to the Defensive Player of the Year battle.
Will the Steelers be able to electrify the home faithful? Or will it be another unpardonable Brown-Out? Let’s give it a Spin.
The Missing Point
The offseason trade of wide receiver Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for cornerback Donte Jackson didn’t look overly favorable to the Steelers on paper.
Jackson came in with question marks regarding his quality of play, while Johnson was a receiver with league-wide acclaim for his ability to get separation from defenders.
It didn’t take long for Jackson to positively impact the Steelers’ defense, while Johnson cratered in popularity with the coaches at Carolina.
Johnson ended up flaming out so badly for the Panthers that they gave him away to the Baltimore Ravens, who literally acquired him for a bag of donuts and a hot cup of coffee.
Turns out they might have overpaid.
The Ravens suspended Johnson this week after he reportedly refused to enter the game against the Philadelphia Eagles, disappointed with how scarcely he was being used.
There are a few important lessons here. One is that no one in their right mind should take Steelers General Manager Omar Khan’s calls in the future when it’s rumored he’s got a “wide receiver to move.”
Another key learning point is that Coach Mike Tomlin seems uniquely qualified to extract production from even the most “problem child” players.
Everyone is still trying to figure out how he managed to produce a Hall of Fame-type career out of Antonio Brown before he went bat crazy.
Already, NFL pundits are touting Tomlin’s ability to work with Johnson, where others failed mightily, as further proof of his human resources brilliance.
But aren’t we neglecting to learn another critical lesson as well? As in, why do we keep on drafting these types of receivers in the first place?
There was Antonio Brown. Martavis Bryant. Chase Claypool. Diontae Johnson. And now we’ve got the super-gifted George Pickens, who is wearing out Tomlin’s patience as thin as a politician’s promise as well.
The Steelers have been given credit for being able to find “hidden gems” in the NFL Draft when it comes to wide receivers. Yet maybe it’s time to rethink the strategy. Perhaps these players are “hidden” for valid reasons.
You might have to pay a premium for elite players in both talent and maturity, but perhaps that’s a price worth paying in future drafts.
Lights, Camera, Action
It used to be no team wanted to be on HBO’s Hard Knocks because that meant your team was lousy and had failed the season prior.
The Steelers organization has managed to avoid this negative spotlight primarily because of Tomlin’s impressive accomplishment of never having a losing season.
This is why getting to see Pittsburgh featured on Hard Knocks: AFC North is an early Christmas gift for Steelers Nation. They didn’t get the casting call because of poor performance. In fact, with the Steelers atop the division, it’s turning out to be a public relations coup.
The Steelers aren’t the only ones ecstatic about their participation. The National Football League and HBO executives share this joy. That’s because there is no greater Hollywood A-Lister than Tomlin when it comes to NFL head coaches.
There has never been a head coach in the history of the NFL more at ease and better elocuted before a live microphone and a rolling camera than Coach Mike. If he ever retires from his forever contract as a Steelers coach, he’ll have so many offers to be a television talking head that he’ll end up owning half of whichever network wins the bidding war.
He’s a leading candidate to win NFL Coach of the Year, and a Lombardi Trophy is a possibility at this point as well. And you can add the opportunity to win an Emmy while you’re at it. He’s really that good.
It’s not a mystery why those outside of Steelers fandom are perplexed when he receives grief in Pittsburgh. Tomlin is as talented of a Hollywood scriptwriter and performer as you’ll find in the NFL. He’s definitely Showtime, a respected leader, and by all accounts, a genuinely good human being to boot.
There is an authentic genius in Tomlin. That’s undeniable.
But for longsuffering Steelers fans—defined as any Pittsburgh fan who doesn’t witness the team winning a Super Bowl every year—the end results ultimately matter.
With a strong 9-3 start, this could be Tomlin’s all-important year. He might be able to reaffirm that he can be admired broadly throughout the NFL…while providing essential hardware to those who matter the most.
Game Over
Let’s be clear here. The Steelers’ defense did not perform well in the Bengals game. Whenever you give up 31 points to the opposing team (the other touchdown was a pick-six by Russell Wilson), there is no sugar-coating of impressive turnovers thick enough to cover up the stench.
It’s bad defense—Joe Burrow or not.
What’s most disturbing is that the battered defense had a beautiful opportunity for redemption in that game—and it was a swing and a miss.
With the Steelers holding a 10-point lead, Nick Herbig generated the play of the game (at least for those of us who love defense). After Herbig strip-sacked Burrow, Payton Wilson was able to scoop up the fumble and scurry into the end zone with several of his best friends to gain a commanding 41-24 lead with just over 11 minutes left in the game.
That’s game, set, match. Goodnight Sally. Turn out the lights, the party’s over—time to make dinner reservations at the steakhouse.
Or was it?
Apparently not. The Bengals inexcusably were allowed to score two more touchdowns in the ensuing minutes, making this game much more of a nail-biter at the end than it had any right to be.
The Steelers must figure out how to snuff out these games in the fourth quarter once they take the lead. Granted, this is no easy task in the modern National Football League, especially with all the mamsy, pamsy rules favoring offenses.
Still, leaving the Patrick Mahomes of the world with a pulse in these types of games will result in a season-ended Steelers post-game locker room flooded with tears and a lot of Coulda Shoulda Pie to eat.
It doesn’t matter how potent an opposing offense is; if your defense is your football team’s major investment, it’s got to be able to show you the money when it’s time to cash out.
Edge Of Greatness
The Steelers have enjoyed some incredible edge rushing tandems throughout the years. To name a few, you had Greg Lloyd bookending with Kevin Greene, Joey Porter collaborating with Jason Gildon, and LaMarr Woodley partnering with James Harrison.
This season, many experts proclaimed T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith to be the premiere dynamic duo in the NFL, and that is hard to argue even despite our heavy biases.
With Nick Herbig’s emergence as a splashy pass rusher in his own right, Pittsburgh can boast a unique trifecta of talent and an embarrassment of wealth at one of the NFL’s most prized positions.
It may be blasphemy even to utter this out loud. Still, Herbig’s production-per-minute, in gashing opponents with 4.5 sacks and 4 forced fumbles in limited play, might rank his performance above his much more heavily compensated colleagues.
Do you put all three on the field at the same time? Why not? Let’s party.
At the very least, you can rotate in all three liberally without fearing you’ll weaken the attack. This is extraordinarily valuable.
When you consider that the recently acquired Preston Smith, with nearly 70 career sacks, is on the sideline waiting anxiously for his chance to play ball as well, you realize this is the deepest the Steelers have ever been at the position of edge-rushing linebacker.
And for the Pittsburgh Steelers storied linebacking history…that’s saying a lot.
Camera Don’t Lie
Some players say things that get on the opposing team’s bulletin boards for incentive. Then there is George Pickens, who lives on the opposing team’s bulletin boards.
After Tomlin publicly reprimanded him for needing to grow up quickly, Pickens responded by being quoted more than once, saying he didn’t think the Browns “are a good team at all.”
Although incentivizing the Browns unnecessarily is unwise, his explanation as to why he said this is difficult to argue.
“I just go by the record,” he said.
He’s right. And so are we, as Steelers Nation. The Browns are 3-9, and one of those three is a gift from us.
With all of the world watching through the eyes of HBO’s film crew, there will be no fancy, melliferous words that Tomlin can share that will be swallowable if his team fails the test again.
This is a must-win for the Steelers. Not because it’s essential to the Steelers overall season. It’s because we simply can’t stomach another loss to the lowly Browns.
The Steelers have an impressive record and are virtually already assured a spot in the playoffs.
Yet, the team has yet to have a game in which it has fully fired on all three cylinders: offense, defense, and special teams.
This would be the week to bring on a trinity of excellence.
There is no “Just Win, Baby” this weekend. That baby is being thrown out with the bathwater.
It’s utter dominance or bust.
It was us. We let the Dawgs out with that disappointing loss in Cleveland. It’s time to put those Dawgs back in the kennel this weekend.
And all of this bullying with the cameras rolling, with mics live, and for all the world to see.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are back. Can’t wait to watch the next episode.
