Recapping Steelers Win vs. Giants
The Steelers took down the New York Giants on Monday Night Football in Pittsburgh 26-18, bringing their record to 6-2. Following the Baltimore Ravens’ loss to the Cleveland Browns the day before the Steelers game, that 6-2 record is now good enough for first place in the AFC North, and 2nd place in the conference behind the Kansas City Chiefs.
We, as fans, have talked for MONTHS about how crucial it was for us to win the games we were supposed to win early on in the year, because of how tough our schedule becomes after the bye week. Thankfully, the Steelers have done just that, even though it wasn’t always pretty. It CERTAINLY wasn’t pretty against the Giants, as we left a lot of points, once again, out on the field with some mental errors, but it’s good to be working on those things with a W rather than an L.
I think the thing, for me, that was hardest to stomach against the Giants was the run defense. I wrote, before the game, about how lopsided I expected that particular matchup to be with the Steelers defense being the league’s best in allowed rushing efficiency coming into that game, and the Giants offense ranking near the bottom of the league in that category. It was, pretty much, the exact opposite as they averaged 6.3 yards per carry in this game, spearheaded by Tyrone Tracy Jr's 20 carries for 145 yards. I knew coming into the game that Tracy was a dog, but I didn’t expect him to be able to find running lanes against our defense. The Giants o-line is just that bad. And, with all that being said, I don’t think this is a talent issue for the Steelers defense. So, maybe there’s some credence to the claims that Mike-Tomlin-led teams play down to their opponents, or maybe this was just a bad day. Whatever the case was, we’re lucky it didn’t affect the outcome of the game.
Another ugly performance in this game came at the hands of a couple of guys on the offensive line. Obviously, the Steelers opening drive touchdown was called back because of a facemask call on Broderick Jones. We ended up kicking a FG on the end of that drive. It sucks that we’re 8-9 weeks into this season, and we’re still talking about the points being left on the field because of the constant mistakes by one guy, but here we are. Broderick Jones is looking more like a BUST right now than someone going through a sophomore slump. Another guy who, I’d say, had a subpar day was C Ryan McCollum. There was a sack right before the two-minute warning in the first half where McCollum missed his block on Dexter Lawrence, forcing Russell Wilson to escape before getting taken down by Brian Burns. He also got called for a false start in (I believe) the 3rd quarter. There’s no need to bury McCollum, seeing as he was the third center on the depth chart coming into the year, and he was going against one of the best pass rushing teams in this one.
Just to quickly go over some things that were GOOD about this game…I really appreciated the bounceback by Donte Jackson in this game. He was getting cooked pretty badly when lined up against Malik Nabers in this game, resulting in a couple of chunk plays. There was also a potential touchdown catch where Nabers MOSSED Jackson, but couldn’t get his second foot down, in the second quarter. However, Jackson, and really the defense as a whole, really tightened up, especially in the third quarter. According to the broadcast of this game, the Steelers are winning third quarters 53-0 so far this season. That’s just an UNREAL stat to me that really speaks volumes to the adjustments made by the coaching staff at half time. Alex Highsmith had 2 sacks, and like 10-12 pressures, depending on who you ask. To be honest, Alex Highsmith vs. Giants LT Chris Hubbard was a massive mismatch all game long. Beanie Bishop Jr. also came up big in this game with another INT, his third in two weeks. I think his INT in this game was more of a ‘right place, right time’ kind of thing, rather than him being an elite ballhawk, but for an UDFA to be making splash plays like those in back to back weeks, there’s no reason to be anything other than happy and optimistic for his current career trajectory.
For the offense, obviously we’ve gotten three-straight 100-yard games from Najee Harris, which is HUGE. I started off the season by saying that the Steelers would regret not picking up Harris’ fifth-year option, and he continues to show us exactly why I would feel that way. He’s looking like one of the best running backs in football, and the offensive line is getting healthier heading into next week’s game in Washington D.C. Our running game is up and to the right, which is good news for us as we get into the meat of our schedule. Russell Wilson continued to make Mike Tomlin look good, going 20/28 278 yards and a touchdown, including one of the prettiest passes of his career, a deep ball to Calvin Austin III early in the fourth quarter. Calvin Austin finished this game with 54 yards and a touchdown, as well as a punt return for a touchdown. While all of Steelers Nation panics about the wide receiver rooms, when rumors and desires are at their peak, he comes out and has a game like this right before the trade deadline? It felt like a statement by him, and I couldn’t be happier for him.
Lastly, since I brought up Calvin Austin’s punt return for a touchdown, we have to give credit to my favorite coach in all of sports, Steelers special teams coordinator Danny Smith. Special teams stuff kinda gets swept under the rug a lot of times. However, when you are a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers, who want games to be won in the trenches; those low scoring, smashmouth football games, you need reliable special teams units to put your offense and defense in favorable positions. It seems like every single week we should expect, not just CONSISTENCY from our special teams, but also game changing plays. I’m talking blocked field goals and punts, fumble recoveries for touchdowns, punt return touchdowns. You name it…we do it. It’s not like that in very many other football cities. Enjoy it. Appreciate it. Danny Smith is a fuckin LEGEND.
This is a scary group at the bye week, and we’re getting healthier…but more on that later.
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