I have to admit, that was NOT what I was expecting to happen.

I also have a huge Crow Pie to bake and eat all by my lonesome.

All week long I berated Coach Tomlin for the decision to play Russell Wilson after Justin Fields had guided the Steelers to a 4-2 record. I was sure that the Jets were going to grind and hammer the Steelers into submission with their defense Sunday night, and for about a quarter and a half, they did. The Jets lead by as much as 9 points into the 2nd Quarter, building a 15-6 lead.

Everyone knew that the Steelers were going to have to establish the run early to stay in the game, because the Jets pass defense is one of the league’s best. It was a matter of execution and the Steelers put teams on notice, saying: Regardless of WHO is playing along the offensive line, this team will still be able to run the ball.

The Steelers had along their offensive line a 4th Round Journeyman Left Tackle, their stud Left Guard, a 9th String junior varsity Center, a 4th Round Rookie at Right Guard, and a 1st Round project that still has execution issues and mental lapses at times at Right Tackle. Not exactly the Detroit Lions or Atlanta Falcons offensive lines, but the Steelers Oline put together a performance that carried this team, quite literally, to a win.

Mason McCormick’s energy on the field is palpable, as evidenced by his crazy arm swinging first down celebration:

Mason 🤣🤣🤣#EasyToCelebrate | @Budlight pic.twitter.com/LOrlCFf6P8

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 21, 2024

That energy is becoming infectious to the rest of the line, and it is rubbing off on everyone. Ryan McCollum, the 3rd string Center, played capably in his first start of the season, keeping the ship pointed in the right direction. Maybe the Steelers were right all along when they said their Center position was satisfactory during the Preseason.

The coaching by Pat Meyer and the play calling by Arthur Smith is starting to come together in the way that many fans expected at the beginning of the season. The execution is starting to get more consistent along the offensive line, as evidenced by Najee Harris’ recent success.

In week’s 1-5, Najee ran for a combined stat line of 82car/271yds(3.3APC)/0TD’s.

In the last two weeks combined, he has 35car/208yds((5.9APC)/2TD’s.

Arthur Smith and Pat Meyer deserve a lot of credit for what happened Sunday night. Smith’s play calling right out of the gate is what many were waiting to see since Week 1 against the Falcons. When Russell Wilson threw the Tight End Waggle pass to Darnell “Mount” Washington on the 2nd play of the game, it was a breath of fresh air that Steelers fans had been waiting for. Not only did Smith get Washington involved, but the play call itself was something that the Steelers hadn’t called in a very long time.

Now, that first drive didn’t result in a touchdown, but the Steelers finished the first drive of the game with points, with slow starts being a criticism they have faced all season. That criticism reared it’s ugly head during the next 3 drives, resulting in 3 and Outs, but the Steelers defense managed to keep the Jets from creating too much separation on the scoreboard.

The Steelers defense allowed 140 yards on the two touchdown drives the Jets put together, but only 85 yards on the other 5 first half drives the Jets had, including Beanie Bishop’s first career INT and two drives that had negative yardage (not including the pre-half kneeldown). In fact, outside of those two touchdown drives, the Pittsburgh defense held the Jets offense to 4 plays or less on every other first half drive, keeping the Steelers defense fresh.

This was a complete team win by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Every facet of the team contributed, including much maligned Bazooka Joe Danny Smith’s special teams. The punting by Corliss Waitman was lights out, pinning the Jets deep all night, with ALL of his first half punts landing inside the Jets 25 yard line.

Even better though, the Steelers offense made Waitman obsolete for the rest of the game, scoring on every drive in the second half. Then, in the 3rd quarter, the special teams backed up the solid punting with a blocked field goal. A great night for Danny Smith and his squad, and he deserves recognition just as much as we lambaste him every other time.

In hind sight, I wanted the Jets to miss that kick due to the score at the time (23-15 Steelers), but if I had known that the Steelers were going to throw up a total of 37 points, I’d have rooted for Greg Zuerlein to hit that field goal. It cost me $40 on the parlay that i put together. Damn you Zuerlein!!!

With the running game finally finding it’s footing, and Russell Wilson doing enough in his first start, the defense coming to dominate, and the special teams being well, special, this was a great performance that sets the Steelers up nicely as they have 8 days to prepare for the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. After the Monday Nighter, it’s the Steelers bye week, and one has to consider that if the Steelers take care of business next Monday, and take the bye to really nail down execution and some new wrinkles in the playbook, the Steelers are set up well for the stretch run that everyone has been eyeing since the schedule came out.

At 5-2 the Steelers are in prime position, and if we are all honest, this is what most Steelers fans expected when they started counting out wins and losses at the schedule release. Maybe we didn’t think that Pittsburgh would lose to the Colts, but we also probably didn’t think (at least, I didn’t) that Pittsburgh would beat these Jets, so at least they have made up that loss. Again, if the Steelers beat the Giants, they roll into the bye week at 6-2 with a lot of momentum for the second half of the schedule.

The Commanders are better this year than they have been in a long time under the guidance of Dan Quinn and Jayden Daniels, and will present a tough test.

The Eagles game (in Philadelphia) may represent the third biggest hurdle left for the Steelers. The Steelers haven’t won in Philadelphia since 1956, so not only are the Eagles a good team, they seem to be inside the Steelers head when the game is in Philly.

Obviously the division games loom large, but a little bite has been taken out of the Browns, as it looks like they will be losing Deshaun Watson for the remainder of the year (Achilles). The Browns defense, though, is still tough as nails.

The Bengals have been a mixed bag of results, depending on which version of Macaullay Culkin shows up, but we know they will play the Steelers tough.

The Ravens, obviously are the Steelers biggest two games of the year EVERY year, except maybe this year.

This year, the Christmas Day game vs the Kansas City Chiefs, at least to me, represent the toughest challenge to the Steelers. The Steelers have gotten throttled the last couple times these teams have played, and if the Steelers ultimately want to win Lombardi #7, they’ll have to go thru the current Champs to do it.

But at this point, I won’t be counting out the Steelers in any game they have left. Last night proved that they CAN run an offense against a good defense. Now comes the biggest question left: Can the Steelers defense continue to do it’s job against the better teams (and Quarterbacks) of the League, now that they have set the tone for the first half of the season. If you’d have told me that the Steelers would have most of their original Oline out for the season, and yet they would be 5-2 and getting BETTER at running the ball, I’d have sent the goon squad to fit you for a straight jacket.

There is a reason I am not a coach in the NFL. When I counted the team out, they came through and did so convincingly. Coach Tomlin has once again shown why he’s one of the best, and I am sitting here typing my woes out to you on a keyboard for having to eat some crow. I guess I just need to go find a good recipe and try to make it as palatable as possible.

But if this is how the Steelers are going to play for the rest of the season, I will be willing to become a 5 Star Michelin chef serving the most humble Crow Pie in the world, and I’ll eat that whole thing myself with a smile.

GLADLY.