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Steel City Underground presents our 2024 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were looking to stack wins following a decisive home victory against the New York Jets. In Russell Wilson’s second start as the team’s quarterback, he would be facing another New York team in primetime, this time the Giants on Monday Night Football.
Anyone wagering a bet was skewed in favor of another Steelers blowout, but despite being six-point favorites Pittsburgh entered halftime tied 9-9. Thanks to efforts across the board, the Steelers were able to bag the Giants, 26-18, and move to 6-2 on the season ahead of their Week 9 bye, securing what was the third-best record in the NFL behind the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions. The victory also gives the Steelers a one-game lead in the AFC North over the Baltimore Ravens.
Following a mundane first half, the offense exploded to 426 net yards on the evening, the second time they’ve surpassed 400 total yards in as many games. It was Pittsburgh’s third 400+ offensive showing of the 2024 season with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith calling plays.
To put what Smith has done into perspective, the Steelers never had a 400+ yard offensive output in 2.5 seasons under previous coordinator Matt Canada. The team failed to achieve the 400+ mark entirely in 2021 and 2022, and only eclipsed it twice in 2023. Both of those games came after Canada’s firing (against the Bengals and Seahawks) with a second matchup against the Bengals coming up three yards short last season as well.
Much of the Steelers spark came from WR Calvin Austin, who arrived on the primetime scene with a pair of electric touchdowns. The first was a major momentum shift in the game, as Austin lined up to receive a punt on the Giants second failed offensive series of the second half.
Austin would escape tackles and zip behind clever blocks from his teammates for a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown that gave the Steelers a 16-9 edge.
Two potential scoring passes to George Pickens were also overturned, one due to a penalty and the other due to both feet not coming down before Pickens was shoved out of the back of the end zone.
Early in the fourth quarter Austin would strike again, this time connecting with Russell Wilson on a 29-yard deep pass for a score. Austin gained several steps on his coverage and scampered across the goal line to give Pittsburgh a near-comfortable 23-9 lead.
For the first time since his rookie year in 2021, Najee Harris topped 100 yards rushing in three games within the same season. Harris ran angrily against the Giants, carrying the ball 19 times for 114 yards: a 6.0 average per carry.
Harris had three of the Steelers longest plays against the Giants, including two runs – one of 26 yards and another of 14 yards. He also caught a 13-yard pass.
The 114-yard performance also leads to Harris having three consecutive games hitting the century mark, the first of his career. He now has 592 rushing yards on 136 carries, which is a career-best 4.4 yards-per-attempt, along with two rushing touchdowns on the year.
It was a mixed bag of surprises for the Steelers defense, however, when the Steelers needed a big play, T.J. Watt delivered: again and again.
The first of Watt’s two sacks came on the Giants first series of the second half, as he switched sides and brought down Giants QB Daniel Jones. His counterpart, Alex Highsmith, would swoop in on the next down to bring Jones to the ground again, forcing the Giants to into a 4th-and-22 and out of field goal range.
Watt’s second sack was a strip-sack on Giants QB Daniel Jones in the fourth quarter, following a series where Steelers QB Russell Wilson fumbled the ball and was unable to recover. Unlike Wilson’s situation, Jones was a sitting duck who had the ball swatted from his grasp as Watt not only knocked it down, but also fell on the football for the recovery.
Watt was named the AFC’s Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
While the Steelers were unable to completely run down the clock or capitalize with points after Watt’s forced fumble, the ensuing drive made it difficult for the Giants to make a push to tie the game at the end, leading into a series that finished with undrafted rookie Beanie Bishop picking off his third pass of the season.
Bishop handled the bobble to secure it at the Pittsburgh 29 and ran it to the 34 before being pushed out of bounds. The turnover shut down any shot the Giants had to go for a last-minute score and allowed Wilson to kneel the ball in victory formation. Bishop would play a season-high in snaps (60) and snap percentage (83%) in this game.
Despite Bishop’s emergence, and T.J. Watt’s stellar performance the defense had more give than usual against a two-win New York franchise. Giants rookie running back Tyrone Tracy carried the ball 20 times for 145 yards and a touchdown. His 7.3 average was highlighted by a 45-yard TD run, as Pittsburgh failed to bring down the ball carrier.
New York’s 157 rushing yards are the most allowed by Pittsburgh to date, with the Indianapolis Colts coming in second with 133. The only other team to run for 100 or more yards on the Steelers for the season was the Dallas Cowboys, who finished with 109 yards. (The latter two games were both losses, a pattern that would signal impending doom later in the year.)
Pittsburgh would enter their bye week with a 6-2 record, staring down the barrel of strong opponents left on the back half of their schedule, including the Washington Commanders, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, and Kansas City Chiefs. Stay tuned as we continue to look back and cover these games in our weekly Recall series.
2024 Steelers Season Recall: Steelers Top Giants in Monday Night Showdown appeared first on Steel City Underground.