5 overreactions from the Steelers’ 37-15 win over the New York Jets

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Takeaways, overreactions, and random musings from the Steelers’ biggest win of the season.

The Steelers avenged Week 5’s disappointment against the Dallas Cowboys in primetime by vastly outperforming expectations in Week 7’s Sunday Night Football, defeating the New York Jets with a convincing final score of 37-15. As always, there are plenty of takeaways to be had:

1. Russell Wilson steps up

Good or bad performance, Russell Wilson was always going to be the story of this week’s game. I’ll be honest, while I was never quite as down on Russ as others, I wanted the Steelers to stick with Justin Fields heading into Week 7. But Mike Tomlin proved that he had a point with starting the veteran.

Early on though, it wasn’t as cheery. Boos rained down on Wilson midway through the first half. They were premature, but not entirely unwarranted. Wilson clearly didn’t have the mobility of Fields, and following two hilariously bad underthrows, he wasn’t exactly looking any better in the passing game.

But a banged-up Jets secondary gave Wilson a chance to shake off the Russt early, and he sure did. 264 passing yards and three total touchdowns; no turnovers, a 30-plus point day, and the biggest win of the season. What a debut.

Wilson deserves all the praise he’ll get this week and more, especially after a dismal past two years that left many doubting his abilities.

But I do have my gripes, and before you yell at me in the comment section, feel free to browse through my past articles and see that it took me a while to warm up to Justin Fields as well. Wilson looked good, not great on Sunday.

We can start off with the good, though. Wilson was active pre-snap and looked more in control of the offense than Fields ever did. The All-22 will reveal the truth, but it felt like he was seeing the field better, too.

And although Wilson was brought down on a few plays where Fields would’ve gained plus yardage with his legs, he wasn’t a statue in the pocket, either. It was especially impressive given the Pittsburgh O-line’s early struggles.

Wilson’s ball placement wasn’t the sharpest all night, but a big change from Fields was the air that he placed under passes (it’s overused, but “moon ball”). Instead of darting throws downfield, Wilson arced his passes to give his receivers a better chance at getting in position to make big catches. George Pickens’ 111 yards and a touchdown reflect that.

It is worth noting that Wilson was benefited by a lot of circus catches throughout the game, avoided the middle of the field like the plague once again, and was going up against a Jets defense down most of its starters in the secondary.

Is this the case for Justin Fields? No. Obviously, obviously stick with Russ next week.

But don’t go crowning the Steelers’ season as substantially changed just yet. It’s just one game with a lot still to work on. On the other hand, you’d think Wilson has nowhere to go but up following his first game of the season. Sunday’s debut was good news.

2. Big game Beanie Bishop

Russell Wilson had his detractors, but no one had more doubters on the Steelers than UDFA slot corner Beanie Bishop Jr., who was universally seen as the weak link in the Pittsburgh defense entering Week 7. With New York trotting out Davante Adams, Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard, and Mike Williams on Sunday, the slot looked like a promising matchup for the offense. Even I highlighted Bishop as a likely target in the Five Questions with the Enemy segment on Gang Green Nation ahead of the game.

Instead, Bishop responded with the first two interceptions of his young career against a future Hall of Famer in Aaron Rodgers. I’m not sure if it gets any sweeter than that.

The first was an absurd one-handed grab, while the second was more of a gift following a Garett Wilson drop (maybe Bishop got a hand on the ball to affect it). But that second interception, and the following runback, was also the point in the game where the tide turned definitively in Pittsburgh’s favor.

If Bishop can continue to ascend, it would be a huge boost for a Pittsburgh defense that’s been looking to fill the nickel corner position long-term ever since Mike Hilton left. And the better Bishop plays, the less we’ll see of Cam Sutton post-suspension. There are countless reasons to root for the UDFA corner to succeed this season.

3. Special plays on special teams

Just about everyone on Pittsburgh’s special teams unit deserves a gold star following Sunday’s matchup. Chris Boswell was perfect yet again. Corliss Waitman landed three of his four punts inside the 20-yard line, and punt coverage has gone from a weakness to a strength this season. Former first-round pick Terrell Edmunds has been a surprisingly excellent addition at gunner.

But the kickblocks are the real story. One was called back due to a ticky-tack leverage penalty on Minkah Fitzpatrick, but the Steelers were able to get one that counted later, this time on a field goal attempt that would’ve given New York some much-needed second-half momentum. Instead, a wall of Steelers defenders rose in the center of the formation, and the Jets were scoreless in the last 30 minutes of the game.

With the punt unit struggles seemingly cleaned up this year, Danny Smith’s group has been excellent. It was a dominant special teams performance against the Jets.

4. What we expected… finally

There was a lot of well-deserved hype around the Steelers’ running back duo of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren entering 2024, but through the first quarter of the season, it wasn’t living up to the hype. Harris was struggling behind the Steelers’ offensive line while Warren clearly wasn’t healthy.

Against the Raiders, Harris finally had a big game, but this was the week where it clicked for both backs. Najee had another 100-yard performance, averaging nearly five per carry and recording a touchdown. Warren finally saw a decent workload and looked like his usual explosive self, logging 44 rushing yards, 15 receiving yards, and three total first downs, including a big third-and-long conversion on the drive that would eventually put the Steelers up by two scores.

With its countless injuries, the Steelers’ O-line remains a liability in pass protection, but led by guard Isaac Seumalo, their drive in the run game has shown some promise over the last few weeks. If you want to see the Pittsburgh passing game continue to make strides, having a run game to keep defenses honest will be an important step, and it looks like the Steelers finally have the pieces to make it happen.

5. Odds and ends

• Alex Highsmith had a huge game on Sunday, with pressures that resulted in a number of bad throws by Rodgers. Having him back in the lineup was a massive boost for Pittsburgh.
• The Jets’ quick passing game meant the Steelers were going to have a tough time getting home to the quarterback. Instead, the pass rush responded by getting its hands in the air and batting down several crucial throws—a great adjustment by the defense.
• Pittsburgh’s defense showed some creative pressures on Sunday. Credit where it’s due, Teryl Austin. Having a line of scrimmage demons like DeShon Elliott at safety has to help, as well.
• I’ll have to verify later, but it looks like James Pierre had a solid outing at cornerback in place of an injured Donte Jackson. New York didn’t have much go right offensively in the second half.
• Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith also deserves some credit after facing plenty of criticism over the last few weeks. The Steelers scored on every drive in the second half, both the run game and passing game were moving the ball, and there were open wide receivers.

• It was good to see Van Jefferson finally record a big play with a touchdown grab against the Jets. The Steelers still need more at WR2, but Jefferson did contribute to the win.
• Darnell Washington with four catches was not a stat line I ever thought I’d see. It’s good to see Pittsburgh getting him involved.
• Wilson was on fire in the second half, but I’m still surprised that we never saw a Justin Fields package during the game. I still think it’ll be utilized later this season at some point, as every Wilson quarterback sneak had me holding my breath.
• Ryan McCollum at center deserves some credit. He didn’t have the cleanest game, but Quinnen Williams wasn’t mentioned much on the broadcast.
• The referees were all over the place on Sunday, blowing the whistle too early on some plays and then setting a precedent with an unnecessary roughness call on Larry Ogunjobi just to never call it again.
• While it worked out great, I’m not sure why the Steelers felt the need to continue to go for it on fourth down during their final drive. Kick the easy field goal, go up by three scores, and guarantee the victory.
• Breece Hall’s 141 total yards are unacceptable, especially looking at the number of open-field missed tackles by the Steelers. If there’s one thing to work on from their big win, it’s that.
• Davante Adams lost to the same team in back-to-back weeks… not important, but kind of funny.

Up next, the Steelers have an extra day to prepare ahead of Week 8’s Monday Night Football versus the New York Giants. A 5-2 start has been great, but 6-2 is even better.

What are your takeaways from Steelers vs. Jets? Agree/disagree with the ones above?Join our Behind The Steel Curtain community and let us know in the comments!