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Winners and losers from the Steelers’ Week 7 win.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are 5-2 and sitting atop the AFC North after a 37-15 win over the New York Jets. In what was a second consecutive massive win for the Steelers, there was a lot to like, so let’s get into it.
Varsity
QB Russell Wilson
I’ll eat my crow now. I hated the idea of changing quarterbacks – it made so sense to me. And after three consecutive three-and-out drives, I was ready for a change. But then, Wilson and the offense settled in. He finished the game 16-of-29 for 264 yards and two touchdowns, and added a rushing touchdown from the goal line to give him three total scores on the night. His 264 yards are the most in team history for a quarterback making his Steelers debut, and the offense put on a show en route to 31 unanswered points.
CB Beanie Bishop
Beanie Bishop’s first interception off Aaron Rodgers completely changed the course of the game. It led to the Steelers scoring their first touchdown just before halftime and pulling to within two. His second interception set up the Russell Wilson sneak from the one yard-line to put the Steelers up eight. Bishop has had a lot of rough moments in the first two months of the season, but this was a tremendous showing from an undrafted rookie that helped Pittsburgh turn the tide.
RB Najee Harris
Harris had his second consecutive 100-yard game, and it looks like Arthur Smith is figuring out to just have him run north and south instead of side to side to find yardage. He’s becoming the consistent, big chunk back Pittsburgh was hoping he would be when they drafted him. Maybe that leads to him returning to Pittsburgh with a new deal.
WR George Pickens
Pickens made multiple contested catches, which has become to him what the Sweet Chin Music was for Shawn Michaels. He had five receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown.
TEs Pat Freiermuth & Darnell Washington
Freiermuth only had two catches but they were for 21 and 30 yards, respectively. Darnell Washington deserves a shout here, too, since we’re talking about tight ends. The two big pass-catching options caught a combined six passes for 87 yards.
LB Payton Wilson
Wilson was all over the field, leading the team with 10 tackles and seemingly always being where the ball was. A good night for the rookie.
S DeShon Elliott
Elliott is a legitimate All-Pro to this point in the season. He has such a high football IQ, always finding his way to the ball-carrier, flying in from the secondary to make tackles in the backfield (he had another TFL on Sunday), and has consistently been this team’s Swiss army knife. he had six tackles, the aforementioned tackle for loss, and a hit on Aaron Rodgers.
CB Joey Porter Jr
Davante Adams only had three catches for 30 yards on the night – the newest addition to Porter Island.
DL Larry Ogunjobi
Ogunjobi had two tackles and the Steelers’ lone sack on the night on Rodgers. He had an additional three hits on the quarterback, so he was constantly wreaking havoc.
DL Dean Lowry
Lowry blocked the Jets field goal that kept the game at 23-15 and led to Pittsburgh driving down the field and making it a 30-15 game. This is the second time this season the Steelers have blocked a kick on Sunday Night Football.
OC Arthur Smith
Art was in his bag like it was a Terrifier movie. Whether it was efficient runs with Harris and Jaylen Warren or dialing up deep shots to Pickens, or a terrific scissors concept that left Calvin Austin completely uncovered for a 36-yard gain, Smith called a fantastic game. The Steelers finished with over 400 yards of offense and have scored 30+ points in consecutive weeks.
HC Mike Tomlin
Very few people defended the decision of Tomlin to start Wilson, but he looks like a genius right now. We all have our qualms when it comes to Tomlin’s shortcomings, but we also need to give credit where it’s due.
Junior-Varsity
Tackling
The Steelers open-field tackling was abysmal. Multiple times, their lack of ability to bring down Breece Hall led to big gains. He had catches of 18, 13, and 57 yards.
Finishing
While Pittsburgh was able to punch it in four times from the red zone, they could have had even more. On the first drive, they had a good series of plays that were suddenly halted and they settled for a 46-yard field goal. They got into the red zone again in the first half and were at the shadow of the goal line and failed to punch it in for six. Pittsburgh needs to get better at finishing earlier in the game rather than everything coming together later on.