Postgame reactions, commentary and analysis following the Steelers' 30-27 win over the Bengals.
First-round pedigrees
The Steelers' thrilling 30-27 victory Sunday against the Bengals started with their most recent first-round draft pick in the spotlight and ended with the one preceding him right there, too.
Max Iheanachor made his first NFL start, lining up at right tackle, and was pivotal in the offense's best showing through the first three games. The run game rolled up 140 yards before quarterback Aaron Rodgers took two kneel-downs. And Rodgers was sacked just twice, half the number of times he was brought down last week.
"It was incredible," Iheanachor said of jogging out of the tunnel for pregame introductions. "My first time ever doing that, I was just in another world for a minute just running out there. It felt good. I was trying to take it all in. I'll prepare for next week now."
By the end of the game, it was 2025 first-rounder Derrick Harmon who was the man of the hour. Harmon's sack and forced fumble of Joe Burrow ended the game and iced the win for the Steelers in emphatic fashion.
Harmon is a man of few words, and you could say the same about Iheanachor. But the Steelers didn't draft them for their postgame interviews. They invested in them to control the trenches, and Sunday was a promising chapter.
"I loved the celebration. It was about a 20-minute celebration, it felt like," T.J. Watt joked of Harmon's walk-off strip-sack. "But any time guys are playing loose and having fun, that's when they play their best ball, and that's what you saw."
As one of the best first-round picks in Steelers history himself, Watt is encouraged.
"I feel like a broken record talking about these young guys, but they just need to see ball," Watt said. "The more ball they see, the better they get."
Veteran savvy
Sebastian Joseph-Day saw the ball and he made sure he was going to get it.
Forgotten in the excitement of Harmon slamming the door was how crucial it was for the Steelers to come up with the recovery. The Bengals could've maintained possession near midfield with a little less than a minute left, and it doesn't take much to get into Evan McPherson's range for field goals.
"All I see is a flash of black jersey, and I see Joe run this way and I cover, and I just see DJ sack him," Joseph-Day said, invoking Harmon's nickname. "Amazing play by DJ, and I honestly had the easy job. I outran the O-linemen and got it."
Joseph-Day, 31 and in his ninth NFL season, has seen plenty of ball. He had a fumble recovery just last year with the Titans. There was only one hard part, which he chuckled about.
"That wasn't fun being under that pile," Joseph-Day said with a laugh.
Want it more
Sometimes takeaways come down to a little bit of fumble luck with how an oddly-shaped ball bounces. But other times it's about urgency, desire and a willingness to put your body on the line.
That's where Ben Skowronek shines, and he did it again Sunday with his muffed punt recovery deep in Bengals territory. It was Skowronek's fourth recovery on special teams since joining the Steelers at the start of the 2024 season, and he now has one in each of his three years in Pittsburgh.
"I just play hard," Skowronek said. "I take pride in playing harder than the guy across from me. I think the football gods kind of reward you for that."
He added that as a seventh-round pick of the Rams in 2021 who's been cut and traded in his career, he always has a "huge" chip on his shoulder, and plays accordingly. Skowronek also caught a touchdown pass on a day that head coach Mike McCarthy sent him out to the pregame coin toss as the weekly captain, representing special teams.
"Growing up, as somebody who has a lot of family in the area, I realize how special it is to be a Pittsburgh Steeler," said Skowronek, whose father Dave and his side of the family are all from southwestern Pennsylvania. "It's one of the few organizations in the league that has that 'it factor' to it. The Rooneys have done a great job since 1933 building this culture. Every day I come to work, I just think of the great players who sat in those seats before us. Like my favorite player growing up, Troy Polamalu. Just playing the way I grew up watching those guys play, I've got so much respect for the game of football, so much respect for the culture in Pittsburgh, so this was a special moment for sure."
Take the J-Train
Running back Jaylen Warren was a monster Sunday, racking up a career-high 176 yards from scrimmage. He went from bright spot to driving force of the offense, and it seems as if his tackle-breaking capabilities get better every year.
"I think the biggest part of it is what it does for my teammates," Warren said. "They see it so they want to make a play, too, and everyone just feeds off of it. That's huge."
Warren had to carry the load with Rico Dowdle out because of a toe injury. And Warren himself came in questionable with a shoulder injury.
But Rodgers called Warren one of the toughest teammates he's played with, and that's a lot of teammates through the years. Warren's only regret is that he couldn't finish off his 26-yard run when he got tripped up at the Bengals 6. Rodgers even quipped that Warren brought himself down more often than the first defender did.
"I feel like that's always been my X-factor," Warren grinned. "My biggest pet peeve is going down by one guy. I try my hardest not to. When I'm out there having fun, like playing backyard football, that's when I do my best. I don't even really be making moves. People just bounce off of me. It's been like that since I was like 8 years old. I don't really know what it is."
Big Darnell
And yet, Warren might not even be the hardest to tackle on his own team. When you talk about defenders bouncing off of a ball-carrier, Darnell Washington is the definition.
It's somewhat ironic that Warren (5 foot 8) is the shortest player on the team and Washington (6 foot 7) is the tallest but both are equally difficult to bring down. Just look at Washington's 47-yard catch-and-run to set up what turned out to be the game-winning field goal from Chris Boswell in the fourth quarter.
"I stayed inbounds this time," Washington smiled. "I caught the ball, turned around, and couldn't really make a move. He was already trying to tackle me. I just tried to keep my feet moving, stumbling, and tried to take it all the way."
Washington finally got pushed out at the Bengals 32, but it was amazing how there just kept being open green grass in front of him as he tip-toed along the sideline. That was the longest gain of his NFL career by more than 10 yards, and longer than any reception he had in college at Georgia. He also had an 11-yard catch in the first quarter in which a Bengals defensive back fell off of him immediately.
"I feel like it opened up everything," Washington said of the fast start. "When the offense comes out rolling, comes out swinging, punching people in the mouth, I feel like it opens up the whole playbook."
More than Max
It wasn't just Iheanachor who contributed up front to the offensive break-through. Right guard Brock Hoffman also made his first Steelers start, and did so as a veteran companion for a rookie right tackle.
Hoffman, 27 and in his fifth season with 16 previous NFL starts under his belt with the Cowboys, was ready for the role. He spent extra time this week meeting with Iheanachor to make sure they were on the same page.
"I had the utmost confidence. I could just see the look in his eye when we were talking I just knew he was going to go out there and ball," Hoffman said. "I don't think he played like a rookie at all making his first start."
Hoffman credited the coaching staff with pairing him and Iheanachor a lot in training camp and the preseason. He believes they can keep jelling together as the year progresses. It wasn't an easy first foray into the AFC North for Hoffman, either, with Bengals defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence on the opposite interior.
"When I signed here, everybody said they felt like I was always meant to be a Pittsburgh Steeler," Hoffman said. "I'm very happy to be here."
