"Certainly we wanted to engineer victory, but we wanted to do it in a certain way."
That's quite the admission from Coach Mike Tomlin, usually the strictest of bottom-line guys when it comes to the week-to-week business of navigating an NFL regular season schedule. And it was said totally unprompted at the top of his postgame media briefing just before midnight.
Inside a frigid Acrisure Stadium in front of an impressive number of hearty fans plus a Monday Night Football audience, the Steelers engineered victory to the tune of 28-15 over the Miami Dolphins.
The immediate impact of the outcome was that it allowed the 8-6 Steelers to maintain their 1-game lead over the 7-7 Baltimore Ravens atop the AFC North Division, while simultaneously eliminating the 6-8 Dolphins from the playoffs. But taking a deeper dive, there have been some recurring issues regarding the Steelers' performances that threatened any realistic chance to advance into the postseason and be more than one-and-done.
Number of offensive plays per game. Total net yards per game. Time of possession. Rushing yards gained vs. rushing yards allowed. The Steelers have consistently operated at a deficit in the first three, and on the wrong side of the fourth. It all was noted, and Tomlin talked about it on the Saturday before the game.
"I certainly view it as important. Just because we're on the wrong side of it, I'm not going to devalue it," said Tomlin. "Good defenses spend a lot of time on the sideline. It's the defense's responsibility, it's also the offense's responsibility, if you want to wage the war of attrition. And really, oftentimes rushing and rush defense have a lot to do with that. Certainly we haven't run the ball recently as well as we'd like, and we certainly hadn't stopped the run as well as we'd like. And that's why those numbers are what they are."
This particular tale of the tape showed the Steelers with an edge in number of offensive plays, 62-48; in total net yards, 336-285; and time of possession, 33:33-26:27. The Steelers finished with 135 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns while limiting the Dolphins to 63 yards and no rushing touchdowns.
And before you disparage the Dolphins running game as unworthy, understand that it came to Pittsburgh averaging 192.3 yards and 1.8 rushing touchdowns as the driving force of a 4-game winning streak that resuscitated their playoff aspirations.
As Tomlin had outlined, both defense and offense had to come together with the complementary style necessary to "wage the war of attrition," which is exactly how the game unfolded.
When the Steelers offense went punt, punt, punt on its first 3 possessions that produced just 3 first downs, their defense forced two Dolphins punts and ended a third possession with an interception by Asante Samuel Jr. That back-and-forth resulted in almost 25 minutes of scoreless football, and then the dam broke. And it was the Steelers offense that was responsible for the demolition.
From the end of the first half and into the fourth quarter – approximately 18 minutes of time off the clock – the Steelers drove 58 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown, then 71 yards in six plays for a touchdown, then 72 yards in 10 plays for another touchdown, and finally 71 yards in 9 plays for a fourth straight touchdown and what had grown into a 28-3 lead.
It was wonderfully planned and beautifully executed. During those possessions the Steelers converted 7-of-8 (88 percent) on possession downs, with touchdowns coming on a third-and-1 Connor Heyward tush-push, and a 28-yard pass to DK Metcalf on a third-and-12.
There were chunk plays – a 19-yard pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling that made it 14-3 after the first possession of the second half; the aforementioned 28-yard catch-and-punishing-run by Metcalf that made it 21-3; a 38-yard run by Kenneth Gainwell; a 22-yard pass to Pat Freiermuth just before a 14-yard run by Jonnu Smith that made it 28-3.
Aaron Rodgers was masterful. He completed 23-of-27 (85.2 percent) for 224 yards, with 2 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a rating of 125.9. He also caught the Dolphins with 12 defenders on the field to convert a third-and-3 during the drive that ended with an on-time and accurate throw to Metcalf, who then did what a big, strong, athletic, determined WR can do on the way to turning it into a touchdown. He consistently milked the play clock as the lead grew. He protected the football. He was sacked twice, with a third coming when he gave himself up to keep the clock running late in the fourth quarter.
And this all happened behind an offensive line that had Dylan Cook starting at left tackle. Cook, who began his NFL journey in Aug. 2022 and will be 28 in a few weeks, saw his first-ever regular season offensive snaps (all 13 of them) last week in Baltimore when Andrus Peat was being evaluated for a concussion. Cook played every offensive snap against the Dolphins and was completely anonymous in the best way possible for a rookie LT.
The Steelers running game was more effective than Miami's. It averaged 4.2 per attempt, accounted for 8 of the team's 22 total first downs, and 2 of the 4 touchdowns. With Jaylen Warren dealing with the effects of a weekend bout with the flu, Kenneth Gainwell led the unit in rushing (13 carries for 80 yards, a 6.2 average) and in receptions with 4, which were good for 46 more.
"A lot of guys made plays today," said Rodgers. "We would like to get some more opportunities for DK, but Kenny had a fantastic game, 126 combined yards; Pat (Freiermuth) had some nice plays; Marquez (Valdes-Scantling) had a touchdown, of course that was awesome. Asante Samuel had a pick. Junior I should add, because I played against his dad.
"Kind of what I said after the game, there are some castoffs if you look at our roster, which makes it really special. Kenny Gainwell signed a next-to-nothing contract. Connor Heyward, an afterthought, had a touchdown run. Marquez has been on a couple teams. Adam Thielen got cut. Samuel Jr. was on the street for a long time. Says a lot about the character of the guys we brought in."
Monday night's win was the most complete performance by the Steelers this season, and it came without T.J. Watt, No. 1 pick Derrick Harmon, and James Pierre, all of whom were sidelined with injuries. With all of them expected to return at some point this season, it could be viewed as a hopeful sign for a group being bolstered by some "castoffs" and showing it can play winning football down the stretch of a regular season.
But their road is not only becoming narrower but also tougher, because in 4 days the Steelers will be off to Detroit for the assignment of an 8-6 group of Lions who entered the weekend ranked in the top 5 in the NFL in 8 different offensive categories including a No. 1 in points per game. And also will arrive desperate and no doubt testy because they are teetering on the precipice of elimination from the NFC Playoffs.
No rest for the weary. Or the castoffs.
