It was the offense's best game of the season. Not perfect, by any means, and maybe not good enough to contribute to a win in a matchup vs. the league's top defenses, but it was better than any of the others so far in 2023. And by definition, that represents progress.
The Steelers are now 4-2 after their 24-17 victory over the Rams in Los Angeles, and the manner in which it was achieved was every bit as aggravating as it was heartening. As so often is the case in the NFL, because it unfolded in that specific order, the Steelers were able to leave SoFi Stadium with the win. Or if it's important to bend things to fit a different storyline, the Rams were too charitable, or the officiating was biased, or it wouldn't have ended the way it did if Los Angeles' placekicker hadn't choked.
Frame it any way you choose, but it doesn't alter the reality of the Steelers being 4-2 because of how they adjusted and responded and persevered in the second half against the Rams. Coaches and players alike, and once it became possible to get a complete picture of the plan and how it was executed, it made a lot of sense.
On defense, the Steelers had seen how Rams Coach Sean McVay was mixing his play-calls to frustrate the pass rush during the first half, and so T.J. Watt was dropped into coverage on the opening series of the second half, which put him in position to intercept Matthew Stafford, and the play he made set up a short touchdown drive by the offense and ignited the crowd which in turn provided a jolt of energy along the team's sideline.
"It was just eyes on the quarterback, and I was able to see (Stafford) kind of work his way back to my side of the field. I was able to jump in front (of Cooper Kupp) and make a play on the ball.
"We don't care where the spark comes from," added Watt of the impact of his interception. "We just want to get that spark, so it allows us to get going. We don't want to be that team that starts games slow, starts second halves slow. It's important to come out strong and hopefully shut down some things early so that you don't see them again later in the game."
Yes, rookie wide receiver Puka Nacua had 8 receptions for 154 yards, but the five other Rams who caught passes combined for only 77 more receiving yards, and most critically Cooper Kupp had only 2 for 29 yards and no touchdowns.
Flip it over to the offense, and while outside linebacker Michael Hoect had 2 sacks and a forced fumble, those were the only sacks the Rams managed and Steelers left guard Isaac Seumalo was the one who recovered that single fumble anyway. Three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald didn't make any plays behind the line of scrimmage, and the Steelers' five offensive possessions in the second half ended: touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, run out the final 5:28 on the clock to end the game in victory formation.
"I appreciate the fight that the guys displayed," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "Obviously, we've got to clean up some things from a management of our emotions, but I would much rather say, 'Whoa' than 'Sic 'em.' We've got some guy who are competitors. They've just got to compete in the appropriate and mature and professional way. We'll use it as a learning experience, but it's good to learn while sitting here 4-2 as opposed to 3-3."
In the "management of emotions" category were a couple of costly 15-yard penalties for taunting – one to both George Pickens and Diontae Johnson that wiped out first downs and cost the offense chunks of yardage. Not that it mitigates the carelessness or the costliness of the acts, but both were more mindless than malicious.
There was a lot more trash talking than that taking place on the SoFi grass, but it was the Steelers who caught the attention of the zebras with the body language they tacked onto the words coming out of their mouths. Whatever Pickens and Johnson said would have drawn no penalty flags if they hadn't gotten in the face and/or wagged fingers in the faces of the targets of their smack talk.
"But I just love to fight in this group," said Tomlin. "They don't blink. They cut their eyelids off, and they go at it. And it is like I told them, it's not a compliment. It is required. I'm just acknowledging that we better be prepared to fight every time we step into the stadium, because that's what the National Football League is about."
Johnson's faux pas aside, his presence in the lineup did exactly what Tomlin said it would when addressing the subject of how the return of a top-end route-running receiver would serve the offense and help Pickett.
"Separation. The more separation you have the less pinpoint accuracy is a variable in the completion," said Tomlin. "So the significant route-runners, the guys who can create space at breakpoints, guys who can get open both vertically and non-vertically, they're a big assist to the quarterback because the accuracy component of it is lessened.
"I don't know that they provide anything schematically different. You tell somebody to run a curl, they run the curl. But I think the significant difference in high end route-runners is the space created and thus the potential for the big play after the catch, or the less emphasis or requirement on quarterback accuracy."
On the third-and-8 from the Steelers 43-yard line that was the first play of the fourth quarter, Johnson took a short pass from Pickett and turned it into a 39-yard gain to the Rams 18-yard line. Two plays later, a 17-10 deficit had been transformed into a tie game, and the Steelers would not trail again.
Offensive coordinator Matt Canada utilized Johnson, but not to an extent where Pickens or the running game was ignored. On a 10-play, 80-yard drive a bit later in the fourth quarter that followed the Rams going three-and-out, Pickens caught passes for gains of 18 and 21 yards, Johnson turned another quick throw into a gain of 11, and Najee Harris gained 21 yards on 4 carries including the touchdown that provided the decisive points.
Then on that possession where the Steelers burned the final 5:28 with Pickett allowed to punctuate the win with three snaps from victory formation, Canada mixed power running that gained some yards and forced McVay to burn up his remaining timeouts, and then Pickett attacked the deep middle to convert a third-and-3 with a 31-yard completion to Pickens. Things would've been much cleaner had Johnson not drawn a taunting flag that seemed like a way for the officials to offset the iffy pass interference penalty that immediately preceded it, and if Allen Robinson then had been able to find a way to gain the final few inches after a catch over the middle to convert a third-and-8 inside the 3-minute mark.
And let's be clear about the Steelers' messy-looking attempt at the tush-push on fourth-and-1 from the Rams 39-yard line with 2:24 remaining: the initial spot by the official seemed generous, and maybe that spot is overturned on replay to provide the Rams with another offensive possession, but McVay had no timeouts left to be able to challenge the ruling on the field.
In many parts of the sports world, this sequence was lamented as an unfortunate-borderline-unfair end to the game, but in many Western Pennsylvania living rooms Tomlin would've been vilified for poor clock management because he was careless enough to be out of timeouts before the 2-minue warning of a one-score game. Just saying.
Anyway, the Steelers' 4-2 record is good for second in the AFC North standings and fifth in the AFC pecking order, and it was achieved in part by the offense's best showing of this season. Maybe that was a low bar in the first place, and maybe the unit should've been performing at this level much earlier, but all that really matters is for the light at the end of the tunnel this time to be something other than an oncoming train.
