View From 522: It is not always pretty for Steelers and it does not need to be

Some thoughts from the Pittsburgh Steelers win over the Cleveland Browns and the offense and team in general.

In most cases the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-14 win over the Cleveland Browns this past Sunday would not really be all that impressive of a win. They entered the game 9-3 and in first place in the AFC North, improved their record to 10-3 and extended their lead in the division to two full games (with the tiebreaker for the time-being over the Baltimore Ravens). They beat a team that was 3-9, in fourth place in the division and fell to 3-10 and are now even further back in the standings, pretty much cementing themselves as the fourth place team for the season.

They took care of business and did what they needed to do.

Even with all of that being the case it still seemed like a big win.

It got them to double-digit wins for the second year in a row and got them one step closer to a potential playoff spot, division title and home playoff game. It also was a nice bounce back after losing to that same team two weeks earlier. Given the upcoming schedule of games that includes three games in 10 days against three of the best teams in the NFL (Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs) it was pretty much a must-win game.

Even more impressive — they got the win without their best wide receiver (George Pickens) in the lineup. My immediate reaction to him being out of the lineup was to immediately be skeptical of his absence and think it was soft-benching after his recent run of penalties and some of the comments he made after the first Cleveland game and before this game. As it turns out, as is the case with most conspiracy theories, that was all bullshit. He really is hurt. There is a lesson here.

They are going to have to try and do it again this Sunday in Philadelphia, which will be an even bigger challenge given how good the Eagles are. Especially on defense where they are one of the best pass defenses in the NFL.

It will be kind of fascinating to see how it all plays out.

It would not be unfair to say that despite the win and the 27 total points against Cleveland on Sunday that the passing game was not totally efficient. Quarterback Russell Wilson had a rough first half and even though things got better in the second half they still finished the day with only 158 yards passing.

The good news and encouraging news: Wilson distributed the ball to everybody (eight different players had a catch), and while the overall numbers were not great they still hit some big plays downfield and finally started to get Mike Williams more involved.

Overall I am still kind of torn on Wilson. From a big picture perspective the results are everything you could hope for and want. They are winning games, the offense is top-10 in points per game and they finally have something that resembles a legitimate downfield passing game.

It is just not always pretty, and if you go through on a game-by-game basis Wilson has not always been great. He had a great second half against the New York Jets. He had some big passes against the Washington Commanders. He had a strong second half to bring them back into the game in Cleveland. He had an outstanding game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He had another strong second half in the home game against Cleveland.

Mixed in around all of that has been some underwhelming play at times. The red zone offense has not always been great, even if it has significantly improved the past two weeks. I imagine it is a mix of Wilson not being the player he was in his 20s and early 30s, as well as the Steelers not having a ton of playmakers in the passing game to help him.

Maybe that is just what we have to expect. They are not going to be a precision, start-to-finish passing team that is going to move across the field and do whatever they want, whenever they want the way some other teams do. But they can — and will — make plays when they need to make them. Wilson will still hit a lot of the moon balls and the downfield, big-play passes. That might be the best-case scenario. That also might be good enough. They still do an incredible job protecting the football (knock on wood). The Steelers defense is going to keep them in games and help them win the turnover fight overall. The running game is going to churn out yards. That recipe has worked very well for them in recent years. Adding in a passing game that, while not always consistent, can make those plays is the type of game-changing addition they needed.

It is just going to have some moments where they are not always dominant. The key, though, is that the offense has significantly improved across the board from the very start of the season. I need to keep that in mind at times when the offense has a bad half or quarter.

It was also encouraging to see them being able to still hit those plays and score 27 without Pickens because from the start of the season he has been the only proven wide receiver in the offense. The depth behind him has been a question mark from the very beginning of training camp. Even though it was a 3-9 (and now 3-10) Cleveland team, the fact they were able to still function with Calvin Austin III, Mike Williams, Van Jefferson and their assortment of tight ends was a huge development.

If they can find a way to do that again on Sunday in Philadelphia against a significantly better and tougher opponent they might really be on to something.

Now let’s get into a few more observations and thoughts from Acrisure Stadium on Sunday.

1. Keeanu Benton’s interception is the play that completely flipped the game in the Steelers’ favor. They were losing 7-3 at that point, Cleveland was again taking over near mid-field with a chance to take a two-score lead, and potentially put the Steelers into another position where they would have to rally. At some point, though, you had to know Browns quarterback Jameis Winston was going to give them a turnover. Then he did. Then he gave them another one later in the game to seal it.

2. The Cordarelle Patterson experience has been disappointing so far far. He has not been a factor in the kick return game (and that is not really his fault, I imagine the threat of him returning kicks has just made opponents say “fuck it, we are just going to kick it through the end zone) and his role in the offense has been more frustrating than productive. He has had his moments. He has made some plays. But Sunday was not one of those days. He touched the ball five times, netted one yard of offense and fumbled away a possession late in the fourth quarter that could have made the game more interesting than it needed to be. As long as he is on the roster and Arthur Smith is the offensive coordinator he is going to get his touches, but it has been more forced than productive.

3. The offensive line has played better in recent weeks, and I think Broderick Jones deserves some credit here. If we are going to crush him when he makes mistakes, we have to be fair when he plays better. The past two weeks he has not been as noticeable. When you are talking about offensive lineman, that is probably a good thing.

4. Cam Heyward has been the best defensive player on the roster this season. I had no problem with his contract extension (mostly because there was no real risk or new guaranteed money involved) but he has exceeded my expectations this season. Just an absolute force in the middle of the defense.

5. Speaking of the defense, I can not say enough about how good the new additions have been. After a slow start Patrick Queen has really come on strong in the second half of the season, while Donte Jackson and DeShon Elliott have been outstanding from the start to add some speed and impact play to the secondary. Rookies Payton Wilson and Beanie Bishop have always been immediate success stories.

6. Have not been to every home game this season, but Sunday was my fourth game of the season and I thought of those games that was the one that had the least amount of juice from the crowd. It was a big crowd, for sure, but it just did not have the same noise level or atmosphere as some of the other games. The Browns rivalry is just not what it used to be.

7. No matter what happens the next two weeks I imagine that will be a different story on Christmas day when the Kansas City Chiefs visit. It is an important matchup in the AFC, there could be big seeding positions at stake, it is a holiday game that everybody seems juice about it, and it is an extremely expensive game on the second hand market. If the Steelers can split the next two games (or somehow find a way to win both of them) you could be talking about a game for the potential No. 1 seed in the AFC, a bye week and home-field advantage. We have a long way to go before we get to that point, however. Still it should be an amazing game to be at. My plan is to be there in full Santa Claus suit.

8. Tight end Pat Friermuth has been outstanding the past few weeks. They will need more of that again on Sunday if George Pickens does not play again.