View From 522: Maybe Russ can still cook
The Pittsburgh Steelers are 6-2 going into their bye week and Russell Wilson might still have something left as a starting quarterback in the NFL.
We are only two weeks into the Russell Wilson experience and it is already going significantly better than I could have hoped it would. I am not saying the entire offense is fixed or that some of the same problems from earlier in the season do not still exist. Because they do still exist. I am not saying it has been perfect. Because it has not. I am certainly not saying I am expecting a Super Bowl this season. Because I am not. But I am still relatively pleased with the way the past two games have gone, including Monday’s 26-18 win over the New York Giants.
Wilson and the offense consistently moved the ball, he finished with a passer rating well over 100 for the second week in a row, he played ALMOST mistake free football (right up until that late fumble in the fourth quarter) and they managed to keep stacking wins. I know there is going to be a mindset of “well, it was just the New York Jets and Giants,” but for as bad and flawed as those two teams are their defenses are both problematic to face. The Jets defense, especially against the pass, is one of the best in the NFL. The Giants boast one of the NFL’s best pass rushes and have an elite player in Dexter Lawrence in the middle of it. Both teams are still capable of beating you. The Steelers, for the most part, handled them well and did what they were supposed to do — win and cover the spread.
Let’s talk about some of it.
1. I think the thing that has stood out to me the most is that Wilson is moving better than I expected him to. That was ultimately my biggest concern with going back to him, not only because he is 10 years older than Justin Fields and not anywhere near the runner, but also because he was coming off a calf injury that basically sidelined him for three months. It did not seem ideal. While I think there were some times where Wilson probably could have tucked it and ran (including that third down play on the first drive), he is still able to roll out, get on the edge and avoid the rush. That is important playing behind an offensive line that is quickly running out of players.
2. I loved the way the offense moved the ball on Monday night. Most of their drives looked efficient, crisp and they definitely tallied some big yardage totals. But they still ran into problems with finishing drives. They had a touchdown to Van Jefferson called back on another Broderick Jones penalty. They missed out on a touchdown because George Pickens could not get his foot down in bounds when he had plenty of room to do so. They still settled for too many field goals in big moments. This was also a problem during the Justin Fields games, specifically during the Atlanta and Denver games where big plays (including touchdowns) were negated by penalties or just a lack of finishing the play. This is one of those things where it is not a quarterback problem, and speaks to other problems on the offense with not having enough top-tier players on that side of the ball.
3. Najee Harris knows he is playing for a contract, and he is playing like it. That man is running angry, determied and looking like the player the Steelers thought they were getting when they used a first-round pick on him. He has always managed to put up yards, but he has been more of a volume runner than anything else. But this season he has added a serious big-play element to his game, already having six runs of 20 yards or more. That is the fourth-highest total in the league behind only Derrick Henry, Jordan Mason and Saquon Barkley. Given the injuries on the offensive line, his season has been tremendous. Add in Jaylen Warren being back healthy, and hopefully the return of Cordarelle Patterson this week, and that is a deep running game.
4. Overall the Steelers are going into their bye week with the top spot in the AFC North, a 6-2 record, and a top half of the league offense, entering this week as the 14th ranked scoring offense in the NFL. They do not need to be a top-10 offense to compete and win. Just be decent. They have been decent. A competent NFL offensive coordinator and competent quarterback play, from both Wilson and Fields, has certainly been a game-changer.
5. There is a lot being made about the schedule the Steelers have already played and the schedule they have remaining. When it comes to the defenses, here are the rankings of the scoring defenses they have played so far this season: 1, 3, 10, 13, 14, 19, 27, 31. Average ranking: 14.7. The rankings of the defenses they still have remaining: 5, 7, 11, 18, 18, 23, 23, 26, 26. Average ranking: 17.4. They still have all six of their AFC North games remaining, and they not only typically play well in those games, all three of those teams have below average to very bad defenses.
6. At the end of the day the biggest key to this season is still going to be the Steelers defense. They can be inconsistent at times, they will give up some yards at times, but they simply keep teams off the scoreboard and they take the football away from people. They are the No. 2 scoring defense in the NFL and are tied for the second-most takeaways. T.J. Watt may not have the overall numbers he has had in the past, but he has still won them a few games and made game-changing plays at the biggest time, including his sack, fumble, recovery against the New York Giants.
7. It is going to be disappointing if they go right back to Cam Sutton over Beanie Bishop now that Sutton is eligible to play again. Not saying Bishop has been perfect, but he has been a game-changer the past two weeks, has improved, and has been playing all season. Sutton was not particularly good in Detroit and has not played all season.
8. There was a huge crowd on Monday night, but I thought in terms of atmosphere the place was a little off and not quite as involved. The Sunday night crowd against the Jets was intense and had a big-game feel from start to finish. This one? Just kind of there and did not produce really any exciting stories. Kind of underwhelming, to be honest. Perhaps the 2-6 New York Giants with Daniel Jones just do not bring that much juice.