Two questions stood out Monday night as the Steelers finished off the Giants for their sixth win of the season.
1) How bad are the Jets?
2) Are the Steelers any good?
The Steelers hit the bye week with the lead in the AFC North, a division race that’s far from over.
Pittsburgh went 2-0 with Russell Wilson in the starting lineup, and he’s the backup singer on a Steelers’ team fronted by defense. The 2024 version has allowed more than 20 points just once in a 27-24 loss to the Colts. Wilson threw one beautiful deep ball down the left sideline to George Pickens and otherwise played like the 35-year-old the Broncos were desperate to eject.
Steelers takeaways on the final two drives did in the Giants, who can at least say they put up more of a fight than the other New York team. Wilson debuted as starter last week and beat the Jets 37-15.
Not that anyone believes the first eight games of this Pittsburgh schedule was much of a test. Wins at Atlanta and Denver look a smidgen better than initial quality assessments might’ve anticipated, but losing to the Colts and Cowboys—both by three points—in successive weeks was a bad look.
Mike Tomlin doesn’t get giddy about much that’s accomplished in October.
Rewind a couple years. Pittsburgh rolled into November with a surprising 7-0 record. Tomlin had a few good things to say, but he wasn’t tossing bouquets at Ben Roethlisberger or a defense that wound up with 56 sacks that season because of the sledgehammer schedule that was coming in December.
“Good today,” Tomlin said between wins at Baltimore and Dallas. “But means nothing for tomorrow.”
Tomlin wasn’t wrong. The Steelers lost four of the final five games in the regular season and gave up 48 points to Cleveland in an 11-point home wildcard loss.
Just as we began to wonder if this Steelers team can take a punch and fight above its weight class, we got the hint of an answer. Wilson put the ball on the ground with an eight-point lead with 4:30 remaining Monday night.
A few plays later, T.J. Watt wrapped his arms around Daniel Jones, ripped the ball away and the Steelers were back on the field with the clock running under three minutes.
These Steelers can bag the ragtag win over the Giants and go get some rest knowing the road ahead is lined with heavyweights who don’t miss when they get a team on the ropes.
After taking the coming week off, Pittsburgh returns Week 10 with a trek to face the Washington Commanders (6-2) before coming home for their first game of the season with the Baltimore Ravens (5-3).
By stumbling at Cleveland on Sunday, the Ravens showed mortality that wasn’t detected during a four-game winning streak. That run powered Baltimore to the top of the AFC North.
The end-of-season gauntlet awaiting Pittsburgh in December is the stretch that matters more than the first two months of the season.
That icy proving ground has trips to Philadelphia (Dec. 15), Baltimore (Dec. 21) and a Christmas Day date with the Kansas City Chiefs wrapped in a never-before-experienced Sunday-Saturday-Wednesday 10-day stretch that will determine if the Steelers are still standing when AFC playoff seats are declared.
Week 18 is a home game against the Bengals. Cincinnati has won two of the past three meetings in Pittsburgh.
All six AFC North contests await Tomlin and the Steelers on the other side of the bye week. The schedule tightens and another 10-win season could be a reality.
Getting 10 wins or just returning to the playoffs—Pittsburgh lost 31-17 at Buffalo in January—isn’t the ideal destination Tomlin is pointing toward.
He also lost in the postseason in 2020 and 2017 (45-42 to the Jacksonville Jaguars), since last winning a playoff game at the end of the 2016 season, taking down the Dolphins and Chiefs before a 36-17 loss to the Patriots.
Near the midway point in the 2024 season, the Steelers greatest tests are dead ahead.