PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Even in the best of years, the Steelers have found ways to win games they shouldn't have won. It doesn't mean this team is going to the Super Bowl, but winning teams win games they have no business winning.
Sunday's win over Baltimore would qualify.
The Steelers were outgained in the first half nearly three-to-one and benefitted from puzzling coaching decisions and handfuls of easy errors including at least six dropped passes. Yet the Steelers kept fighting, A blocked punt, field goal, interception, splash touchdown and defensive hold later, the Steelers are 3-2 and tied for first in the AFC North.
"You need some battles like this," said veteran receiver Allen Robinson. "You need to be battle tested. For us to be callused a little bit, understand it's not as pretty as we might want it to be. Being able to make plays down the stretch in must have it situations, being able to do that as an offense will help us win games."
"It shows the grit and determination," said corner Levi Wallace. "We knew it was a must-win game for us. For us to go out there and play the way we did in the second half with the heart and tenacity. Even with sudden changes, when we needed a stop, we got a stop. It shows the character."
For most of the season, the defense, even if they didn't say it publicly, had to be wondering when the offense would get something going. For most of the day they didn't, but at the end, when they needed it, they did. Receiver George Pickens hopes that gives the D some faith in the O.
"I'd probably say it gave the defense a lot of confidence, too," Pickens said. "When you play, intangibles, you know, a defense can feed off an offense and an offense can feed off a defense. It's just remarkable, and I feel like right then, the defense was feeding off of us and we were feeding off of them."
"That's just the NFL, you have to figure it out together as a team and trust each other-offense, defense and special teams," said linebacker Kwon Alexander. "That's what we did."
"There's ups and downs in the games," said QB Kenny Pickett. "We found a way to win down the stretch, that's all that matters. It's nowhere near as good as it needs to be, speaking from an offensive standpoint. We understand that, all the guys do, all the coaches do. We work tirelessly at it to get better and score more points. But at the end of the day, we went down there and win the game and got the W."
"It's impressive," said center Mason Cole. "Going into a bye week 3-2, in first in the AFC North and we haven't come close to playing our best ball yet. We still have a lot of work to do, but it's encouraging to know our best ball is still ahead of us."
Wallace said it's not just a win, but a good win against your rival. The corner said it's hard to win in this league and when they put it together collectively, it should be celebrated. He thought they forgot about all of that after beating the Raiders and it affected them against Houston.
"Cherish the win, don't dwell on it, but focus on the positives and move forward," Wallace said.
Somehow this team is in first place, what will they do with it?
