PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – This time the Steelers got help while helping themselves and now a half-game out of first place in the AFC North.
A 23-19 win over Green Bay moved the Steelers to 6-3, while the Ravens lost to Cleveland 33-31 to drop to 7-3 and the Bengals lost at home to Houston 30-27 to drop to 5-4.
“Winning record, 6-3 going into these AFC North away games,” said Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith. “I feel we are in a good spot, but we got a lot of areas to improve.”
“Pretty good spot, still got a long way to go,” said Steelers Patrick Peterson. “A lot of good football to play. We are about to go into the AFC North cycle here with back-to-back AFC North opponents. The road is going to be tough for us. We just got to keep our head down and keep fighting.”
“It feels good, tell you that, it feels good,” said Steelers QB Kenny Pickett. “Got to enjoy it and then we have a really tough road test, a division road test coming up, so our full focus will be on that.”
Steelers at the Browns on November 19. QB Deshaun Watson rallied Cleveland from down 14 points in the fourth quarter in Baltimore to a 33-31 win on a field goal on the final play of the game. Watson threw for 213 yards and a touchdown with Amari Cooper having six catches for 98 yards and the Browns fifth-round pick from last year Jerome Ford rushing 17 times for 107 yards. Myles Garrett had another sack-and-a-half. Dustin Hopkins went four-of-four on field goals.
Steelers finish the three-game homestand going 2-1.
“We still left a game out there,” said Steelers center Mason Cole. “But we are going in the right direction. This division is going to be close and every game is going to be important. As long as we keep winning. It will take care of itself. We have two big ones coming up, the first one in Cleveland. That’s all that matters right now.”
“These are two good teams we are going to play starting off with Cleveland,” Highsmith said. “We got to be able to go to them and get the win.”
After playing in Cleveland, a first matchup with the Bengals this season in Cincinnati. Joe Burrow threw for 347 yards with a pair of touchdowns and interceptions and led the Bengals from down 10 in the fourth quarter to tying it. That’s before Texans QB CJ Stroud went 55 yards in 1:33 to set up the game winning field goal by Matt Ammendola. Cincinnati was without wide receiver Tee Higgins, but Ja’Marr Chase had four catches for 124 yards and Tyler Boyd had eight receptions for 117 yards.
Both teams are now 5-4.
All six wins for the Steelers this season have come by a single score. The Steelers are 6-3, but outscored on the season by 26 points and for the ninth straight game were outgained by their opponent.
“It’s crazy,” Highsmith said. “These games are tight. They’ve all been tight. It just shows in those pressure moments we come up making the big plays. We just got to put ourselves in a position where we don’t have to make those plays. We should be better in certain ways that we don’t have to have such a heart attack at the end of the game. Whenever we have those got to have it moments, we’ve been capitalizing on it.”
“It’s a win,” said Steelers safety Damontae Kazee. “A win is a win. It’s hard to win in this league. I don’t care if it’s by half a point, point five, none of that. I’m going to take this win and be grateful and be happy. I ain’t got to be stressed this week. I’m going to enjoy it.”
“Obviously, we don’t love close games, but if we have to, we want to be able to dictate what happens at the end of the game,” said Steelers TJ Watt. “And, I mean, we’ve had so much built-in adversity through the whole process. Coach T’s all about it. So, it’s a matter of not blinking in those moments.”
“It’s been that for three years for me,” said tailback Najee Harris. “I’ve been so used to it, I don’t even realize it maybe sometimes. That’s just how we are I guess.”
“Ugly wins for y’all, beautiful wins for us,” said Steelers captain Cam Heyward.