The Steelers avenged their Week 5 disappointment against the Dallas Cowboys in primetime by far exceeding expectations in Week 7 Sunday night footballdefeating the New York Jets with a convincing final score of 37-15. As always, there are plenty of takeaways:

Good or bad performance, Russell Wilson was always going to be the story of this week’s match. I’ll be honest, while I was never as down on Russ as others, I wanted the Steelers to stick with Justin Fields heading into Week 7. But Mike Tomlin proved he had a point in starting the veteran.

But it wasn’t so happy at first. Boos rained down on Wilson midway through the first half. They were premature, but not entirely unfounded. Wilson clearly didn’t have Fields’ mobility, and after two hilariously bad underthrows, he didn’t exactly look any better in the passing game.

But a broken Jets secondary gave Wilson a chance to shake off Rust early, and he certainly did that. 264 passing yards and three total touchdowns; no turnovers, a 30+ point day and the biggest win of the season. What a debut.

Wilson deserves all the praise he will receive this week and more, especially after a dismal past two years in which many doubted his abilities.

But I do have my reservations, and before you yell at me in the comments section, feel free to scroll through my previous articles and see that it took me a while to warm up to Justin Fields as well. Wilson looked good, but not great, on Sunday.

However, we can start with the good. Wilson was active before the attack and seemed to have more control of the offense than Fields ever had. The All-22 will reveal the truth, but it felt like he saw the field better, too.

And while Wilson was taken down on a few plays where Fields would have gained more yardage with his legs, he wasn’t a statue in the pocket either. It was especially impressive considering the Pittsburgh O-line’s early struggles.

Wilson’s ball placement wasn’t the sharpest all night, but a big change from Fields was the air he placed under passes (this one is overused, but “moon ball”). Instead of blasting throws downfield, Wilson curved his passes to give his receivers a better chance to get into position to make big catches. George Pickens’ 111 yards and a touchdown reflect that.

It’s worth noting that Wilson took advantage of a lot of circus catches throughout the game, once again avoiding the middle of the field like the plague and going up against a Jets defense that had most of its starters in the secondary.

Is this the case for Justin Fields? No. Of course evidently Stay with Rus next week.

But don’t label the Steelers’ season as substantially changed just yet. It’s just one game that still needs a lot of work. Then again, you’d think there’s nowhere for Wilson to go other than after his first game of the season. Sunday’s debut was good news.

2. Bishop’s hat for big game

Russell Wilson had his detractors, but none had more doubts about the Steelers than UDFA slot corner Beanie Bishop Jr., who was universally viewed as the weak link in Pittsburgh’s defense entering Week 7. While New York’s Davante Adams and Garrett Wilson challenged , Allen Lazard and Mike Williams on Sunday, the slot looked like a promising matchup for the Jets offense. Even I highlighted Bishop as a likely target in the Five Questions with the Enemy segment on Gang Green Nation before the match.

Instead, Bishop responded with the first two interceptions of his young career against a future Hall of Famer in Aaron Rodgers. I’m not sure it gets sweeter than that.

The first was an absurd one-handed grab, while the second was more of a gift after a fall from Garett Wilson (maybe Bishop got a hand on the ball to influence it). But that second interception and subsequent runback were also the point in the game where the tide finally turned in Pittsburgh’s favor.

If Bishop can continue to rise, it would be a huge boost for Pittsburgh’s defense, which has been looking to fill the nickel corner position long-term since the departure of Mike Hilton. And the better Bishop plays, the less we’ll see after Cam Sutton’s suspension. There are countless reasons to argue for the UDFA corner to be successful this season.

3. Special plays for special teams

Just about everyone on Pittsburgh’s special teams unit deserves a gold star after Sunday’s game. Chris Boswell was perfect again. Corliss Waitman landed three of his four punts inside the 20-yard line, and punt coverage has gone from a weakness to a strength this season. Former first-round pick Terrell Edmunds has been a surprisingly excellent addition at shooter.

But the blocked stairs are the real story. One was called back due to a ticky-tack leverage penalty on Minkah Fitzpatrick, but the Steelers later managed to get one that counted, this time on a field goal attempt that would have given New York some much-needed momentum in the second half. Instead, a wall of Steelers defenders rose in the middle of the formation, and the Jets were scoreless in the final 30 minutes of the game.

With the punt unit issues seemingly resolved this year, Danny Smith’s group has been excellent. It was a dominant special teams performance against the Jets.

4. What we expected… finally

There was a lot of well-deserved hype surrounding the Steelers’ running back duo of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren entering 2024, but through the first quarter of the season, it didn’t live up to the hype. Harris struggled behind the Steelers’ offensive line, while Warren was clearly not healthy.

Against the Raiders, Harris finally had a big game, but this was the week where both backs clicked. Najee had another 100-yard performance, averaging nearly five per carry and a touchdown. Warren finally saw a decent workload and looked like his usual explosive self, with 44 rushing yards, 15 receiving yards and three total first downs, including a big third-and-long conversion on the drive that would ultimately put the Steelers up by two. scores.

With numerous injuries, the Steelers’ O-line remains a liability in pass protection, but under the leadership of guard Isaac Seumalo, their drive in the run game has shown some promise in recent weeks. If you want Pittsburgh’s passing game to continue to progress, having a run game to keep the defense honest will be an important step, and it appears the Steelers finally have the pieces to make it happen.

5. Odds and Ends

• Alex Highsmith had a huge game on Sunday, with the pressure resulting in some bad throws from Rodgers. Having him back in the lineup was a huge boost for Pittsburgh.
• The Jets’ fast passing game meant the Steelers would have a hard time getting home to the quarterback. Instead, the pass rush responded by throwing up its hands and knocking down some crucial throws – a great adjustment by the defense.
• Pittsburgh’s defense showed some creative pressure on Sunday. Credit where it’s due, Teryl Austin. Having a line of scrimmage demon like DeShon Elliott at safety should also help.
• I’ll have to verify later, but it looks like James Pierre had a solid outing at cornerback in place of an injured Donte Jackson. In the second half, New York didn’t have much going for it offensively.
• I desperately need an update on Beanie Bishop Jr.’s quest. to have Aaron Rodgers autograph his intercepted footballs.
• Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith also deserves some credit after receiving a lot of criticism in recent weeks. The Steelers scored on every drive in the second half, the ball was moved in both the run and passing games and there were open wide receivers.

• It was good to see Van Jefferson finally make a big play with a touchdown grab against the Jets. The Steelers still need more in WR2, but Jefferson did contribute to the win.

• Darnell Washington with four catches was not a stat line I ever thought I would see. It’s good to see Pittsburgh get him involved.

• Wilson was on fire in the second half, but I’m still surprised we never saw a Justin Fields package during the game. I still think it will be used at some point later this season because every Wilson quarterback sneak had me holding my breath.
• Ryan McCollum in the middle deserves some credit. He didn’t play the cleanest game, but Quinnen Williams wasn’t mentioned much in the broadcast.
• The officials were all over the place Sunday, blowing too early on some plays and then setting a precedent with an unnecessary roughness call on Larry Ogunjobi never to be mentioned again.
• While it worked out fine, I’m not sure why the Steelers felt the need to keep going for it on fourth down on their final drive. Kick the easy field goal, go up three scores and guarantee the win.
• Breece Hall’s 141 yards is unacceptable, especially when you consider the number of missed tackles in the open field by the Steelers. If there’s one thing to work on after their big win, it’s that.
• Davante Adams lost to the same team in consecutive weeks… not important, but funny.

Next, the Steelers will have an extra day to prepare for Week 8 Monday night football against the New York Giants. A 5-2 start was great, but 6-2 is even better.

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