The Pittsburgh Steelers have something they haven’t had in a long time: a real offense that can win games, and a quarterback who can swing deep down the field. And in Week 8, they relied on the offense to beat the New York Giants 26-18 to move to 6-2 and now hold a full lead over the Baltimore Ravens for the lead in the AFC North.

Let’s start by talking about that quarterback: What a play by Russell Wilson. His songs were great, yet they don’t tell the story of how great he played. He finished the night 20 of 28 for 278 yards and a touchdown, but two touchdowns against George Pickens were erased by a penalty and an overruled catch that was called incomplete. He made several big throws when the Steelers needed them most. Late in the third quarter on 3rd and 11, Wilson hit Van Jefferson down the sideline for a 36-yard gain. Four plays later, he hit Calvin Austin for a 29-yard touchdown, putting the Steelers up 23–9. The next drive after a Giants touchdown, Wilson connected with George Pickens on a crosser for a 43-yard gain that led to a field goal. Wilson’s deep ball and overall decision-making have been great in his first two starts. In the last two games, Wilson had 542 yards and three passing scores with an additional touchdown on the ground.

The ground game was also great again. Najee Harris topped 100 yards for the third straight game, rushing for 114 yards on six yards per carry. Jaylen Warren added 46 yards on nine carries.

Calvin Austin had the game of his life, returning a punt for a touchdown, which was the Steelers’ first punt return for a touchdown since 2019. He then caught the aforementioned touchdown pass from Wilson and finished with three catches for 54 yards and two in total. TDs. George Pickens should have had two touchdowns of his own, but will settle for a four-catch, 74-yard night with a long reception.

Now the negatives: The defense was rough. The Giants finished the night with four plays of 25 or more yards. If you give up these plays to bad teams, imagine what the good ones will do. Darius Slayton had several deep receptions and Tyrone Tracy finished the night with 145 yards on the ground and an average of more than seven yards per carry. Alex Highsmith and TJ Watt had two sacks apiece, including Watt with the hat trick of the sack, strip and recovery to end the Giants scoring opportunity late in the fourth quarter, and Beanie Bishop sealed the game with his third interception in two games. However, outside of a small handful of plays, the defense had their worst outing since Week 4 in Indianapolis. And while such performances are concerning, they won – something they wouldn’t have done in recent years in a game where the defense struggled. Knowing they can rely on their offense to score points and come up with big plays when needed is the biggest thing the Steelers have missed since the end of the Ben Roethlisberger era.

Overall, the Steelers needed a big night from the offense, and the unit gave them a 426-yard performance. And while I said at the start of the season that I would postpone any conversation about what their ceiling might be until we knew what they had at quarterback, we know now: They have not one, but two studs under center that they can win, and this is a team that can make a run in January.