Looking at the headline of this story, you might think I'm writing about the Steelers' offensive game plan against the Bengals Monday night.
You'd be wrong.
That scheme was good. But what the Steelers did defensively was just as important.
Because the Bengals employ a lot of three receiver sets on offense, the Steelers were in their nickel defense a lot. But instead of simply using Mike Hilton as their nickel corner, as they have done all season, the Steelers used Cameron Sutton in that package, as well.
Hilton, a good blitzer and solid tackler, played on early downs or when there was the threat of a run. Sutton played the slot on third downs or in long situations.
Tyler Boyd entered that game as one of the top third-down targets in the NFL over the first three weeks, with seven catches on 11 targets. And Boyd had at least 10 targets in each of the Bengals' first three games, having 40 overall.
Against the Steelers, Boyd had six targets, caught three passes for 33 yards and wasn't really a factor. Both Hilton and Sutton had pass breakups on passes intended for Boyd.
The Steelers entered this game having had struggles covering passes to the slot -- 26 of 29 completions to opponents lined up in the slot in the first three weeks. They had to try something different.
In this case, it worked.
• As for the offense, the use of the Wildcat obviously was a big part of what the Steelers did. But the jet motion passes -- handoffs, really -- were an interesting addition, as well.
But as Mike Tomlin noted Tuesday, that game plan, which worked against the Bengals, might not be something they do a lot of moving forward.
"I acknowledge that the Wildcat is somewhat gimmicky," Tomlin said. "But all of us in the National Football League are prepared for it. We just don't get a lot of physical reps or we don't anticipate it. From that standpoint, because it's on video, I imagine Baltimore is going to be prepared for it.
"We did what we had to do to win that game given the circumstances and the players available to us. We'll shape a plan that puts us in a position to win this one. I acknowledge it could be different. I acknowledge it could be very different than what you saw Monday night. We just have to do what we can to win football games."
Getting the wide receivers involved more would be a good place to start.
JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington combined for five targets in the game, with Smith-Schuster catching three of four passes for 15 yards and Washington getting shut out on his lone target.
That can't continue.
Mason Rudolph admitted as much when he brought up getting Smith-Schuster more involved Monday night, without being asked about it.
"JuJu has been an unbelievable leader for us," Rudolph said. "Even in the moments where he doesn't score, he is positive as ever, encouraging teammates. He's a competitor. I have to start getting him more touches."
• Some will look at the win over the Bengals and discount it because it was over the Bengals.
In fact, I've already seen some things where people are saying the Bengals are the worst team in the league.
Hard as it might be to believe, that's not even close to being the case.
The Bengals have been competitive in two of their four games, losing close games at Seattle and Buffalo.
The Dolphins? They haven't been competitive in a game this season, losing all four by a combined score of 163-26. Yes, the Dolphins are already minus-137 in point differential.
The Cardinals, who had the first pick in last year's draft, had the worst point differential in the league last year at minus-200.
So while the Bengals are a bad team, they aren't close to being the worst team in the league.
And that has been my point all along about those saying the team was foolish for giving up a potential top-10 pick to acquire safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. There are currently five teams in the league who have a point differential of minus-37 or more, meaning they have been outscored by an average of about 10 points or more per game.
The Steelers play four of those five teams this season, including the Bengals twice.
• So, will the Steelers have a chance to win this week against the Ravens? Absolutely.
The Ravens feasted on some of those bad teams -- Miami and Arizona -- in the first two weeks of the season, winning 59-10 and 23-17.
They have lost the last two to Kansas City and Cleveland by a combined score of 73-53.
So honestly, we don't really know if the Ravens are a good team or not. Certainly, they offer some challenges offensively with Lamar Jackson at quarterback. And you'd better bring your big boy pads with you on defense.
But the Ravens have given up 1,033 yards on defense in their past two games. That's not a misprint. Both the Chiefs and Browns had more than 500 yards of offense against the Ravens.
Are the Steelers capable of putting up that kind of offensive output? Probably not. But this is certainly not your father's Baltimore defense, so that offense had better be damn good. And it hasn't been the past two games.
• There's a very good chance the Steelers get Vince Williams back in the lineup this week. Vance McDonald and Anthony Chickillo also are expected to return, with Tomlin saying only Roosevelt Nix is unlikely to play again this week.
Getting Williams back is a boost for the defense, especially with Mark Barron and Devin Bush coming off their best games against the Bengals.
Both were active and made plays, combining for 20 tackles, four tackles for a loss, a sack, two passes defended and an interception. But against a team such as Baltimore, which will run some big packages at you, Williams' bulk and ability to diagnose and attack downhill will be useful.
• Lost in the offensive output of this game was the fact the Steelers were just 3 of 9 on third downs. That makes them 12 of 44 for the season, a 27.3 percent conversion percentage.
That has to get better.
• Tomlin was less than thrilled about the pass interference penalty called on Johnny Holton and then the failure of that penalty to be overturned upon review by replay.
“I don't think any of us have a feel for what that looks like,” Tomlin said. “I’m just being honest. I don’t have any idea what I’m going to do moving forward because it appears to be a moving target.”
The Steelers were penalized just four times in this game. But three of them were pass interference penalties -- two defensive and one offensive.
The offensive pass interference penalties, in particular, are an alarming -- and unintended -- trend caused by the new rules that allow interference to be challenged.
There have been 33 offensive pass interference calls already this season, putting the league on pace for 132. There were 85 all of last season. There have been 59 defensive pass interference penalties called this season. There were 249 in 2018.
So, we're on pace for slightly fewer defensive pass interference calls and an massive increase in offensive calls.
But the point Tomlin was making -- and it's one several other coaches have made, as well -- is that there seems to be an inconsistency in New York when some of these plays are challenged. What is upheld or overturned seems pretty erratic.
Al Riveron, who oversees replay in New York, just might have a wheel that he spins during those stoppages in play to decide what the call will be. It would make as much sense as what's happening around the league.
• That said, Tomlin's challenge of the Holton play didn't make a lot of sense. Even if he had won the challenge, it only would have given the Steelers a second-and-10 at their own 35. Losing the challenge cost the Steelers 10 yards, but it was still first down.
As it turned out, the Steelers got 11 yards on a pass to Nick Vannett on the next play, then converted the first down on another 11-yard pass, this one to James Conner.
I get that field position matters. And 10 yards is 10 yards when you're playing a field position game.
But the only way that play should have been challenged is if Holton had actually caught that pass. Otherwise, it looks like Tomlin threw the challenge out of spite, just to show he was right.
He was, in my opinion -- and that of many others. But Riveron's opinion was the only one that mattered. And given his track record, you never know where the wheel is going to land.
• For the Steelers to beat the Ravens, their specialists are going to have to match those of the Ravens, who are two of the best in the league.
Everyone knows about placekicker Justin Tucker. He's been a weapon for the Ravens for quite some time and is perfect on his kicks again this season. He just doesn't miss often, especially inside of 50 yards.
And punter Sam Koch has long been a field-flipping weapon for the Ravens. He's punted 10 times this season, dropping eight inside the opposing 20. That's ridiculous.
Chris Boswell has been perfect on his kicks this season, making two more field goals and three PATs against the Bengals. And Jordan Berry is having his best season -- averaging 48.1 yards per punt.
Where the Ravens have a big advantage, though is at punt returner. Cyrus Jones leads the league with a 14.1-yard average on six returns.
The Steelers have 12 punt return yards this season -- on three returns.
That said, it's hard to argue that Ryan Switzer should have returned any of the three punts he fair caught against the Bengals. He had guys in his face each time. And the one time Switzer did return a punt, Switzer did get about seven yards on it. But the Bengals were called for a penalty for a player running out of bounds and the Steelers forced them to kick it again.
• I asked this question on Twitter last night and I'll ask it again here. What would the Steelers' record be right now if they had played the Dolphins, Jets and Cardinals in the first three weeks of the season?
Before the Browns' win over the Ravens Sunday, those are the three teams Cleveland and Baltimore have beaten this season. The point being, nobody in the division has a particularly impressive win when it gets right down to it.
At worst, if the Steelers had played those three teams in the first three weeks and then played the Bengals in Week 4, they'd be what, 3-1? And it's more likely they would be 4-0.
And when you look at the Steelers' remaining schedule, it's actually the second easiest in the AFC according to playoffstatus.com, with only the Bills having an easier remaining road.
So, was that a season-saving win Monday night? Perhaps. It would also have been nice to get a win in one of those first three games, but there's no use crying over spilled milk now. All the Steelers can do is attack the challenges that lie ahead.
"You get the win and you’re right back in it," David DeCastro said. "There’s a lot of football left. It’s a great feeling. 0-4 is tough. But 1-3, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us."
It's much easier to do that work when you know you've still got a shot.
The other thing that gives this team hope is Rudolph. That might sound strange, but these guys really like the young quarterback.
"Mason is working insanely hard, which gives a lot of confidence to all of us that he’s going to do everything he can," Alejandro Villanueva told me. "Win or lose, you want to play with guys like that."