CINCINNATI -- The Steelers won't get to play the Bengals again. They won't get to face the NFL's worst defense. They won't get a chance to beat up on rookie quarterback Ryan Finley.
They will still have a defense that is awfully opportunistic and one of the best in the NFL. They can still have a special teams unit that, while it doesn't get any big returns, doesn't allow them, either, and is putting together winning efforts.
But that offense.
It finished Sunday's 16-10 win over the Bengals with Devlin Hodges lining up in the same backfield as Trey Edmunds, at times. Others, it was Kerrith Whyte. And one of the receivers to whom Hodges could throw the ball was Tevin Jones. Or how about Deon Cain?
Not one of those guys was on the team's roster coming out of training camp. In fact, Hodges, Edmunds and Jones all were released at the end of training camp. And Whyte and Cain were signed off the practice squads of the Bears and Colts, respectively, last weekend.
And yet people are somehow down on offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner?
What exactly did anyone expect, the Greatest Show on Turf?
The Steelers went into this game looking to ugly it up on offense. They figured a punt in this situation wasn't necessarily a bad thing because it put their best unit -- their defense -- on the field against a rookie quarterback making his third career start.
And you know what? They were right.
"We embrace it," said safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. "It's an opportunity to show how good of a defense we are. It's an opportunity to go out and make plays."
It took a while in this game. But eventually, this defense will get there. Or, at least it had better.
"Coach (Mike) Tomlin always harps on that," said linebacker Bud Dupree. "With those young quarterbacks on offense, Mason and Duck."
Dupree didn't need to say any more.
"Each week, we just have to figure out a way to get a win," said corner Joe Haden. "It may not be pretty, but if we win an ugly game, it's worth it. It doesn't matter how we win. The defense needs to play hard, and the offense needs to limit turnovers -- just play complementary football."
Tomlin has long used the "standard is the standard" line when it comes to guys replacing starters. But his reaction after this game showed his true feelings.
"That was really exciting," Tomlin said of the win. "I'm so proud of them. It's a cool thing."
There are standards. And then there are hopes that guys added to the roster last week can make a play or two.
The only thing the Steelers can fall back on now is that defense. They've ridden it this far. And they'll only go as far as it can take them.
• Because of that fine line the Steelers need to walk on offense, Tomlin had to pull Mason Rudolph. Rudolph just didn't have it in this game, just like he didn't have it last week in Cleveland.
That's a troubling trend for Rudolph. The league now has over 200 throws on tape of him. It's got the book on him. Put pressure in his face and he'll make mistakes.
Hodges wasn't great, either. He only completed 5 of his 11 passes. But he did hit the big one to James Washington that went for a 79-yard touchdown.
More important was that the Steelers generated a running game. Benny Snell isn't going to the Pro Bowl anytime soon, but he did grind out 98 yards on 21 carries in this game as the Steelers rushed for 160 yards on 38 carries.
"It was nice to get something going," David DeCastro said. "It helps a lot, but there’s a lot we could be better at, a lot we can clean up."
Most certainly. But having a running game is a nice place to start, even if it was only against the Bengals.
At the very least, Snell is a capable NFL running back. That's what the Steelers were missing last week in their loss at Cleveland. Once James Conner went out, they had nobody capable of carrying the ball 20-plus times.
Now, if they could just figure out a way to get their young quarterbacks to throw the ball to the tight ends more.
• I've been asked every week since he was drafted if Rudolph is the Steelers' long-term replacement for Ben Roethlisberger.
It doesn't appear that he is. But neither is Hodges.
And that's fine. The Steelers can keep trying to find that guy while they continue to win games.
Franchise quarterbacks are difficult to find. The Steelers have had exactly two in the past 50 years, Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger.
That doesn't mean you can't win with other guys. It's just a little more difficult -- like it has been all of this season. Bradshaw, by the way, went through several benchings of his own early in his career before becoming a franchise quarterback -- though that silly phrase hadn't been invented yet.
Is Kirk Cousins a franchise quarterback? How about Jimmy Garappolo? Their teams are doing just fine with average to slightly-above average quarterback play because their teams do other things well. They run the ball and play good defense.
• Tyler Boyd giveth. Tyler Boyd taketh away.
At least that was the feeling for the former Pitt star after this game.
Boyd had the Bengals' lone touchdown. He became the first wide receiver all season to gain 100 yards in a game against the Steelers on his five catches. He accounted for nearly half of his team's offense.
But he also lost a key fumble.
"Everybody knew we had this game -- from the fans to the owner," Boyd said. "We all believed. The defense was doing a great job. It came down to whoever won the turnover battle. I let one get away from me and it really cost us."
Boyd's statement that Bengals fans knew they had this one in the bag is questionable. After all, only about 20,000 showed up for this game. The rest of the stadium was filled with Steelers fans and empty seats -- lots of them.
It's also open to debate about the Bengals' defense doing a great job. Sure, they held the Steelers to 339 yards and 16 points, but that was more about the Pittsburgh offense than it was anything the Bengals were doing.
But he is right about the turnover. That was a killer.
Devin Bush gave up the catch that put Boyd over 100 yards in the game. And then just like that, he took it away, with the ball bouncing right to Fitzpatrick the ball magnet.
"Things are good when Minkah is running with (the ball)," said Tomlin. "I know that. ... He's been a catalyst for a lot of good for us, and we're appreciative. But, you know, we spent enough to get him so you expect that type of contribution, to be quite honest with you."
• That said, T.J. Watt has been the Steelers' best defensive player this season. He's the catalyst for that unit.
That's why when he went down in the second half, there was a huge blast of wind in Western Pennsylvania that arose from the collective gasp of Steelers fans.
Watt suffered a bone bruise, but came back into the game, much to the relief of Steelers fans everywhere.
• Dupree and Cam Heyward were good again, as usual.
But there might not be a more underrated player on this defense than Steven Nelson. You rarely hear his name called. That's because he rarely gives up a catch.
In a game that wound up being a one-score contest, it was a tackle on Finley that Nelson made that will go under-reported.
With the Bengals leading 7-3, they got the ball back and faced third-and-3 from their own 42 with 27 seconds remaining in the first half.
Finley faked a handoff and took off around left end, only to find Nelson there waiting for him. And Nelson put him on the ground.
Nelson only had three tackles in the game. But none were bigger than that.
Sure, it was a quarterback. But it also happened in the open field. And if Nelson doesn't make that tackle, Finley had a lot of open space.
Nelson has just been a consummate professional. It's hard to believe Chiefs fans were happy to be rid of him.
• Jordan Berry was the unsung hero of this game for the Steelers. He's been good all season, but was especially so on Sunday.
In a field position game, Berry helped the Steelers win that battle, flipping the field several times.
A tip of the cap also should go to the Steelers' coverage teams. Kick returner Brandon Wilson came into the game leading the league with a 35.0-yard average. The Steelers held him to 94 yards on four returns, a 23.5-yard average.
Robert Spillane had one special teams tackle and three assists. Ola Adeniyi, Jordan Dangerfield and Johnny Holton all assisted on two special teams tackles each.
The Steelers were swarming to the ball.
Oh, and Chris Boswell is a machine.
• So now the Steelers sit at 6-5 and back in the sixth spot in the AFC playoff race with five games to play.
That's amazing considering some of the lineups the Steelers have put on the field this season.
If being in that spot isn't enough motivation for this team, then perhaps the opportunity for a rematch with the Browns will carry them through next week.
You know the Browns. The team that beat the Steelers 21-7 last week. The team whose star player decided to bludgeon Rudolph over the head with his own helmet. The team whose star player then tried to put the blame on Rudolph by saying he used a racial slur toward him.
"Absolutely not. There was nothing. Not even close," Rudolph said after this game.
Just in case they needed any extra motivation, the Steelers could take a look at what the classy fans in Cleveland did before the Browns' game with the Dolphins Sunday -- not the Steelers.
Cleveland’s newest game: Mason Rudolph piñata. pic.twitter.com/qxst1rSwzS
— clevelanddotcom (@clevelanddotcom) November 24, 2019
Classy.
A win by the Steelers over the Browns this week would not only be big for their own postseason hopes, it also would end any postseason hopes in Cleveland.
What more motivation could they possibly want?
• It wasn't that long ago some people were starting to use the "B" word when it came to James Washington. You know, bust.
Can we cease and desist that now?
In his past four games, Washington has caught 16 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns. He's stepped up his play in a big way and did so again Sunday with JuJu Smith-Schuster sidelined.
"Coach Tomlin always says, ‘Don’t wait for the next guy to make a play. You’ve got to make the most of the opportunity,'" Washington told me. "That was kind of going through my head all week."
• Early in the season, when I was writing the Steelers had a chance to recover and make the playoffs, some questioned why it mattered.
We're seeing why it matters now.
The Steelers are running a lot of young guys onto the field each week. Of the 53 players on the roster Sunday, 23 have appeared in a playoff game. That means the bulk of this roster has never done so.
The experience those players are gaining playing in important games will pay off in 2020 when Ben Roethlisberger returns and when the Steelers get more healthy.
The experience they could gain by getting into a playoff game would be big, as well.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers at Bengals, Cincinnati, Nov. 24, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS