10 Thoughts: Steelers (eventually) check off all the boxes

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The NFL didn't have a preseason. It had a truncated training camp after an offseason of inactivity due to the pandemic.

And so some sloppiness and general -- to steal a phrase from Mike Tomlin -- warming up to the game were to be expected not just by the Steelers this weekend, but by the NFL as a whole.

Some teams had more of it than others. Largely, how quickly teams warmed up to things fell on their opponent and whether or not they made fatalistic mistakes.

The Steelers nearly did early in Monday night's 26-16 win over the Giants here at MetLife Stadium. 

Diontae Johnson muffed his first punt return of the year, setting the Giants up in prime position inside the Pittsburgh 5.

Ben Roethlisberger, in his first NFL action in nearly a year, looked like he was trying to throw a football through a brick wall, especially in the first quarter.

A makeshift offensive line with two new starters and a third playing in a new spot, took a little time to find its footing. And that led to James Conner doing more dancing in the backfield than James Brown. No, not Jim Brown, James Brown, the Godfather of Soul.

But the one thing that always travels in football -- or any sport really -- is defense. And the Steelers have plenty of that.

So, when Johnson muffed his punt, all the Giants got out of it was a field goal.

And while Roethlisberger was missing passes and Conner was twisting the night away, all the Giants could manage were those three points and, at best, a 10-9 lead late in the first half thanks to their own inadequacies.

After that, it was really all Steelers.

The Steelers had 96 yards on their first five possessions. Roethlisberger looked anxious in his return. He wasn't seeing the whole field. Things were moving fast.

And then the Steelers got the ball back with under two minutes to play. It all just clicked. Roethlisberger found his rhythm.

"I was feeling a little bit of jitters. I was excited and nervous to be out there," the quarterback said of his first playing time in nearly a year. "I just wanted to not let my guys down. That was the biggest thing."

He didn't. And as he warmed up, so did the offensive line. And the defense continued to smash the Giants' running game.

It wasn't the prettiest of wins. But it was a win.

That was what was important. Ask the Colts. Or the Bucs. Or the 49ers. Or the Eagles. Or, dare we mention, the Browns.

All are teams with high hopes or at least a little bit of hype surrounding them that couldn't overcome those early jitters and general rustiness because they were playing a good team or never really shook it off.

The Steelers did. They'll be better for it moving forward.

• If you had any questions regarding Roethlisberger's arm, they should have been answered early in this game when he threw this 28-yard out to rookie Chase Claypool in the first quarter for what was one of his few good passes in the first 15 minutes.

And if you had any question why reporters who have seen him in practice have been raving about Claypool, the Steelers' second-round draft pick, the catch should answer those, as well.

He's done stuff like this on a daily basis in practice, usually in the end zone.

• The Giants smartly tried to play at an upbeat pace throughout this game. It's a good way to slow the Steelers defense down.

They also had Daniel Jones getting rid of the ball quickly, often sideways, to slow down the pass rush.

It worked like a charm at times, especially on a 19-play, 87-yard drive in the third quarter. You don't see many of those in the NFL.

You also never see a drive with that many plays and yards that don't end in points for the team that accomplishes it. But that's what happened in this one.

Cam Heyward gets the credit for the interception. But it was Bud Dupree's relentless chasing of Jones that made it happen. Dupree was a monster in this game, much more so than his stat line of four tackles, including two for a loss, one quarterback hit and one pass defense would suggest.

• This defense committed strongly to not allowing Saquon Barkley to beat it. He finished with 15 carries for 6 yards, with eight of his carries going for negative yardage.

The Giants largely kept the Steelers' front seven from getting to Jones a lot. The Steelers had three sacks and eight quarterback hits, but he was getting rid of the ball quickly.

But they absolutely weren't going to let Barkley get rolling. He came into this game averaging just under 120 total yards per game. He had 21 touches for 66 yards in this game, with 60 of that coming on six receptions, most of which came late in the game, long after it's outcome had been decided.

• That commitment to stopping Barkley did come at a cost. It left the Steelers cornerbacks on even more of an island that usual.

And that led directly to a 41-yard bomb on a post to Darius Slayton with no help over the top on a first-down play. So be it.

The Giants just weren't going to be able to consistently do that when every time they ran the ball, they wound up behind the chains. Jones scrambled for 22 yards on four rushing attempts. Barkley and Dion Lewis had seven combined rushing yards.

• That leads us to Conner. He didn't look anywhere near as good as Benny Snell in this game.

Now, a couple of weeks ago in practice, Conner rolled his ankle, sat out the rest of that part of the practice period and then returned to finish practice.

He didn't last long in this game, either, leaving in the second quarter with an ankle injury. But even before that, he showed little decisiveness. And Snell showed plenty.

Snell also ran with power and patience when it was warranted.

This is how "bell cow" runners, as Tomlin called Conner last week, find themselves in a running-back-by-committee situation.

Snell, at least, deserves the opportunity to start next week against the Broncos after a 19-carry, 113-yard performance.

• JuJu Smith-Schuster's demise, it seems, was a little premature, even for a player who is still just 23 years old -- as crazy as that sounds.

There was nothing wrong with Smith-Schuster that a healthy Roethlisberger couldn't fix. Smith-Schuster was targeted six times and finished with six catches for 69 yards and a career-best two touchdowns.

That said, it was Johnson who led the Steelers in targets. He had 10, catching six passes for 59 yards.

• Gunners Claypool and Justin Layne were easily beating their jams and getting downfield quickly on punt coverage. What they didn't do was get the punt returner on the ground.

Jabrill Peppers averaged 13.0 yards on three punt returns, including getting a 20-yarder. Those are things that should get better, however, as the gunners, particularly Claypool, get more experience. Remember, too, that Layne didn't start playing that role until midway through last season.

• The Steelers scored 26 points in this game and were disappointed a bit offensively that they didn't get more. They scored 30 points combined in their final three games of the 2019 season with Devlin Hodges at quarterback. 

Perspective is everything.

• The injuries to the offensive line cannot be overlooked.

It doesn't look particularly good for either right guard Stefen Wisniewski (pectoral) or right tackle Zach Banner.

Those two were injured on back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter.

The Steelers have (had?) depth on their offensive line. Perhaps they'll get David DeCastro, for whom Wisniewski was starting in place of, this week. He looked close last week during practice. And Chuks Okorafor narrowly lost his training camp battle with Banner for the right tackle spot.

But you have to feel for both of those guys.

Wisiniewski, a Pittsburgh native, tweeted this before the game.

He was living out a dream, even as a 10-year veteran in the NFL.

Banner, meanwhile, was doing the same after being cut by three different teams early in his career.

But, as Roethlisberger can tell them, things can be taken away pretty quickly in this game.