NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Was it the wind, maybe?
Nah. There was a 4-mph puff coming off the Cumberland River, per the National Weather Service. Not enough to ruffle a hair, much less an authoritatively booted football.
Karma, maybe?
Hm. Even with Mike Vrabel's brutal mismanagement of coronavirus that merited a $350,000 fine on this same day, I'll pass on that, too.
Luck?
Yeah, that's getting warm.
I could whip up another few thousand words about the undefeated Steelers' 27-24 undoing of the previously undefeated Titans on this Sunday at Nissan Stadium, and none would come close to the four words mouthed by Ben Roethlisberger as Stephen Gostkowski's potential tying field goal took that hard, seemingly inexplicable right turn:
Seriously, it's like the ball hated the man.
Got a better theory?
Now watch Ben watching this:
It's unmistakable: "Did he miss it?"
Oh, you bet.
And to fully gauge the relief experienced on the visitors' side, take a second look up there, not at Ben, but at Chris Boswell. For there's no one who can empathize with the singular devastation that only a placekicker can experience in sports than another placekicker ... except in this case, apparently.
Ha!
The Steelers are 6-0. And to see them leaping, to hear them shouting out there, it's clear that reaction came first. As it should've. With the Seahawks' overtime loss later in the night to the Cardinals, they now stand alone atop the league. They'll walk into their AFC North showdown next week in Baltimore with heads held high.
It's rare air, to say the least. And this particular victory, despite a dogged opponent with talent to match its toughness, despite nearly coughing up a 20-point lead for the first time ever, despite committing all three of the day's turnovers, despite conceding a 73-yard touchdown ... yeah, it's worth appreciating, worth applauding.
And yet ...
"I don't know what it says," Cam Heyward responded when asked ... you know, what it says. "I think all we can say is we're 6-0. We won the game. It's a good win."
Next came a slight pause, followed by the inevitable conjunction from a man who'd somehow found flaws in a 31-point bombing of the Browns. "But there's a lot we've got to improve on going forward. I know we were able to answer the challenge in some cases, but we've got bigger challenges ahead going forward."
He wasn't referencing the Ravens, and he wasn't slighting the Titans. Wait for it.
"We're 6-0," he'd repeat. "We've got a chance to go 7-0 next week. But that doesn't really say anything much. We're guaranteed 16 games. We got 10 to make it right."
Mm-hm. That.
Let's get real here: There's no way anyone could've watched that first half without wondering why the Steelers shouldn't be seen as the contenders out of the AFC. I was thinking it, and I'd be stunned if most everyone watching from a Pittsburgh perspective wasn't thinking it.
It wasn't just the 24-7 score. Or outgaining the Titans, 228-83. Or owning 14 of 19 first downs. Or converting their first six third-down opportunities. Or going 3 for 3 in the red zone.
It was the how.
It was Roethlisberger flashing the Novak Djokovic backhand:
It was Diontae Johnson leaving cadavers for the Davidson County coroner to collect:
It was T.J. Watt wrapping up Derrick Henry with all due disrespect in a competitive setting between one truly great player and another:
Everything was firing. Everything. And again, that was awesome. We witnessed their best half of football against by far the best team they've faced. That mattered then, matters now.
But let's get a different kind of real: Would the Steelers really be better off if they'd simply run up the score? If they'd proceeded without any pushback from Tennessee and coasted this one all the way into a Mason Rudolph kneel?
See where I'm going?
I mean, no one loves a diehard fan like I do, but forget your own nerves and palpitations. This is about that room. And it says right here that the more this team's put to the test, the more its shortcomings -- real and mirage -- get exposed, the stronger they'll be for the games that matter most.
Like, you know, Baltimore.
No one was in much of a mood to discuss this subject afterward. Faces were long, voices subdued, and one would never know which side won and which lost.
For example, when Watt was asked if that first half was as complete as the Steelers get, he flatly came back, "I'm not sure. We're going to have to look at the film and truly see what it is. I'm sure there's a lot more meat left on the bone, like Coach Tomlin says. I'm excited to get out of here with a win, but not satisfied at all."
Good for him.
Good for Mike Tomlin, too. For a guy who's forever bristled when reporters have asked about negatives following a win, when I brought up the miserable second half and whether or not any lessons might be learned from it, he pretty much embraced it: "We're looking to learn every Sunday and, hopefully, we're learning while winning. So you're absolutely right. There's some lessons to be learned. You don't win many games minus-3 in the turnover game. You don't win many games giving up 70-yard touchdown passes. So it just kind of speaks to how our group is positioned. But definitely things to be learned from what transpired."
Did not see that coming.
But in hindsight, it makes sense that he'd take that route. Ask any coach, any sport, any level, and they'll attest that it's easier getting the best from a team equipped with some inherent humility, with a firm feeling that they still can improve.
Think of it this way: While it's wonderful that Ben genuinely believed that insane backhand shovel would reach Eric Ebron, it's the type of decision that'll destroy him and the Steelers against the NFL's 30-plus defenses that are better than Tennessee's. Same goes for forcing a ball to JuJu Smith-Schuster into triple-coverage, one of his three picks. And for Ben and Randy Fichtner packing up the rushing portion of the playbook against a front that James Conner was wearing thin. And for Minkah Fitzpatrick being far too slow to follow A.J. Brown's crossing route on the aforementioned 73-yard touchdown. And for all the other mistakes.
If this wasn't going to be a loss this week, it'd likely have been one next week. Or in the playoffs, when they'll suddenly line up against a strong team after a steady diet of Bengals, Jaguars and so forth. That's how a 13-3 opponent gets steamrollered by Leonard Fournette and everyone's left shaking their heads all winter.
This is the time to sort it out. It's not a "perfect product," to borrow from Tomlin on this day. And as such, when coupled with achievements and trajectory, this is a team that should be valuing the macro over the micro.
What really happened here?
According to poor Gostkowski, “I felt pretty good all game, and came out there and it went right down the middle and faded to the right. I’ll have to look at it."
Ultimate micro. He'll find he had a shoelace untied or something.
According to Ben, "We feel we have a really good football team, right? We feel that it could be very special. And we're happy with where we are right now, but that's going to be a short-lived happiness because we know what's coming up next."
They've got a better idea than ever.