The split-second the ball soared from Ben Roethlisberger's hand, the sweetest spiral into the still-sunny skies on this Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field, so much made sense about all that'd gone so wrong for these Steelers of late.
Finally.
And no, incredibly, I'm not including the outcome that saw Diontae Johnson dive into the end zone with a Willie Mays flair to flag it down:
My God, that's gorgeous. I'm uncomfortable confessing how many times I've let that infinite loop roll.
In person, from the press box, it was that much prettier. Because, truth be told, I felt it right out of the hand. Probably for the first time in forever.
Set aside the catch for a moment. Set aside the throw, too. Look instead at everything else about Ben. How he almost playfully bounces as he drops back. How he boldly strides forward inside a pocket that's crumpling in a circle around him. How, even though JuJu Smith-Schuster pops wide open underneath, he's never given a nod. How his head, his shoulders are square to the scope of a pass that's got to cover 48 raw yards.
But you knew that.
You also knew that.
Yep. That, too.
Ben's primary issue all along the past few weeks was a crisis in confidence.
Be honest: You knew that, as well. The signs were everywhere.
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No, the franchise quarterback didn't hijack the playbook from the offensive coordinator. Nor did Tomlin, Matt Canada, Todd Haley, Bruce Arians or anyone else. Randy Fichtner's 100% responsible for personnel formations and, because it's literally impossible to operate an NFL offense any other way, he's 100% responsible for the accompanying Xs and Os made available to the quarterback.
If that weren't enough, read between these lines from Ben himself: "I thought Randy called a good game."
Please, leave that silliness to social media and the talk shows.
But something significant changed from a first half that was little more than a continuation of the Cincinnati fiasco -- Ben had completed half of his first 18 passes for all of 59 yards -- and man, it sure seemed as if this was at least the start:
Those back-to-back passes to JuJu ended the first half, one for 17 yards, the next for 22. And they'd mean zip on the scoreboard, largely because Tomlin -- surprise -- butchered the clock management. The Steelers would limp off, down, 21-7.
But, here again, forget the catches and the throws, neither of which was exactly a BB. Look instead at everything else about Ben. How he doesn't eyeball a single target. How he steps up in the pocket.
Now, follow him into the locker room, where, according to several players, he and Maurkice Pouncey spoke up with a bit of a pep talk, one that JuJu recalled as being "about having the energy and going back to having fun."
Hm.
"I think we always need to have fun playing this game," Ben elaborated when this was brought up. "We need to understand that we have God-given abilities. We're so thankful that He's blessed us with the ability to do those things and play football. I just felt like we weren't having fun. I think that was super important, that we were able to come out in the second half. It's not easy to do when you're losing."
Not much is. Drags everyone down. And double that when it's rooted in the guy, who, as Ben sullenly worded it a week ago at Paul Brown Stadium, "has the ball in his hands on every play."
So, when one thinks of Ben and fun, what comes to mind?
Oh, you bet:
Chase Claypool hadn't been targeted a single time in the first half. Now, one can blame that on Fichtner, and I've done so myself, but this time he'd been out there on the field and was flat-out being ignored by his quarterback, who'd kept right on checking down. Claypool's blessed with more of those 'God-given abilities' than most, but one of them isn't hiding his emotions. Several times, he demonstrated clear disappointment/disgust after plays upon which he'd burst open down the field, only to see the standard slant or dump-off miles behind him.
So, coincidence or not -- and I'm suspecting not -- when the Steelers emerged for the second half, just before kickoff, I spied Ben and Claypool engaged in an extended conversation on the sideline.
Further, coincidence or not -- and I'm again suspecting not -- the Steelers' opening possession of the half began with an 8-yard strike to Claypool. After a no-huddle hurry back to the line and a couple other plus plays, those two connected again for 11 more. And next came the play pictured above for 34 more.
This, like the JuJu sequence, wouldn't produce a point: First-and-goal at the Indianapolis 1 was butchered badly, never lining up James Conner in the backfield even though he'd had the team's only touchdown to that point, and the ball was turned over on downs.
It was now 24-7, and it might well have been rock bottom, but for one thing: How the offense moved.
And sure enough, the opening snap of the Steelers' ensuing drive brought that beautiful 39-yard score from Ben to Johnson.
"It was a great play," JuJu observed, "and I’d say it gave us some momentum."
"I feel like it was the spark that we needed to get us going, and it even showed on defense," Johnson said. "The defense started playing great toward the end. They were playing great the whole game, actually, but that just gave them an extra boost, and that gave us momentum to keep it going."
To hear Ben tell it, though, the momentum was well underway.
"We were doing some of the no-huddle stuff, and they were trying to take away Diontae on a bunch of slants," he explained. "We had a look on the sideline. I was kind of talking to Randy, Canada, saying this is a play we should go to. Of course, they came out in the coverage we weren't expecting. I figured Diontae was going to be one-on-one, so let's go over the top. He made the play. I had to put enough air on it, he ran under it, made a spectacular catch. Showed why football's so special."
Across the board, actually. Because part of what makes football special is its team quality, and the correction taking place for Ben soon was as contagious through the offense as all the awful stuff that preceded it.
One receiver being effective led to another, Eric Ebron completed a catch-and-roll 5-yard score, and JuJu won it with the smoothest of route adjustments under the softest of deliveries from 25 yards for the winner:
And hey, along with that, Indianapolis' safeties and vaunted linebackers were forced to back off, underneath routes that'd been getting jammed suddenly were clear and -- gasp -- there were running plays that advanced ... beyond the line of scrimmage, occasionally moving the sticks!
"I just think we took advantage of what we saw," Ben would say to this subject. "You have to take your shots when you're there. We had a couple big plays down the field."
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OK, so let's cut back to the ugly undercurrent here: Where was this? And why did it take this long to figure out something that, frankly, a lot of us had figured out a month ago?
Or, even just in the context of this game, how does a quarterback rise up from getting nothing out of this frozen scene ...
... to finishing up 34 of 49 passes for 342 yards, three touchdowns, zero picks, a 109.4 QBR and the following spray chart ...
... from one half to the next?
This is where it's a little layered.
I've expressed skepticism all season, even when all was awesome back in September and October, about Ben owning the NFL's fastest average release at 2.37 seconds. It flew in the face of precedent, both in terms of his patience in surveying the field and in standing tall in the pocket. It comes with benefits, obviously, not least of which is that he's still standing at all. But I'd posit that it morphed him into something he was never meant to be, a timid, passive dink-and-dunk specialist.
Seriously, is anyone waking up Monday morning still worrying about Ben's arm, elbow, knee or any other body part?
Well, the most prominent change I observed was, plain and simple, more blocking.
The offensive line is what it is, and it's impossible to imagine it improving much the rest of the way. But for the first time all season, at least from this perspective, Tomlin and/or Fichtner added bodies, bulk and responsible personalities to the general package. Vance McDonald, by far a better blocker over Ebron, was the frequent choice at tight end. James Conner, by far better at picking up blitzes than Benny Snell, took over at running back.
As a result ... revisit the bombs above. Ben had time, and Ben found poise.
When I asked Ben to pinpoint what allowed everyone to make plays from half to half, he quickly replied, "Just what you said right there: Guys were making plays. As a quarterback, you have to be accurate, you have to give guys the opportunity to make plays. In the second half, the line gave me time."
Note the time reference. That's the change.
Tomlin's take on the change: "We played better. We got open more. We made better throws. We protected better, what have you. It's all a collective. We thought some chunk plays were there. We didn't necessarily get them or capitalize on them in the first half, but that wasn't going to stop us. We weren't going to be deterred."
Right. And of getting open, better throws and protecting better, which must come first chronologically?
I'd been suggesting prioritizing protection, even at the cost of one or more of Ben's beloved receiving targets, and it worked wonderfully here. Doesn't mean it'll work moving forward, as this game's now on film. But it's as welcome as it is overdue.
Funny thing: No one could really talk about it much, even after this. Because dissing an offensive line is like dissing a hockey goaltender or baseball pitcher. It’s top-level taboo.
When I asked Tomlin after this game, for example, what motivated the offense to throw downfield in the second half, he came back, "We threw the ball downfield in the first half. We just missed on some connects."
Uh, no. Ben didn't attempt his first pass of 10-plus yards until 6:30 remained in the first half. There'd be four more from there, and Ben completed only those final two to JuJu, both with the Colts in prevent formation. But in the second half, Ben went 6 of 7 on passes of 10-plus yards for 133 yards, two touchdowns and, not to be forgotten, two deep balls that drew critical pass interference flags.
Frank Reich, Indianapolis' coach, had no issue saying of Ben, "They've got a future Hall of Fame quarterback over there, and he got hot. He was keeping them alive with some dink-and-dunk stuff, but he found ways to create big plays."
Story of the day. Built on blocking.
What the Steelers say to us, whether it's about quarterback play or offensive line play, doesn't matter. Being honest with themselves ... it's a beginning toward feeling better about themselves all over again.