CINCINNATI -- A simple look at the box score will show the Steelers allowed 432 total yards to the Bengals in their regular season opener Sunday at Paycor Stadium.
Joe Burrow threw for 338 yards, while Ja'Marr Chase had 10 receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown, while the Bengals also had 133 yards rushing.
If someone had said that would be their final tally at the completion of this game, most would have predicted a Bengals' win.
And they'd be wrong.
The Bengals rolled up plenty of yards, but they were mostly empty calories thanks to a defensive effort that included four interceptions and seven sacks, including two that resulted in fumbles -- one of which that was recovered by the Steelers -- in a 23-20 overtime victory here over Cincinnati.
It wasn't pretty. There was nothing pretty about this game, and there seldom is when these two teams get together.
But it was exactly the kind of defensive effort Mike Tomlin had described in training camp last month when asked what he expected out of his defense.
"You guys asked me to define great defenses," Tomlin said after the game. "It's a loose definition. They smile in the face of adversity, and they deliver necessary plays. And that's why I answered it the way I did. Today's an example of that."
If there was a play to be made, Minkah Fitzpatrick was usually at the center of it.
The Steelers' All-Pro safety followed an Alex Highsmith sack on Cincinnati's first offensive play with this little gem three minutes into the game.
If that wasn't enough, when he wasn't putting points on the board, he was keeping them off it.
“I came in wanting to make a statement,” Fitzpatrick said. “I felt like last year, it wasn’t a normal year for me.”
That wasn't a statement as much as it was screaming from the top of Mt. Washington for all to hear. Fitzpatrick is worth every bit of the 4-year, $73.6 million contract extension he signed in June.
It was Fitzpatrick's blocked PAT with two seconds remaining in regulation that sent this game into overtime, giving the Steelers a chance to win it there.
What he did in between was nothing short of legendary in terms of his performance. Fitzpatrick led all players in the game with 14 tackles. He was all over the field, jarring passes loose when it mattered most.
And every single one of those plays was necessary in this win.
"Everybody respects that dude not only in terms of his talent and work ethic, but his leadership," Tomlin said when asked if it was an oversight that Fitzpatrick had not been named one of the team's captains this season. "I don't think anyone views him as uncaptain-like."
Nor should they.
It appears one of their defensive captains and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, T.J. Watt, will miss at least a little bit -- and perhaps more -- time with a pectoral injury. The severity of that injury isn't known just yet and Watt is expected to undergo testing Monday to determine just how long he'll be out.
And late in this game, Cam Heyward, the team's other defensive captain, left the field, likely due to exhaustion as much as anything else.
After all, the Bengals had run 94 offensive plays in this game to just 61 for the Steelers. They held the ball for nearly 44 minutes, compared to just over 26 for the Steelers.
The defense was on the field all day long. And it continually stood tall to the task, taking its cues from Tomlin.
"I think it shows the resiliency of our team," said Highsmith. "We got off to a fast start, and we got the W. I just hope it's not just this game, but every game that we get off to a fast start."
Now, if the Steelers could just get the offense to follow suit. That would certainly help a lot.
But when you play defensively like the Steelers did in this one, the offense just has to not screw things up.
Tomlin would surely like to not need his defense to play like this in every game. Perhaps he'd like his team to put an opponent away when it wins the turnover battle 5-0.
But he also understands the Bengals are a team that have a myriad of weapons and a quarterback in Burrow who considered among the best in the game.
"When you’re playing Joe Burrow and company, you better get the ball somehow," Tomlin said. "They are not punting a lot. That’s just the function of how some of these high-powered offenses and top-notch quarterbacks are. Thursday night, I’m watching (Bills vs Rams), I don’t know if Josh Allen punted. That’s just the nature of today's game, so you better be prepared to take the ball away. That’s why, culturally, we stress some of the things we stress in terms of taking the ball away.”
Mission accomplished.
• While Fitzpatrick was the obvious focal point of the team's defensive effort, he was hardly alone.
Highsmith had nine tackles, three sacks, four quarterback hits, the forced fumble and two tackles for a loss. This was a beauty.
Myles Jack had 10 tackles, including one for a loss, and a pass defensed.
Cam Heyward only had two tackles, but he also had a sack, three quarterback hits and a fumble recovery.
The four interceptions came from four different players, with Fitzpatrick, Cam Sutton, Ahkello Witherspoon and Watt all getting one in a five-turnover game.
"I said we need them to be what we need them to be," Tomlin said of his defense. "We needed five. That’s what great defenses do.”
• If Watt is out -- and that seems likely -- Malik Reed will be asked to step in.
The Steelers acquired Reed last week from the Broncos, basically for nothing, swapping a sixth-round pick for a seventh-rounder and the linebacker.
Then, Reed was asked to take a pay cut, which he did, betting on himself.
"I've been here less than a week and I've never won a game like this before in my career," said Reed, who had spent the past four seasons with the Broncos. "I'm just grateful to be here and for this opportunity."
The Steelers just might be grateful the Broncos were willing to give him away for a song and a dance. Reed started 26 games the past two seasons for the Broncos, recording 13 sacks.
• The Bengals were forced to go to their backup long-snapper, Mitchell Wilcox, after normal long-snapper, Clark Harris, was injured.
Did that play a factor in the Steelers winning this game? Sure. But we've seen that happen to teams, including the Steelers, in the past.
And it wasn't just on the blocked PAT, which happened because the snap wasn't quite as crisp. Or the missed field goal by Evan McPherson in overtime that happened, at least in part, because of a high snap.
After a third-down strip-sack by Arthur Maulet in overtime, the ball was picked up and returned to the Pittsburgh 45 by running back Samaje Perine. Because an offensive player can't advance a fumble in the closing two minutes of a half, after a conversation by the officials, the ball was moved back to the 50 and the clock was reset to 1:27, while the play clock went to 40 seconds. Both wound upon referee Shaun Hochuli's signal.
The Steelers were out of timeouts. The Bengals were out of timeouts. The game was tied. The Bengals could have run the clock all the way down and punted it back to the Steelers with 47 seconds remaining. They punted with 13 seconds left on the play clock, giving the Steelers the ball back after a touchback with 56 seconds remaining.
Big. Mistake.
"New Operation," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor explained. "We snapped there with 13 seconds. I understand that, trust me. We'd rather do something different. But just trying to make sure the operation ran smoothly, it turned out that we sacrificed some seconds to make sure we were all on the same page."
That all sounds well and good. But why not take a delay of game penalty there. Heck, maybe the Steelers even decline it. But run the time off the clock.
• Chris Boswell said he and Danny Smith were aware the Bengals were without their regular long-snapper. Fitzpatrick? He had no idea.
He was just coming with everything he had after the Bengals had tied the game at 20-20 with 2 seconds remaining in regulation.
“I’m in the jumper gap between the end and the wing,” Fitzpatrick said. “No one put hands on me, so I pretty much came free.”
Turns out, that gap Fitzpatrick went through was supposed to be manned by Wilcox, who was serving as the snapper, instead.
Fitzpatrick still had to get in there and block it. But it was the perfect storm. Slower snap, a whiff on the block. And then the deflection.
• The final numbers on the run defense don't do the Steelers justice.
Joe Mixon had 82 yards on 27 carries. But 31 of his rushing yards came on a fourth-and-1 run late in the first half when the Steelers loaded up and he found a seam.
Take that out of the equation, and Mixon had 51 yards on 26 carries, less than 2 yards per attempt. Burrow hurt the Steelers with some scrambles, including a 23-yard run on a designed QB draw, but those are going to happen when you're focused on playing coverage.
For most of the day, when the Bengals lined up and tried to run, the Steelers stayed disciplined and stayed in their gaps. That wasn't always the case last season.
• When you're stuck in a defensive struggle such as this one, punting and field position become a big deal.
And Pressley Harvin was very good Sunday.
He averaged 48.5 yards on his kicks with a net average of 42.1. Gunner Olszewski also had a 20-yard punt return in the fourth quarter to set up field goal.
That was a strong day for the special teams units, even with Boswell missing a 55-yarder in overtime that would have won it sooner had he not hit the left upright with 2:27 remaining in the extra period.
"I always want one more shot," Boswell said. "It’s a matter of whether I get it. Most of the time in that situation, if you miss the first one, you don’t get another one."
This time, he did. And as soon as he hit it, he knew it was good.
"I looked up, saw it was straight and knew it was going to stay straight," Boswell said.
• The Steelers got too conservative on offense after taking a 17-3 lead midway through the second quarter.
Against a team as explosive as the Bengals, you don't want to turn the ball over. The Steelers lost the turnover battle, 5-1, to the Bengals last season in losing both games.
But you also can't turtle.
Mitch Trubisky's accuracy was off in this game, but the Steelers have to trust their playmakers more down the field. When forced to do that in overtime, they made plays.
• The Steelers' personality is an extension of Tomlin.
Tomlin gave every newcomer on the team a game ball for their efforts in this one. And immediately after winning this emotionally and physically exhausting game, Tomlin was already thinking of the lessons he could teach from this one.
“If you got ground to defend, defend it," Tomlin said. "If you got bullets in the gun on offense, you fire them. It’s going to be a lot to be downtrodden about it in the game of football from an ebb and flow perspective. More than anything at the early stages of the season, when you have new guys, you just want to know that they’re in their game — that they don’t shrink in the moments. And so that was really good to be in some of the moments and see some of the things that we saw.”
• So, this was the final Steelers game that I'll cover as part of DK Pittsburgh Sports. At least it was a memorable one.
