The way Arthur Maulet saw it, he had no choice.
"When you speak up, when you make a statement, you'd better make it happen out there," he'd share with me late Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium. And he'd do so while pointing out toward the scene of the Steelers' emotionally charged, stunning-to-everyone-but-them 20-18 beating of Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. "You can't lead with words. Gotta get it done."
A week ago, of course, Maulet barked at teammates in the locker room in Orchard Park, N.Y., because he didn't appreciate seeing some smiling, even laughing on the sideline amid a 35-point smashing by the Bills.
This week, he got it done on this fourth-quarter tackle for no gain:
Nothing special. Broke through the bad block of a wide receiver.
OK, but when that stop and his three total tackles are added onto a sound overall performance by a secondary that was comprised of Terrell Edmunds and a bunch of dudes wearing No. 16, and when that further includes four times forcing the Brady offense to settle for field goals deep inside Pittsburgh territory ...
"Man, we all got it done," Maulet kept on. "We got it done individually. We got it done together. And we needed to. We needed this."
Oh, my goodness, did they ever. Individually. Together.
Even beyond the outcome.
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"We needed this."
As I spoke with Najee Harris in a rare quiet moment around his stall, he must've repeated those three words half a dozen times, right over whatever I'd be saying.
"We needed this, man," Najee'd complete the thought once I finally shut up. "We did. All of us. This feels so good.’
It should've.
Look, these Steelers are 2-4. I was on hand for the other five, as well. I'm aware that they've still got a far better shot at a sweet draft slot than at any playoff spot, to put it mildly. That they've still got trips to Miami and Philadelphia looming next. And yeah, that they've still got a bunch of guys hurt, now with a concussed Kenny Pickett joining T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Pat Freiermuth and all three outside corners.
As Mike Tomlin bluntly put it afterward, "Where we are is more than one good day, one good plan, one good winning performance in terms of working our way back to respectability. So, we're appreciative of today, but we still understand exactly where we are, and we aren’t running from it. We'll continue to run to it and get better and prepare for our next opportunity."
Yep. Get better. Ask me, and that's what was needed more than anything from this weekend. To apply the tourniquet, turn the momentum and get better. For the present. For the future.
And a process like that, in team sports or in life, invariably has to begin at the individual level.
For all the fussing and fretting and calling for firings we've all done -- and don't worry, I remain very much in favor of firing Matt Canada into the hot sun -- maybe the one thing that was needed most was for each individual to glare into the mirror and ask if he'd met his own expectation.
Case in point: Could anyone anywhere suggest Najee's been what he should be to date?
Nope. Not even him. And while it's always fair to fault Canada for everything this side of famine and pestilence, and it's equally fair to cite the foot injury that's affected him all summer, it's also fair to fault Najee for failing to find holes, for failing to run as hard as Jaylen Warren ... heck, for failing to perform like a first-round running back.
And the best solution, I'd say, is to try a lot more of this:
There was a decent group-seal on the inside, but for the most part, that was Najee wanting to win the game more than the mob in white. He didn't just run through them. He aimed to punish them.
Now, 42 yards on 14 carries won't make anyone forget the Bus, but that first-down churn up there was first-round stuff. Particularly coming on the final drive, protecting a two-point lead and needing to move the sticks.
"We needed this."
This time, it came from Chase Claypool. Separate one-on-one. Opposite side of the room. Exact same wording to the exact same sentiment and for much the same reason: He's been nowhere near what anyone had hoped.
All he'd do on this day was pull in the first touchdown catch by a wide receiver of 2022:
Followed by this third-and-11 gem on the final drive:
"We couldn't play it safe," he'd say of that scene. "Especially with Tom on the other side. We had to go try to score. We couldn't run the clock out because they had too many timeouts, so that was our mindset."
His day added up to seven catches on seven targets for 96 yards and the touchdown, an effort that was every bit as exemplary as his previous ledger for the season was deeply discouraging.
Fired up much?
"I believed, but I needed to go out and make it happen. I needed this."
He'll need more, judging by Tomlin's caustic remark about Claypool afterward: "It was a good day today. We're talking about what transpired today. He made some critical plays today. We're not trying to paint with a broad brush and show some trajectory."
Ouch. But hey, whatever works.
"I needed this. I needed to be the guy. I needed to make the big plays."
Well, hello, Devin Bush, author of the game's most pivotal play:
I didn't have to seek out Bush afterward. He came to me. Had something to say, and it's what's above.
And there'd be more: "On that play ... there's a thing Brady does where he looks off, then looks at his target. I thought he'd be going to Godwin all the way. Didn't want to let him go."
Chris Godwin was there, but Bush's athleticism had his left hand there.
"The ball was there. Just beat him."
Sure did. He'd then sprint halfway across the field to savor the moment with his best bud, Myles Jack. The degree to which Jack might be responsible for a potential Bush renaissance can't be overstated, should it occur. He's been a pillar at inside linebacker but also a perpetual confidence-booster.
And yet, the mirror only reflects one.
"I know what I'm supposed to mean here," Bush would tell me. "I can't be just another guy."
Another first-rounder. And far from the only one who's been viewed, reasonably or not, as an underachiever.
"When you have a dog and his back is against the wall, the only way you can go is forward. That's our whole mentality."
This was Terrell Edmunds, erstwhile big-time hope at safety and, on this day, literally the last starter standing in the secondary.
Or, as Tomlin painted it, "He had to be a hub of communication. He was the only regular back there. I'm just appreciative. And not only that, but he was coming off of missed action himself. I thought he did a good job keeping the group cool today and communicating in that calm and soothing voice that's needed sometimes when you're in the huddle with some young people."
Nothing calm or soothing about this, certainly not for Leonard Fournette, who tends to do the dishing out:
I'm a T.E. guy, as longtime readers know. I value what he brings way more than what he doesn't bring, even as I accept that he's become mostly a Robin to Minkah's Batman, and even as I accepted that he'd have to swallow a gulp of pride to re-sign here for a year and $2.38 million, about half of what he'd hoped to earn.
On this day, in addition to holding down the back end, he registered a team-high 10 tackles, six of them solos. Probably the best game of his NFL career.
"It feels good to win just as a team but also to show my teammates what I'm capable of."
That was Mitch Trubisky, the highest draft pick on the roster at No. 2 overall to the Bears, but a deflating addition in his own context. Let's not forget, amid Kenny-mania, that he was acquired, at the time, to be the replacement for Ben Roethlisberger. He was supposed to be part of the solution, not one of the principal problems.
Upon Pickett's exit, he'd complete 9 of 12 passes for 144 yards, a touchdown and no picks, but his show-stopper was -- gasp! -- winning over the crowd with this guts-out run that had the place rocking:
"Hopefully everybody sees what Coach told us last night: It's going to take everybody on this team," Trubisky recalled of Tomlin's message to the team Saturday evening. "We’ve got to continue to pull together. We’ve got some guys out. We need to get them back. But a lot of guys stepped up today, not just myself, and we pulled together and played like a team and that's why we won."
Indisputable.
And wait, I've got one more, even if can't be encompassed with a single quote or even a single name. Because there were so many non-starters out there getting the job done that it'd be folly to ignore them or, for that matter, what they might be able to do going forward.
Think of it this way: If a team goes 1-4 with one group, then has a W like this with another, shouldn't the newbies be weighed accordingly?
I'd been pushing for weeks, for example, that Isaiahh Loudermilk should get a hat, given the massive holes in the run defense. And when he finally did on this day, he had a couple tackles and generally acquitted himself well. As did the actual No. 16, Josh Jackson at one corner, James Pierre at the other, and Tre Norwood at safety, enough that Brady himself praised the patchwork secondary: "Those guys did a good job. Covered well. Tackled when we connected."
Imagine that feeling.
Better yet, get it right from Loudermilk:
Hey, keep getting better. Whoever doesn't get better can find a folding chair. That's part of this process, too.
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Getting the broader picture?
Tomlin's made some lousy moves and hasn't always had his players this raring and rabid. His offensive coordinator, to repeat, is a joke and remains one following this initial-drive showing. There remain questions, really, across all depth charts, going beyond the current injuries. And again, they are where they are.
But there's no excuse for not getting better. There's no excuse for declining week after week in most facets, then wondering following Buffalo if that still might not be rock bottom.
Consider the names I've collected above, consider their pedigree, then ask how much of the first five weeks could be pinned on them.
Then consider how much the Steelers, as an entity, needed this.
And this, from a now-rightfully giddy Maulet:
Still, no one could express that with better bravado than the always colorful Jack, who'd beam, "The whole world was counting us out. We just needed to be the Pittsburgh Steelers. We weren’t about to go out there and piss down our leg."
Anyone still wondering what this team's identity should be, take a look downward.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Schedule
• Standings
• Statistics
THE INJURIES
Hurt in the game: QB Kenny Pickett (concussion) and CB James Pierre (stinger) didn't return. DT Larry Ogunjobi (back) and C Mason Cole (foot) both returned. Chris Halicke has a full report.
The inactives: S Minkah Fitzpatrick (concussion), TE Pat Freiermuth (concussion), CB Levi Wallace (concussion), CB Cam Sutton (hamstring), CB Ahkello Witherspoon (hamstring), QB Mason Rudolph, G Kendrick Green
THE SCHEDULE
Here come trips to Miami and Philadelphia leading into the bye week. Buckle up.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything from our football staff of Chris Halicke, Eddie Provident, Ramon Foster, Matt Williamson and myself.
