"What've we been talking about now? For how long?"
This was Kevin Dotson. He and I'd been talking about it for ... well, an awfully long time, to be honest. Not just weeks but months.
And on this windswept, chilly Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, we were talking about it some more, though only after it'd turned into a scene that'd melt the heart of a Pittsburgh football fan anywhere:
Wild, huh?
For anyone in need of a refresher, that's what it looks like when Najee Harris runs -- with authority, without hesitation -- through an actual hole on the still-young, still-learning left side of the offensive line. And note that it's big No. 69 himself making for the human road map by heaving all 290 pounds of New Orleans' Malcolm Roach backward, then to the right.
"That's it," Dotson would fairly beam this time. "When we're all doing what we're supposed to be doing, you go from having maybe two guys making mistakes, then one, and then it looks a lot more like this."
Yep. Note the overall harmony around Dotson up there. Check out Mason Cole knocking Demario Davis onto his rear end. And Dan Moore sliding across with the seal on David Onyemata. And Pat Freiermuth, for that matter, knocking his corner, P.J. Williams, up onto the CCAC campus.
That's how to turn an eight-man box into a yard sale.
And note, too, the 99 hard yards Najee'd find, combined with 37 from Jaylen Warren, another 51 from eight Kenny Pickett scrambles, and another 23 on two George Pickens keepers, and that amounted to 217 yards on the ground. Most for the franchise in six freaking years. And within that, four runs of 20-plus yards after zero through this season's first eight games.
Wait, did I forget the score?
As Arthur Maulet would tell me, "We got the win. We got better. That's all we can control, man. We can't control being 3-6 right now. We can't control the standings. We can't control what anyone else does or says. All we can do is win and get better. Inch by inch."
For real, my friends, I don't have a whole lot more to share than that. Nothing cosmic or over-arching. Not on this occasion. Not at this stage or phase of wherever this team's evolution might be, real or perceived.
They won. They got better.
Next Sunday, when the Bengals visit, they'll look to win. And get better.
Same with all eight games still sitting there on the schedule, no doubt considered hollow to many, but also no doubt considered wholly indispensable to those involved.
Remember how, following the loss in Miami and then the full-blown flogging in Philadelphia, I'd asked Mike Tomlin each time about balancing the development of young players with the undying urge to invest everything into winning that week's game?
Well, I asked again, and this one delivered the best answer yet.
"That's the job," he'd reply. "That is the job."
It sure is. And full credit to Tomlin, Omar Khan and pretty much all concerned -- sorry, I'm not about to celebrate Matt Canada after an 11th consecutive output of 20 points or less -- for clearly having adopted the smartest approach possible in this circumstance: Play the kids wherever applicable, coach 'em up, evaluate them within the context that only an NFL game environment can offer, then determine how much or how little remains to be added over the spring and summer.
Also, win.
I've had other continuing talks with certain people in the Steelers' orbit, and they've sounded much the same.
Remember Maulet popping off in Orchard Park about his teammates enjoying themselves a little too much while being throttled by 35 points? And then remember Maulet being among the many blown up in deep coverage since then?
That's one play. And by the way, it's not a play involving one of the aforementioned kids. Maulet's 29, a six-year NFL vet.
But when Maulet speaks up, then rises up as he did there with Chris Olave for as pretty a pass breakup anyone around the league made this weekend, that can send a signal to the entire sideline that the team's still here, still competing. And that can carry over.
As Maulet would say on that subject, "Winning helps everyone and everything. We all improve. We all push each other. Focus on winning, and everything else takes care of itself."
Love it.
Loved the two -- count 'em, one, two! -- offensive touchdowns, as well, even if they totaled ... um, two yards:
Look, I'm in favor of anything at all that pushes Pickens to the front of anything at all. And on this day, he'd be targeted four times for three catches and 32 yards, twice on the opening series. That's nowhere near enough, obviously, but it's progress unto itself.
I've been in constant communication with him, too, and he impresses more with each game. On and off the field.
I asked how much the running game helped the receivers, and he replied, "Hey, if you run the ball 15 times, the safety isn’t just going to keep dropping back. They’re going to come up. So of course, they helped us a lot with those guys pushing in the box."
And on the general feel in the locker room: "Yeah, everybody has always bought in because we were always just short. It was never like forty-to-zip or some high-school type stuff. It’s almost always been like a close game. It's just timing. When you come up short, it stinks. But there’s also perfect timing, when everything matches up. Today was one of those days."
For the quarterback, too, albeit in a dig-deeper way: Pickett's passing line won't leap up at anyone -- 18 of 30, 199 yards, no touchdowns, six sacks -- but there were all those scrambles, there was a timely 36-yard dart to Diontae Johnson when the score was still tied late in the third quarter ...
... and there also were, by my informal estimate, a half-dozen balls he simply threw away.
Not surprisingly, after an 8-to-2 ratio of interceptions to touchdowns through his first five NFL games, this seemed to be embraced more than any other facet.
"First and foremost, we took care of the ball," was Tomlin's response when asked to assess Pickett. "As a young quarterback in competitive circumstances, that's a difficult thing to do. We don't discount his ability to do that. Take care of the ball, give yourself a chance to win, and make yourself a tough group to beat. So it started there for us."
"I thought it was a step in the right direction," Pickett would say to that. "We took more shots. Obviously, want to hit more than we did. The one to Diontae was big, but we need a lot more than that. But I thought guys played really hard today. Feels good to be up here after a win."
I'd imagine it does.
The head coach hasn't exactly pulled all the right levers these past few months, but he's getting this. He's keeping it low-key, understated and just pushing along. And without coming close to conceding that anything different's afoot, he'll keep the priority on that next inch.
"A lot of fun in the locker room, man," was how he'd start in summing up this one. "It's good to get the job done. We don't take it for granted. We appreciate it. We understand it's not anything mystical. It's good work. It's minimizing negativity, staying on schedule on offense, possessing the ball, running the ball, winning possession, downs on defense. ... Operationally, it could've been better, but we're always going to fall short of perfection. It's good to win, though, in the process."
I'd imagine it is.
MARK ALBERTI / GETTY
Kenny Pickett and Jaylen Warren celebrate the former's touchdown in the fourth quarter.
• Anyone being impatient with Pickett, please put that on the record, file it away, then unfold it again in a year or two. We'll all share a big laugh.
I didn't like most of his day. He was inconsistent with his accuracy, a little too quick to tuck and run, and not quick enough to fire toward an NFL-open target. But I also was there for the steps he's made along the way, and these elements -- especially the accuracy -- aren't historical worries with him. They're part of the adjustment.
He needs a firm floor. Here it comes.
• Whoa ...
NFL
... those look like little green dots daring to tread where few green dots have tread before them.
• The Saints stink.
Also and related, I don't care.
• That said, Dennis Allen's choice to try and pound the Steelers up the middle on the failed third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 tries in the fourth quarter was ... quite some decision, considering New Orleans was missing three offensive linemen, two on the interior. Alvin Kamara and Andy Dalton took turns being stuffed.
Why?
"Well, we felt like we could make a first down, and we didn't," Allen would say. "We have to be able to make ... what was it, a yard and a half? We have to be able to make that. Yeah, I mean, we have got to make it."
Some riveting strategy there.
• No, to reiterate, not a syllable of credit to Canada. That's not stubborn. That's a reflection of a scope that'll require a ton more than this to reverse.
• The one morsel I'll concede is that Canada's been consistently creative and effective, for whatever reason, with those goal-line sneaks, something I brought up with Cole:
"Yeah, I think scheme-wise, we've done some good things, dressed them up with some eye candy," he'd reply, as only he can. "But it's also a mentality. It's a hard or a half-yard. Just keep pushing."
Hm. Upon further review, maybe Allen was onto something.
• Before weeping for the Saints, or before pointing out that the Steelers were fresh off a bye while New Orleans' week was short, bear in mind T.J. Watt was working off his legs feeling like 'wet noodles,' Minkah Fitzpatrick had his appendix removed over the weekend, and Tomlin kept Myles Jack on the sideline all day because of a knee injury. That's a whole lot less than the 100% defense everyone had been eager to see.
• Alex Stumpf has T.J.'s day.
• Chris Halicke has Najee's day.
• Loudest roar of the afternoon might've gone to T.J.'s stirring introduction, but it also might've gone to Warren's singular juke on this critical catch-and-run:
How long since anyone on the Steelers at any position was making people miss?
• It was good to see Minkah both on the sideline and in the locker room, seated at his stall in sweats. Seemed to be in good spirits.
• Jack was, too, and he told me he expects to be all the way back by next week.
• Did this column really get this deep without heaping praise on Damontae Kazee and Levi Wallace for their athletic interceptions and admirable, airtight coverage?
Dalton didn't give those picks away. They were earned.
• Spare me the asterisks and simply applaud that Pickett's 66.7% completion rate is better than that of Tom Brady, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, Aaron Rodgers, a ton of other dudes ... and Josh Allen. He's tied for eighth in the NFL.
• What's missing are the touchdowns, obviously. He's thrown for two. But in this game, with the outcome on the line in the fourth quarter, he led an 11-play, 83-yard drive that began at the Pittsburgh 2 and ended with a field goal, then an eight-play, 44-yard drive for a touchdown.
Winning remains undefeated in metrics.
• Any team enduring all the requisite travails of a rookie quarterback is already undergoing a rebuild. They just haven't hung a sign out front advertising it.
• In two games with the Bears, Chase Claypool has three catches for 21 yards. It's challenging to comment further on that from afar, but I'm comfortable stating from the Pittsburgh perspective that he'd become something of a fifth wheel in the core and, what's more, Pickens now can be utilized more. Soon, we'll see if the coordinator can figure out how.
• Can't stress this enough: Tomlin was right to stress that this was well short of perfection. And I don't mean to suggest otherwise by citing points of progress. But the latter's the goal.
• Thanks for reading my football work. Been privileged to cover the NFL and the local franchise since 1997, including most every game they've played in that span, and it's never been taken for granted.
MARK ALBERTI / GETTY
Pat Freiermuth bursts toward open grass in the second half.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Schedule
• Standings
• Statistics
THE INJURIES
Hurt in the game: RB Najee Harris was evaluated for a possible concussion in the first quarter but was almost immediately cleared. QB Kenny Pickett was evaluated for an apparent ankle injury, and that was dismissed with a snap. That's it. Yet another positive.
The inactives: S Minkah Fitzpatrick (appendicitis), CB Ahkello Witherspoon (hamstring), QB Mason Rudolph, G Kendrick Green, S Elijah Riley, LB Mark Robinson
THE SCHEDULE
It's the Bengals again, no doubt eager to avenge the season-opening loss in Cincinnati. That's a 4:25 p.m. kickoff at Acrisure Stadium. I'll (narrowly) be back in time from covering a hockey game in Winnipeg the night before.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything from our football staff of Halicke, Stumpf, Ramon Foster, Matt Williamson and myself.
