DK: Took a long time, longer trip, but Steelers finding best selves
Payton Wilson hadn't been his best self.
Or anything close, to keep this real.
"I was just trying to be, like, this super-overthinker out there," this super-sharp kid was telling me after the Steelers fended off the Vikings, 24-21, Sunday here at Croke Park. "All I wanted here was to get back to playing ball, playing fast and making plays and ... you know, you're not gonna play a perfect game all the time, but if you're flying around the field, you can make up for those mistakes. There's obviously a ton of things I still need to work on, but this was a step toward being the player I want to be."
That's a step, all right: Game-high 13 tackles, two for losses and a quarterback hit.
And this is Wilson taking several surface-of-the-moon steps, as illustrated by AI:
Wait, no, that's not AI, I'm being told. That's really Jordan Addison catching what should've been the easiest touchdown of his life, his Pitt career included, somehow getting chased down from behind by Wilson. The Vikings would eventually get across that goal line, but that stop cost them 1:01 off the clock, which ran out on them soon enough.
Also and not for nothing, that's really Wilson achieving a top speed of 22.48 mph, the fastest run by any linebacker in the NFL's Next Gen Stats era that began in 2016.
Though I preferred Broderick Jones' own independent assessment as Wilson would pass by his stall later, "Dude, you F-A-S-T fast!"
Mm-hm. And on this day, Wilson was exactly what'd been expected back at Saint Vincent College when Mike Tomlin and staff pegged him as a three-down linebacker, and he was nothing like the NFL sophomore who'd been hearing all over the South Side facility this past week that he'd be benched for first and second downs in favor of Cole Holcomb:
That's bouncing back in a big way.
Happened all over, too. And even amid all the pomp and pageantry of the NFL's first real game on Irish soil, the fun and frenetic pace that magnetized the capacity crowd of 74,512, and the pure gold of hearing an Irish crowd belt out every lyric of the native Cranberries classic 'Zombie' through one stoppage, there were facets of this event that, in the most micro of football contexts, felt ... well, modestly transformational for these Steelers, both at the collective and individual levels.
Start at the top. Stick there, too.
I tend to go tough on Mike Tomlin, especially some of the senseless stubbornness that's defined his decision-making past decade or so. But this past week saw polar opposites:
• Although the NFL strong-armed the Steelers into arriving here Friday morning, three days later than the Steelers had hoped, Tomlin still changed several parts of his richly -- and rightly -- criticized London itinerary from 2013, and the players praised it both before and after this game.
"Coach had us ready," Darius Slay told me. "There was a plan for every little thing we did."
• The offense hadn't been able to get much of anything done through three weeks, aside from a handful of big plays against the Jets in the opener, and that was almost wholly -- at least according to only everything I've written and spoken for days now -- due to the line not being able to pass-block, run-block, road-block, Twitter-block or any-kinda-block. The running back had no holes, the receivers didn't have time to run routes, and Aaron Rodgers was holding onto the ball about as long as a volleyball setter.
I'm told it was Arthur Smith who thought of it, but credit to all concerned. It was wonderful to see Spencer Anderson utilized so often as a spare tackle -- or 'Tackle Eligible!' as some upper-deck fans began chanting along with the repeated P.A. announcements of Anderson's entry -- that this essentially became a six-man line. And make that a seven-man line when Darnell Washington would stay glued to the left edge.
Funny thing: Even with Jaylen Warren a late scratch for the wonky knee, the team rushed for 122 yards, 99 of those from beleaguered Kenny Gainwell, a bonus 22 from equally beleaguered Kaleb Johnson, and a 131 total.
"We had to run the ball," Troy Fautanu told me. "We all knew that. Talked about it all week."
Anderson understood the assignment ...
... and followed through on it:
That's Anderson atop the screen running linebacker Ivan Pace out of a 9-yard Gainwell run.
"I thought Spence was a good player for us today, a good addition," Rodgers would say. "I thought Art did a nice job of mixing in the heavy personnel sets where Spence was playing tight end for us, and we had some effectiveness running the football out of those sets, which was great."
I can't say enough about this: Teammates were all over the line, and the line was loving it. They see, hear and read what all of us say. They really do. And worse by far, they wonder if those sharing the uniform feel the same.
• The offense's other limitation, rooted in the same symptom, was stretching out. And this seemed to be solved, by no coincidence, in the form of Rodgers finding DK Metcalf here, there and everywhere:
That's 80 yards, four defenders clearly beaten and six points for the Steelers' human cheat code -- though don't overlook Rodgers' throw or vital blocks from Jones and Calvin Austin -- and it's the byproduct of Smith scheming to attack the Brian Flores defense when the Vikings are expecting standard content on first down, then hoping to dial up his trademark exotic blitzes. This wasn't standard, and second and third downs on this series never happened.
That's how Rodgers' passing chart morphs from hardly any attempts over the middle one week to this one the next week:
NFL NEXT GEN STATS
Dan Fouts and Warren Moon aren't about to go green with envy over that depth, but there was much more over the middle, including the late, lamented quick slants that softened up the Minnesota box.
That and the upgraded running, of course.
"There's been so much talk about how can we get DK more involved, how can we push the ball down the field a little bit more," Rodgers said. "And I said last week you've got to run the football, and I think today we ran the ball pretty effectively."
So did Metcalf.
"You think about that long touchdown," he'd tell me, "and look at all the people who made it happen ... and then think about how much the running game meant to it."
• Tomlin seldom singles out coordinators or assistants, preferring a singular approach to talking about the staff. But he mentioned Teryl Austin by name when asked about the Steelers' improved run defense (70 rushing yards, 3.5 average) and immensely improved get-off-the-field rate (Vikings were 4 of 14 on third downs).
"I thought that we put together a good plan, and I thought the players did a nice job of executing it," Tomlin said. "They've got some challenges, schematics. They work to minimize your four-man rush with max protections. I think the adjustments we made relative to the max protections was a major component of why we were able to put pressure on them. Kudos to T.A. and company, but also kudos to the men. We had a bunch of guys that played hard and made a bunch of plays today, and we needed them."
I'll translate that, based on my own conversations with his men: The Xs and Os were simplified.
Defensive players had complained privately for nearly a month about systems being more complex than needed and, within that, had wished to just be able to champ at the bit, the way they were in the early days in Latrobe. To get after it. To have the stars come through with the splash. The way it was supposed to be.
Like so:
T.J. Watt gets the big right arm up, gets the pick that he invariably demands in those scenarios, then gets a few return yards. That's T.J. being T.J. Not more. Not less.
That's also Cam Heyward's even bigger right arm going up at the same time.
Did he tip it?
"Honestly, I don't know," he'd tell me. "But that's got to be up either way."
They were. All day. Yahya Black had his up once, too, and it messed with Carson Wentz's sightline just enough that it'd lead to DeShon Elliott's pick. Overall, there'd be two picks, eight passes defensed, six sacks, 14 quarterback hits and two forced fumbles. This foundation began re-forming a week ago in Foxborough, and it mushroomed here.
And this is where the collective collided with the individual. Because, to be blunt, a lot of this is the result of players just playing better and/or being coached better.
I described Wilson's day, but how about that of Keeanu Benton?
Four tackles, a sack and a half, three of the quarterback hits and ... swagger?
I had to ask:
These players were supposed to be strengths, not weaknesses. They're free to change that back.
• Tomlin's going to hear it all through the two-week bye for two late calls that might've contributed to the Vikings turning 24-6 into 24-21, and some of that'll be merited.
Count me out on both cases.
When Tomlin gave in to Rodgers' vocal and demonstrative pleas to go for a touchdown rather than a field goal on fourth down at the Minnesota 3, he left himself glaringly open to criticism in that the Steelers could've easily turned a 10 point-lead to a 13-point lead and forced the Vikings to score two touchdowns in the final four minutes. And it was all the more glaring when Gainwell ran to the left, not to the right that Anderson was overloading, and got stuffed.
"I love his competitive spirit, and I love to support it," Tomlin would say of Rodgers. "I like a guy that plays, and plays to win. So, he's an asset to us in that way certainly. Regardless of the outcome of the play -- certainly it didn't unfold the way we would like -- but we're prepared to die with our boots on and pursue victory and not live in our fears."
Yeah, that's been bunk for a long time now. But it's high time he begins to abide by it again, if only once in a figurative blue moon. What he tried here could've come with big-time benefits in the confidence it would've burnished.
I'm OK with it.
I'm OK with the other, too, that being Tomlin opting to punt from the Minnesota 40 on fourth-and-1 with 1:08 remaining, and this one's way easier, even from someone who's learning to hate the punt as an art: The Vikings were out of timeouts, and they needed only a field goal to force overtime.
No thanks. Trust the defense to keep the bad guys from spanning 40 yards rather than 15.
It's not all right that the game tightened as it did, but it's a gross oversimplification to suggest either of those calls were irresponsible.
This team needed this. A good many of these players needed this.
That they found it before the bye week ... can we call it luck around here?
THE ASYLUM
DK: Took a long time, longer trip, but Steelers finding best selves
Payton Wilson hadn't been his best self.
Or anything close, to keep this real.
"I was just trying to be, like, this super-overthinker out there," this super-sharp kid was telling me after the Steelers fended off the Vikings, 24-21, Sunday here at Croke Park. "All I wanted here was to get back to playing ball, playing fast and making plays and ... you know, you're not gonna play a perfect game all the time, but if you're flying around the field, you can make up for those mistakes. There's obviously a ton of things I still need to work on, but this was a step toward being the player I want to be."
That's a step, all right: Game-high 13 tackles, two for losses and a quarterback hit.
And this is Wilson taking several surface-of-the-moon steps, as illustrated by AI:
Wait, no, that's not AI, I'm being told. That's really Jordan Addison catching what should've been the easiest touchdown of his life, his Pitt career included, somehow getting chased down from behind by Wilson. The Vikings would eventually get across that goal line, but that stop cost them 1:01 off the clock, which ran out on them soon enough.
Also and not for nothing, that's really Wilson achieving a top speed of 22.48 mph, the fastest run by any linebacker in the NFL's Next Gen Stats era that began in 2016.
Though I preferred Broderick Jones' own independent assessment as Wilson would pass by his stall later, "Dude, you F-A-S-T fast!"
Mm-hm. And on this day, Wilson was exactly what'd been expected back at Saint Vincent College when Mike Tomlin and staff pegged him as a three-down linebacker, and he was nothing like the NFL sophomore who'd been hearing all over the South Side facility this past week that he'd be benched for first and second downs in favor of Cole Holcomb:
That's bouncing back in a big way.
Happened all over, too. And even amid all the pomp and pageantry of the NFL's first real game on Irish soil, the fun and frenetic pace that magnetized the capacity crowd of 74,512, and the pure gold of hearing an Irish crowd belt out every lyric of the native Cranberries classic 'Zombie' through one stoppage, there were facets of this event that, in the most micro of football contexts, felt ... well, modestly transformational for these Steelers, both at the collective and individual levels.
Start at the top. Stick there, too.
I tend to go tough on Mike Tomlin, especially some of the senseless stubbornness that's defined his decision-making past decade or so. But this past week saw polar opposites:
• Although the NFL strong-armed the Steelers into arriving here Friday morning, three days later than the Steelers had hoped, Tomlin still changed several parts of his richly -- and rightly -- criticized London itinerary from 2013, and the players praised it both before and after this game.
"Coach had us ready," Darius Slay told me. "There was a plan for every little thing we did."
• The offense hadn't been able to get much of anything done through three weeks, aside from a handful of big plays against the Jets in the opener, and that was almost wholly -- at least according to only everything I've written and spoken for days now -- due to the line not being able to pass-block, run-block, road-block, Twitter-block or any-kinda-block. The running back had no holes, the receivers didn't have time to run routes, and Aaron Rodgers was holding onto the ball about as long as a volleyball setter.
I'm told it was Arthur Smith who thought of it, but credit to all concerned. It was wonderful to see Spencer Anderson utilized so often as a spare tackle -- or 'Tackle Eligible!' as some upper-deck fans began chanting along with the repeated P.A. announcements of Anderson's entry -- that this essentially became a six-man line. And make that a seven-man line when Darnell Washington would stay glued to the left edge.
Funny thing: Even with Jaylen Warren a late scratch for the wonky knee, the team rushed for 122 yards, 99 of those from beleaguered Kenny Gainwell, a bonus 22 from equally beleaguered Kaleb Johnson, and a 131 total.
"We had to run the ball," Troy Fautanu told me. "We all knew that. Talked about it all week."
Anderson understood the assignment ...
... and followed through on it:
That's Anderson atop the screen running linebacker Ivan Pace out of a 9-yard Gainwell run.
"I thought Spence was a good player for us today, a good addition," Rodgers would say. "I thought Art did a nice job of mixing in the heavy personnel sets where Spence was playing tight end for us, and we had some effectiveness running the football out of those sets, which was great."
I can't say enough about this: Teammates were all over the line, and the line was loving it. They see, hear and read what all of us say. They really do. And worse by far, they wonder if those sharing the uniform feel the same.
"That felt awesome," Mason McCormick told me. "We're ready for more."
• The offense's other limitation, rooted in the same symptom, was stretching out. And this seemed to be solved, by no coincidence, in the form of Rodgers finding DK Metcalf here, there and everywhere:
That's 80 yards, four defenders clearly beaten and six points for the Steelers' human cheat code -- though don't overlook Rodgers' throw or vital blocks from Jones and Calvin Austin -- and it's the byproduct of Smith scheming to attack the Brian Flores defense when the Vikings are expecting standard content on first down, then hoping to dial up his trademark exotic blitzes. This wasn't standard, and second and third downs on this series never happened.
That's how Rodgers' passing chart morphs from hardly any attempts over the middle one week to this one the next week:
NFL NEXT GEN STATS
Dan Fouts and Warren Moon aren't about to go green with envy over that depth, but there was much more over the middle, including the late, lamented quick slants that softened up the Minnesota box.
That and the upgraded running, of course.
"There's been so much talk about how can we get DK more involved, how can we push the ball down the field a little bit more," Rodgers said. "And I said last week you've got to run the football, and I think today we ran the ball pretty effectively."
So did Metcalf.
"You think about that long touchdown," he'd tell me, "and look at all the people who made it happen ... and then think about how much the running game meant to it."
• Tomlin seldom singles out coordinators or assistants, preferring a singular approach to talking about the staff. But he mentioned Teryl Austin by name when asked about the Steelers' improved run defense (70 rushing yards, 3.5 average) and immensely improved get-off-the-field rate (Vikings were 4 of 14 on third downs).
"I thought that we put together a good plan, and I thought the players did a nice job of executing it," Tomlin said. "They've got some challenges, schematics. They work to minimize your four-man rush with max protections. I think the adjustments we made relative to the max protections was a major component of why we were able to put pressure on them. Kudos to T.A. and company, but also kudos to the men. We had a bunch of guys that played hard and made a bunch of plays today, and we needed them."
I'll translate that, based on my own conversations with his men: The Xs and Os were simplified.
Defensive players had complained privately for nearly a month about systems being more complex than needed and, within that, had wished to just be able to champ at the bit, the way they were in the early days in Latrobe. To get after it. To have the stars come through with the splash. The way it was supposed to be.
Like so:
T.J. Watt gets the big right arm up, gets the pick that he invariably demands in those scenarios, then gets a few return yards. That's T.J. being T.J. Not more. Not less.
That's also Cam Heyward's even bigger right arm going up at the same time.
Did he tip it?
"Honestly, I don't know," he'd tell me. "But that's got to be up either way."
They were. All day. Yahya Black had his up once, too, and it messed with Carson Wentz's sightline just enough that it'd lead to DeShon Elliott's pick. Overall, there'd be two picks, eight passes defensed, six sacks, 14 quarterback hits and two forced fumbles. This foundation began re-forming a week ago in Foxborough, and it mushroomed here.
And this is where the collective collided with the individual. Because, to be blunt, a lot of this is the result of players just playing better and/or being coached better.
I described Wilson's day, but how about that of Keeanu Benton?
Four tackles, a sack and a half, three of the quarterback hits and ... swagger?
I had to ask:
These players were supposed to be strengths, not weaknesses. They're free to change that back.
• Tomlin's going to hear it all through the two-week bye for two late calls that might've contributed to the Vikings turning 24-6 into 24-21, and some of that'll be merited.
Count me out on both cases.
When Tomlin gave in to Rodgers' vocal and demonstrative pleas to go for a touchdown rather than a field goal on fourth down at the Minnesota 3, he left himself glaringly open to criticism in that the Steelers could've easily turned a 10 point-lead to a 13-point lead and forced the Vikings to score two touchdowns in the final four minutes. And it was all the more glaring when Gainwell ran to the left, not to the right that Anderson was overloading, and got stuffed.
"I love his competitive spirit, and I love to support it," Tomlin would say of Rodgers. "I like a guy that plays, and plays to win. So, he's an asset to us in that way certainly. Regardless of the outcome of the play -- certainly it didn't unfold the way we would like -- but we're prepared to die with our boots on and pursue victory and not live in our fears."
Yeah, that's been bunk for a long time now. But it's high time he begins to abide by it again, if only once in a figurative blue moon. What he tried here could've come with big-time benefits in the confidence it would've burnished.
I'm OK with it.
I'm OK with the other, too, that being Tomlin opting to punt from the Minnesota 40 on fourth-and-1 with 1:08 remaining, and this one's way easier, even from someone who's learning to hate the punt as an art: The Vikings were out of timeouts, and they needed only a field goal to force overtime.
No thanks. Trust the defense to keep the bad guys from spanning 40 yards rather than 15.
It's not all right that the game tightened as it did, but it's a gross oversimplification to suggest either of those calls were irresponsible.
This team needed this. A good many of these players needed this.
That they found it before the bye week ... can we call it luck around here?
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