DK'S GRIND FEED

Hear me out, OK?

No, I'm serious, hear me past the part where I point out that, for all else that the Steelers, uh, clustered up on this cloudy Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, they really and truly and actually and no-joke did eventually take care of the Jets by a 34-32 count in their 91st NFL season opener.

Hear me past the part about Aaron Rodgers performing above and beyond what anyone could've hoped, with four touchdown passes, from the team's first in an opening quarter in forever to a 17-point fourth quarter, and poise oozing all over the place:

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Aaron Rodgers acknowledges the Steelers' fans on his way off the field at MetLife Stadium.

Hear me past the part about DK Metcalf, Jonnu Smith and a maniacally vintage Jalen Ramsey also showing how massive their acquisitions were this offseason.

Hear me past the part about Ben Skowronek, Calvin Austin and Pat Freiermuth picking it up when New York's coaches might've wet their collective pants over the impact Metcalf was having early.

Hear me past the part about Kenny Gainwell boomeranging the moment by bumping the ball away from the Jets' Xavier Gipson on a late kickoff return.

Hear me past even this part:

Chris Boswell, kids. From 60. Franchise record. Minute-plus to go. Game on the line. 

"Our kicker's a serial killer, man," Mike Tomlin would say with an almost disturbingly dour face. "He's got a low pulse rate. He can't wait to deliver."

Awesome. All of that. Applause all-around.

OK, now ...

Uh-huh.

Look familiar at all?

No, that wasn't the Baltimore game that's been bandied about -- with cause -- for all eight months since that 299-yard ground gashing. And no, that sure wasn't Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry. It was old friend Justin Fields, a run-of-the-mill Breece Hall and a handful of others running for 182 yards -- headlined by Hall's 107 -- and three touchdown runs, each of which appeared easier than the one before it:

Good God.

"We played like s---," Patrick Queen would tell me, and this before I'd even asked a question, I swear. Just saw me walking his way and blurted it out.

After repeating that line later in front of the cameras and microphones, he'd add, "That's as simple as I can say it. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. If we keep playing like that, we're going to get our face bashed in. I don't sugarcoat anything. I call it like it is. We played like absolute trash."

Didn't sound like the head coach saw it much differently, particularly as related to Fields, who'd run for 48 yards and throw for 218.

"There were instances when we weren't good enough, like when he walked in," Tomlin would say of the run defense, singling out Fields' stroll above. "There were some instances where he simply won, where we had an appropriate number of people and that's what's challenging about quarterback mobility."

Of the run defense as a whole, he'd add, "You play today, and you evaluate tomorrow. The game's not going to always unfold the way that you'd like. ... Do I like how we played? Did I like our inability to stop the run? No, but I love our mindset because our mindset shows we were game for the fight."

Again, I'm not about to diminish that. The offense got it going, the special teams gave a spark, and yeah, even the defense shored up to a degree.

But that doesn't answer the following: What the hell was that? And within that, is it fixable or is this just going to become a thing now?

So, I poked around the locker room primarily on this subject, and my conclusion was two-fold:

1. Some players weren't good.

Don't make me type that Queen quote again. He spoke the truth. There was under-performance by some, but there also was performance that's been below the figurative line from some others, and they just can't be used as often -- or at all -- moving forward.

Keeanu Benton might've had one of the most trying days of his young NFL career, a deep disappointment in light of the opportunity presented with Derrick Harmon's absence. Benton had two tackles, one solo, and that's in the context of the Jets clearly running right at him.

Everyone was understandably chipper afterward, but Benton turned serious when I brought up how the day went:

Isaiahh Loudermilk got the start in place of Harmon, but he'd be replaced in barely a quarter. That was on merit.

Yahya Black entered in the second quarter and stuck, stabilizing his side of the line, but it's difficult to comprehend what would've taken so long for Tomlin and/or Teryl Austin to have made that call -- or any call -- amid all the bleeding.

Payton Wilson had five tackles, three solos, but I can't recall one of any import or impact. And this while Cole Holcomb largely watched from the sideline.

There'll be change here in some form. Has to be.

2. The coaching was brutal.

And by that, I mean B-R-U-T-A-L.

Doesn't matter if it's Tomlin or Austin or both, but for this defense to emerge in a scheme so blatantly passive, this after a summer at Saint Vincent of making it sound like everyone's fangs would be dripping, it's bona fide mind-blowing.

And then to not do anything about it until after halftime, just like Baltimore?

And from there, to not doing anything about it until after it took a player piping up in the locker room about this scheme?

Come on, man.

It can't be a coincidence that, once this defense was allowed to blitz linebackers into the run gaps, they suddenly stopped looking like the Red Sea to Hall and company. Queen was allowed to fire off. Ramsey went wild. Cam Heyward, who'd had moments in the first half, bloomed in the second. T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith were better able to close off the edges because of the middle pressure.

My friends, this didn't require the brilliance of Dick LeBeau. The percentage of casual observers who could've forecast that the Jets needed only to be slowed on the run was probably in the range of 100. But this defense took the field with an alignment that had half of everyone hanging back as if they were about to take on some 400-passing-yard superstar.

"Bluntly," as Heyward would say of what changed in the second half, "we got our head out of our ass."

Whose head, right?

Listen, it was a W. And it's not as if the run defense was all that'll need to be addressed. Broderick Jones was scorched for three sacks and four pressures, and that's just not cute anymore. Jaylen Warren was held to 37 yards rushing by the Jets and to only 11 carries by the Steelers ... so that Gainwell could go virtually nowhere. Also, not that this is anyone's fault, but DeShon Elliott's the last guy this defense could afford to lose, given his tackling prowess, though there might be some good news there — he gave me a thumbs-up after the game to suggest his left knee injury won't keep him out too long.

There's fixing to be done. But it feels fixable, certainly more fixable than if some of the stuff that did go right wouldn't have gone right. Like the passing game, for example.

"It's always fixable," Watt would tell me. "I always believe that in any circumstance, but I really believe that about this. We'll get it right."