Have we all caught our breath yet?
After one of the crazier endings to an NFL game I can remember, the Pittsburgh Steelers are 9-6.
The Steelers now hold the NFL record with their 22nd non-losing season, and Mike Tomlin 19th consecutive season at .500 or better. It’s a moment that will either serve as a reminder of Tomlin’s Hall of Fame legacy, or yet another nauseatingly overused statistic by national media pundits, depending on what happens in the next month or so.
It was the second game in a row that saw the Steelers beat a team who desperately needed that win. Last week, Miami’s season ended with a loss on the road in Pittsburgh. This week, it was the Steelers who traveled and put Detroit’s playoff odds on life support.
In addition to that, the Steelers got some extremely welcome news out of Baltimore. Desperately needing a win to stay just one game behind Pittsburgh in the AFC North race, the Ravens blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter to Drake Maye and the New England Patriots, who swiped a 28-24 win on the road.
In a game where Lamar Jackson left with injury, the Ravens fell to 7-8. There’s a chance that they could officially be out of the playoff race before the Steelers step on the field again; Baltimore is in Green Bay next Saturday, potentially deciding their fate before the Steelers kick off in Cleveland in Sunday.
There’s a lot of big picture stuff happening in Pittsburgh right now, but before we get too into that, here’s my five thoughts on this win.
1: As I Was Saying…
Earlier this week, I wrote a piece outlining the case Kenneth Gainwell has for Team MVP this season. Coming into this game against the Lions, he was Pittsburgh’s leading rusher in yards per attempt, and led the entire team in receptions. Sure, maybe he didn’t lead either department in yards, but it’s scary to think where this team might be without the services of the free agent pickup.
Had I just waited a few extra days, Gainwell would have made my case a whole lot stronger.
In the dying seconds of the second quarter, Gainwell made what might be the play of the year for the Steelers. Aaron Rodgers gave the weapon a decent lob, but it was Gainwell who made all of it possible.
I could watch this catch all day.
The catch itself is one of the best plays we have seen all season. I mean, I could talk about it all day. But it’s the awareness of Gainwell to realize that he’s untouched, get up, and sprint into the endzone for the touchdown.
This play was the highlight in yet another productive, strong day at the office for the running back. He picked up 50 yards on nine carries, and was the team’s leader in the receiving game with five receptions and 78 yards, with their only passing touchdown of the day.
Seriously, where would this team be without him?
2: Jaylen Warren
Not to be outdone by the surging Gainwell, Warren had a career-high 143 rushing yards against Detroit’s defense, including ripping off two 45-yard runs on back-to-back fourth quarter drives to seal touchdowns for the Steelers. When the team needed him the most, he absolutely stepped up.
Although his 10.2 yards per carry is massively skewed by those two huge runs, he was still super effective on pretty much all 14 of his carries. His second touchdown run ended up being pivotal in helping the Steelers hang on in this game.
It felt like the full breakout game from Warren that we’ve all been waiting for. Yes, he’s had some really solid games for the Steelers, but aside from that 127-yard performance in the firework show that was Thursday night in Cincinnati over two months ago, he didn’t have as many explosive numbers as some fans may have hoped.
The Steelers extended him in the offseason, something they haven’t done with a running back in almost two decades. They believe in this guy, and they have every reason to.
Over the last three games, his production really started to drop. He battled an illness last week, but he averaged 27 yards per game in December coming into this one. Well, he answered for that downtrend and then some here.
3: Sharing The Wealth
Lost in the ending of this game (and we’ll get to that in a minute) is how good the passing game was for Pittsburgh today.
Aaron Rodgers continues to look like the quarterback the Steelers were hoping they had signed back in the offseason. It looked a little rocky midway through the year, and although it’s hard to remember (or believe) now, there were calls for Mason Rudolph and Will Howard.
On Sunday, Rodgers was 27-of-41 for 266 yards and a touchdown. That’s now his third straight game passing for at least 200 yards, at least one touchdown, and recording no picks.
His greatest gift to the Steelers in this game was the ability to spread the wealth.
There’s the aforementioned Gainwell, who had five catches for 78 yards and caught a touchdown pass.
Adam Thielen had four targets and catches for 49 yards, season-highs across the board. This was by far the most he has been involved since the Steelers claimed him off waivers from Minnesota, and it paid off in a huge way. Three of his catches came on third-and-long situations where he was able to bail the team out and get open for Rodgers.
Darnell Washington had three catches for 36 yards, although he did suffer a fumble early in the third quarter. Pat Freiermuth had four targets, although it was only for a modest 20 yards.
Even Scotty Miller was pretty involved in this game. His role, which is more-or-less the Calvin Austin replacement, saw him nab three catches for 19 yards. Coming into this game, Miller had two total targets and one total catch on the year. He also took over for Austin in the punt return game after he was taken out with a hamstring injury. Props to him for being ready to go when his number was called.
Nine different receivers caught at least one pass in this game. That’s good work.
4: Depth On Defense
We need to give this injured defense a lot of credit.
The obvious missing piece was TJ Watt, who was missing his second straight game with that lung situation. Last week, the Steelers improved to 2-10 all-time in games without Watt, but this game provided a bigger challenge than hostung Miami.
In his place, Alex Highsmith had two major tackles for loss and two quarterback pressures. Highsmith’s ability to break into the backfield and disrupt Detroit’s running game was a major reason the Lions finished with a whopping 15 rushing yards.
Watt’s absence wasn’t the only injury plaguing the Steelers’ edges in this game. Nick Herbig missing this game with a hamstring meant Jack Sawyer got the first start of his NFL career.
Sawyer took after Highsmith and had a tackle for loss, helping limit the Lions running game. On Detroit’s second drive of the game, once they set up shop on a second-and-goal at Pittsburgh’s three-yard line, Sawyer blew up Jahmyr Gibbs for a three-yard loss. On the following play, he was in on a tackle to hold Amon-Ra St. Brown out of the endzone, and the drive eventually ended with no points.
And it was several other guys stepping up as well. Keeanu Benton had a sack. Kyle Dugger recorded a sack for a safety. Chuck Clark almost intercepted Jared Goff three times.
That combined effort almost went to waste if one single flag wasn’t thrown, but now that it’s for sure a Steelers win, we can properly compliment the performance of a lot of guys.
5: The End Of The Game
My head is still spinning from that whirlwind to end the game.
This all started with an incredibly rare miss by Chris Boswell, who doinked it off the upright to keep it 27-22. A field goal there would have forced the Lions to score a touchdown and successfully go for two just to push the game to overtime.
Instead, a trip to the endzone would have sealed it for the Lions. And man oh man, they got oh so close.
This clip doesn’t do full justice to just how chaotic this moment was. On fourth down, it looked like St. Brown was stopped short of the endzone, and as a flag was flying, he flipped the ball to Goff for a lateral play.
The Steelers, believing the game was over, mostly watched as Goff toppled into the endzone. Then, after what felt like hours of the officials deliberating on the field, they ruled that even though Goff had made it into the endzone, the flag was for offensive pass interference on St. Brown, ending the game.
Had this play worked, it would have been one of the coolest plays in NFL history. This would be the kind of thing you would see on highlight reels, in NFL film packages, and on those Twitter/X aggregate accounts for years.
Instead, it’s all for not.
I know in the end it doesn’t really matter, but I would have liked to see the Steelers a little more urgent in getting to Goff on that play. He did make it into the endzone successfully and legally, and had St. Brown not pushed off on Jalen Ramsey, that’s a touchdown.
Fifth Avenue Sports 
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