Just like we all expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers toppled the 2-0 Cincinnati Bengals and got back in the win column.

After one of the worst offensive performances ever witnessed last week in New England, the Steelers bounced back for a 30-point, 411-yard performance over their division rival.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked like the version head coach Mike McCarthy and the front office hoped they could get for one more year, and a defense missing Joey Porter Jr. in the cornerback role for the third straight game was able to hold off the Bengals just long enough.

Stock Up: Aaron Rodgers

The offense’s shortcomings last week against the Patriots were hardly the fault of just Rodgers, but he certainly didn’t help things. If this offense has a real shot, they need Rodgers to string together the throws the Steelers know he can still make. Against Cincinnati, he just did that.

Though the completion percentage wasn’t all that high, Rodgers threw for 292 yards and three touchdowns. He drove the offense and was able to spread the ball around between wide receivers and tight ends. He stood tall in the pocket and, for the most part, was able to escape pressure.

It was a total night and day from the doom and gloom of last week.

Stock Up: Jaylen Warren

I was so worried for Warren that his stumble and fall before reaching the endzone in the dying minutes would come back to haunt him. Luckily, instead of focusing on that, we get to enjoy the 17-carry, 127-yard rushing performance by him.

Warren was the entire running game today. With no Rico Dowdle, all other Steelers running backs combined for two carries and no yards. The ground game ran through Warren and he delivered, giving the Steelers their first successful rushing attack of the year.

Warren ran for 46 yards against Atlanta and 43 against New England. His new-look offensive line gave him some help, but Warren supercharged his efforts Sunday.

Stock Down: Timeout Management

The one big problem for Rodgers and his head coach on Sunday was timeout management. For a quarterback and head coach to both have this much experience to their names, this should never be an issue. For a majority of their experience to come working together, what happened in this game was a disaster.

Pittsburgh burned four timeouts just on miscommunication, late play-call decisions, or bad play clock management. All three first-half timeouts were killed for some variation of that, a feat that stunned the CBS broadcast booth.

I know it doesn’t matter now because the Steelers won, but I think that tandem is a little bit lucky their timeouts fiasco didn’t get the chance to snowball into a bigger story.

Stock Down: The Wide Receiver Corps

Late in the game, the best plays on offense came from the running backs or tight ends. Despite all the offense that the Steelers strung together, this was not a game that inspired a ton of confidence in the wide receiver room.

Roman Wilson caught a touchdown pass early and had his moments, but a pass tipped off his hands and turned into an interception. DK Metcalf seemed to trade catches for penalties. Nobody else in that position group had more than two catches.

Look, I’m of the opinion that the Steelers should deploy Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington as much as possible, and perhaps the current state of the offense lends itself to that idea. But, we still need more from this wide receiever group.

Stock Up: Derrick Harmon

For now, the Steelers are still winning games the old Mike Tomlin way: with a splash play on defense to seal it. So, it seems only fitting that Harmon, the last first-round pick made in the Tomlin era of the Steelers, comes up as the hero in Pittsburgh’s first AFC North game in the post-Tomlin world.

Harmon got the strip sack of Joe Burrow in the dying seconds of the game, thwarting Cincinnati’s last chance to storm down the field and steal the game away. Harmon was also part of a run defense that kept the Bengals to 83 yards on the ground, the lowest total Cincinnati has posted so far this season.

The Steelers need guys like Harmon, who the team paid a pretty penny for in the draft, to continue to grow and develop in the trenches. I thought today was a great step towards that.

Stock Up: Max Iheanachor

I was in the stadium when Iheanachor was drafted, and, I’ll just say the reaction from Steelers fans was less than pure excitement. In the midst of an uninspiring head coaching hire, lack of enthusiasm for the offense, and watching wide receiver Makai Lemon stolen from the Steelers by Philadelphia in real time, Iheanachor was suddenly the newest poster child for Steelers mediocrity.

None of it was his fault, and his story has done a very ironic and near-complete 180 spin from back in April. After the offensive line suffered mightily in games one and two, McCarthy turned to the 21st overall selection out of Arizona State to help protect Rodgers.

No one talked about him during the game, which is probably the best compliment you can give an offensive lineman. For his first career start, I thought he looked pretty strong, and based on how quiet the chatter was around the line after this game, I’d say I’m not alone.