Steelers Now
Two things seem like foregone conclusions in Steelers’ country: Mike Tomlin is going to finish the year with a winning record, and for better or worse, his teams will regularly give their fans heart palpitations with their fourth-quarter antics. It’s safe to say that Sunday’s 29-24 Pittsburgh Steelers win over the Detroit Lions was one of the more dramatic finishes that we’ve seen across the sport this season, but the result was hardly a fluke.
The Steelers were the better team for the vast majority of the day, dominating the trenches, getting some well-timed conversions from their Hall of Fame signal caller, and even winning the explosive play battle.
Now, the Steelers seem destined to win the AFC North and host a playoff game in the first round, so long as they can take care of business next week against the Cleveland Browns. Before moving on, let’s talk through some winners and losers from one of the wildest, most impressive games in a little while.
Coming into week 16, the Steelers had the second-lowest explosive run rate in the entire NFL, but they managed to generate a season-high seven runs of 10+ yards against the Lions. With the help of some creative concepts from Arthur Smith and an ascending, young offensive line, they controlled the tempo with a cool 57% rushing success rate on early downs. Warren’s 143 yards were the most of his NFL career, and he delivered multiple 45-yard daggers in the fourth quarter. Gainwell’s snag of an underthrow deep ball right before the half is one of the best catches that you’ll ever see from a tailback. This was a statement game from the duo.
Sunday was not the best performance from Pittsburgh’s WR1, to say the least. Metcalf was clamped up on a couple fade routes down the sideline in the first half, dropped an accurate in-breaker from Aaron Rodgers, and was tagged with an albeit questionable offensive pass interference penalty. The pairing did hook up for a back-shoulder fade in the second half to get them out of a tough spot, but the production was middling for nine targets on 49 dropbacks. However, the biggest story is that Metcalf lost his cool on a heckling fan right before halftime, appearing to strike him from below. As of right now, we don’t know the entire context, but that may not matter all that much to the NFL from a disciplinary perspective.
Part of what makes this Steelers run feel a little bit magical is just the sheer amount of castoffs that have turned into contributors this season. With Calvin Austin banged up, Thielen stepped up big time with a couple of key first downs over the middle of the field right before the break. After halftime, it was Miller who rose to the occasion twice on a big drive, with a toe-tapping snag on the...
