There was a laundry list of things the Steelers had to improve on after two consecutive losses, three in four games and five in their last seven outings.
And everyone knew it.
But with the Ravens up next, the players knew there was a way to distill their plan of action.
“We just had a good game plan, and we knew that the most physical team was going to win the game, and I felt like we did that,” veteran edge rusher Alex Highsmith told me over the phone postgame.
The Steelers emerged victorious in the NFL’s ultimate tough-guy rivalry on the first Sunday of December.
Going into the fourth quarter with a 27–16 lead, Pittsburgh leaned on a rugged, veteran, albeit imperfect, defense (they allowed 217 rushing yards), to make the biggest plays, when the group’s very best was needed. Baltimore’s first three possessions of the final quarter bled into the red zone and resulted in two field goals and, with 2:22 left, a turnover on downs.
The Ravens’ fourth possession of the final quarter ended emphatically, too, with Highsmith running down Lamar Jackson for a sack as the clock struck zero, denying him one last shot at the end zone.
“Seeing the time left on the clock, nine seconds, really, just empty the tank,” he said. “We know that’s probably going to be the last play, because they’re going to have to go to the end zone. Getting off the field in that moment was huge.”
Could this be where the Steelers finally find their stride?
They started 4–1, and then went through the Thursday night collapse in Cincinnati. They beat a red-hot Colts team, while Daniel Jones was still riding high, then lost to a beat-up Chargers squad. Last week, the Steelers put together a solid first half against the Bills, only to melt down the minute they left the locker room for the second half.
So this isn’t, and has never been, about the Steelers’ ceiling. Rather, it’s about avoiding the lows that have plagued the team.
“We just got to be consistent. We haven’t been over the past couple of months, so we haven’t put together back-to-back wins,” Highsmith said. “We know that we still got four guaranteed opportunities left, and so we got to make the most [of it], and that starts with getting the win on Monday against the Dolphins.”
Considering the age of the Steelers’ roster, those four guaranteed opportunities, plus any potential playoff run, may be it for this group. Rodgers turned 42 on Dec. 2. Cam Heyward is 36. As aging corner Darius Slay was jettisoned last week, 35-year-old receiver Adam Thielen came aboard. Jalen Ramsey and T.J. Watt are both 31.
The urgency in Pittsburgh generated a big national storyline last week, when, after the loss to Buffalo, rumblings that Mike Tomlin and the team might actually consider a split (it’d never be a conventional firing, obviously) grew louder than ever.
Whether a move is on the table remains to be seen, but there’s no denying that for the time being, the players realize their window is narrowing.
“We’re chasing a Super Bowl, and that’s what it is,” Highsmith said. “We have a great team, and everyone in this locker room trusts each other. First, we got to win the division, of course. But we know if we get in, we’ll make some noise. We just got to continue to trust the process and continue to look at this film and not get complacent, not get satisfied because we know there’s a lot of ball ahead of us.”
The first step in ensuring this crew gets more than their guaranteed four remaining regular-season games is not backsliding like they did in October and November, after big breakthrough performances. And that’s where the team’s heightened sense of urgency has to factor in. This may be the only shot they get with Rodgers & Co.
And they played like it on Sunday.
We’ll see whether they can keep it going.
“We have great leaders on our team, we have great leaders in our locker room,” Highsmith said. “So we got to go out there and do the best we can for those guys. But the urgency is at an all-time high, and it starts next week when we’re playing Miami at home.”
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Steelers Playing With a Sense of Urgency Amid Narrow Super Bowl Window.
