The Pittsburgh Steelers have something they haven’t had in a very long time – a real offense that can win them games, and a quarterback that can sling it deep downfield. And in Week 8, they relied on the offense to defeat the New York Giants 26-18 and get to 6-2, and now hold a full game lead over the Baltimore Ravens for the lead in the AFC North.

Let’s start by talking about that quarterback – what a game from Russell Wilson. His numbers were very stellar, and yet they don’t tell the story of how great he played. He finished the night going 20-of-28 for 278 yards and a touchdown, but two touchdowns to George Pickens were erased by a penalty and an overruled catch that was called incomplete. He made multiple huge throws when the Steelers needed them most. Late in the third quarter on 3rd and 11, Wilson hit Van Jefferson down the near sideline for a 36 yard gain. Four plays later, he hit Calvin Austin for a 29 yard touchdown to put the Steelers up 23-9. The next drive after a Giants touchdown, Wilson connected with George Pickens on a crosser for a 43 yard gain that led to a field goal. Wilson’s deep ball, as well as his overall decision-making, have been tremendous in his first two starts. In the last two games, Wilson has 542 yards and three passing scores with an additional touchdown on the ground.

The ground game was amazing once again, as well. Najee Harris topped 100 yards for the third straight game, rushing for 114 yards on six yards per carry. Jaylen Warren added 46 yards on nine carries.

Calvin Austin had the game of his life, returning a punt for a touchdown, which was the Steelers’ first punt return for a touchdown since 2019. He then caught the aforementioned touchdown pass from Wilson, finishing with three catches for 54 yards and two total touchdowns. George Pickens should have had two touchdowns himself, but will settle for a four catch, 74 yard evening that featured a long reception.

Now for the negatives – the defense was rough. The Giants finished the night with four plays of 25 or more yards. If you’re giving up those plays to bad teams, imagine what the good ones will do. Darius Slayton had multiple deep receptions, and Tyrone Tracy finished the night with 145 yards on the ground and averaged over seven yards per carry. Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt had two sacks a piece, including Watt having the hat trick of the sack, strip, and recovery to end a Giants’ scoring chance at the end of the fourth quarter, and Beanie Bishop sealed the game with his third interception in two games. Outside of a small handful of plays, though, the defense had their worst outing since Week 4 in Indianapolis. And while performances like that are concerning, they won – which is something they wouldn’t have done in years past in a game in which the defense struggled. Knowing they can rely on their offense to put up points and come up with big plays when they need to is the biggest thing the Steelers have been missing since the end of the Ben Roethlisberger era.

Overall, the Steelers needed a big night from the offense, and the unit gave them a 426 yard performance. And while I said coming into the season that I’d hold off any sort of talk about what their ceiling could be until we knew what they had at quarterback, we know now – they have not one, but two studs under center that they can win with, and this is a team that can make a run in January.