The Steelers’ Week 13 clash against the Cincinnati Bengals didn’t exactly follow Pittsburgh’s usual script, with 82 total points scored. But the final result was the most fun-to-watch Steelers game this season. And as always, there are plenty of takeaways to be had.
1. The Steelers are just fine
My final score prediction was that the Steelers would win 27-24. That score actually occurred — but it was in the third quarter. Both offenses eventually blew past that mark, with a final score of 44-38.
That was the sort of game that had looked un-winnable for the Steelers for most of the year. Much had rightfully been made about Mike Tomlin’s team having to win ugly, but this time around, they went toe to toe with one of the NFL’s most talented offensive attacks and won. The Steelers have proven they can win defensive battles this season — now they’ve shown they can win a shootout as well.
Sunday’s game also showed that Pittsburgh can bounce back. I didn’t believe in panicking following Pittsburgh’s snowy Thursday Night Football loss last week, and this week’s final score proved why, but there would’ve been reason to worry if the Steelers dropped two in a row against teams with losing records in this stretch of the season; it could get out of hand fast.
Instead, Pittsburgh looked nothing like the team that barely put up 19 points against Cleveland, proving that Week 12 was a blip on the radar rather than a harbinger of another late-season collapse. There are still plenty of problems, but this Steelers team is capable of matching up against anyone in the NFL.
That’s an exciting thought, especially as the Steelers’ postseason positioning got a big boost in Week 13 with the Ravens dropping a game and Pittsburgh gaining some breathing room as the AFC North’s leader. Mike Tomlin’s non-losing season streak also added another year. It’s a good week to be a Steeler.
2. The offense can adapt
The biggest development from Week 13 was the chart below:
Russell Wilson completed 8 of 9 passes over 10 air yards for 205 yards and 2 TDs (+34.8% CPOE, his 3rd-highest mark in a game over the last seven seasons).
Wilson currently leads all qualified QBs in CPOE on attempts over 10 air yards this season (+15.7%).
Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/dUon3UkXPK
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 1, 2024
That’s right, it’s infamous anything-but-the-middle-of-the-field thrower Russell Wilson not just throwing near the hash marks, but specializing in it against the Bengals.
It’s fair to say that it wasn’t exactly the style of offense that Wilson and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith were planning on running in 2024. However, in a matchup against the Bengals’ struggling zone defense that was also missing green dot-wearing linebacker Logan Wilson, the gameplan couldn’t have been any clearer. The Steelers weren’t afraid to go deep, but the short-to-intermediate passing game in the middle was a clear weakness for the Bengals, and Pittsburgh attacked.
The Steelers have often stubbornly stuck to what they wanted to do in games this season, with Smith even admitting that he was “chasing” the looks he wanted last week against the Browns. This time around, he took what the Bengals were giving him, and the points were there.
In a similar vein, the Steelers revived the running back receiving game on Sunday, with 13 total receptions going to Pittsburgh’s backs on dump-offs and designed plays. Najee Harris was a good receiver during his rookie season, with 49 receptions, but that number has steadily declined each year since. Now he’s finally bucked the trend with a season-high six catches against the Bengals, tying 2023’s total of 29 receptions on the year with five games left to play.
By getting Harris more involved in the passing game, it also opens up what Pittsburgh can do when he’s on the field rather than leaving Jaylen Warren in a pure third down role.
It won’t always be that easy — the Bengals do not have a good defense — but Pittsburgh’s sudden reliance on its backfield in the receiving game is a welcome trend that needs to stay. The Steelers’ offense has made everything look difficult for most of this season, and dump-offs provide a way to get high-percentage completions into the hands of proven pass-catchers such as Harris, Warren, and former receiver Cordarrelle Patterson.
With tougher defenses remaining on the schedule, Pittsburgh’s Week 13 performance served as a much-needed “get right” game. The matchups will get harder, but the foundation the Steelers built on Sunday is something that has the potential to last in future weeks.
3. Don’t panic about the defense
OK, maybe panic a bit regarding the secondary, but don’t forget that the Bengals entered Week 13 as the league’s top passing offense, and sixth-best in points per game. Cincinnati was playing at home with the desperation of a team on the verge of losing its playoff hopes — as expected, the offense put up a fight.
Was it a good game for the Steelers defense? Not at all. They gave up 38 points (31 if you don’t count a Bengals pick-six). But Pittsburgh still leaves Week 13 as a top-10 scoring defense. The “This defense was bad all along!” takes I’m seeing really don’t make sense.
Even without Alex Highsmith and Montravius Adams, the Steelers’ defensive front wasn’t as effective as it should've been, but it still made splash plays with two strip-sacks and a defensive touchdown. The secondary was plagued by uncharacteristically bad coverage games from Patrick Queen and Joey Porter Jr., but still contained Ja’Marr Chase up until the end of the fourth quarter. Donte Jackson stepped up.
As for the ground game, explosive Bengals running back Chase Brown was largely silenced following one big first-quarter drive.
The point isn’t to make excuses but to show that it wasn’t all bad from the Steelers’ defense on Sunday. They had a rough game against the NFL’s top passing offense, but there’s reason to believe it won’t spill over into the rest of the season.
On the topic of making adjustments, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin showed some creativity by crowding the line of scrimmage more than the team has all season and by moving T.J. Watt around more often. The execution wasn’t always there, but it was a step in the right direction for a defense that’s looked stale at times this season.
Again, not a good game defensively for Pittsburgh. But the pieces are there for them to improve going forward. And hey, T.J. Watt is back within range of the NFL sack lead after a quiet Week 12. Maybe panicking after one off day isn’t the best idea.
4. Cameron Heyward is still a star
There’s really not too much to say here that wasn’t immediately obvious on the field Sunday. But veteran defensive lineman Cam Heyward played so well against the Bengals that a shout-out here is necessary.
Heyward recorded five total tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, and a batted pass that led to a Donte Jackson interception against the Bengals. It was a monster performance.
It’s hard to understate just how important Heyward has been to this Steelers team in 2024; between injuries and underperformance, the Pittsburgh interior defensive line just hasn’t dominated in the way they were supposed to this season. If Heyward, in his age-35 season, hadn’t continued to play at an elite level, Pittsburgh would be in big trouble.
Keeanu Benton still looks like a building block for the future, and Heyward has proven we shouldn't expect him to slow down anytime soon, but interior defensive line should still be near the top of the Steelers’ draft needs entering 2025. But until then, No. 97 has done an incredible job holding down the fort.
I’ve already sung Russell Wilson’s praises plenty of times this season. Against the Commanders in Week 10, his game-winning drive cemented him as Pittsburgh’s top quarterback for 2024.
But after two sub-20 point games entering Week 13, the Wilson hype train was slowing down. He had looked good at times, but the type of greatness needed for a true contender was missing from the Pittsburgh quarterback room.
Wilson’s performance against the Bengals changed things. He played excellently all game, but it was his third-quarter touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth that showed he might still have some of that Seattle Russ greatness: mobility, coolness under pressure, throwing on the run, and downfield accuracy — it’s all there. The clip below is elite quarterback play:
Maybe Wilson won’t play like that all season, but the potential is there — and he kept it up all game against the Bengals. His play should be the top reason to be excited about this Pittsburgh team. If Wilson can continue to find the fountain of youth, the Steelers’ chances of making noise in the playoffs are higher than you think.
6. Bad reputations
Joey Porter Jr. and George Pickens’ days were oddly similar on Sunday with each player having a hilariously bad day with the referee — four pass interferences for Porter, and two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Pickens.
In both cases, it’s a mental issue at this point. Porter has already proven to be a rock solid CB1 in the NFL, but his 2024 has been marred by penalties and Sunday was by far the worst day yet. It can almost qualify as the yips at this point; Porter clearly has the talent to stick with receivers, and sometimes he’s in a great position to make a play on the ball — at one point on Sunday the ball was uncatchable — but he grabs the receiver nonetheless.
With Pickens, his antics have steadily become a weekly occurrence, and on Sunday they clearly hurt the team. Both of his penalties greatly minimized what were big gains for the Steelers' offense, and they put the young receiver on the brink of being disqualified from the game. The Steelers are low on receiver depth this season; losing Pickens would be hard to recover from for the offense.
Both players take the brunt of the blame for their penalty problems, but it’s hard to deny that NFL officials are watching them more closely than others at this point. Look at some of the examples I’ve embedded below. Sure, by the letter of the law, they’re penalties, but each one is right on the edge regarding what NFL referees usually call.
George Pickens nearly drops the ball, picks up the first, adds 5 extra yards with the world's slowest spin move on a 1-on-3 situation, then gets a 15-yard penalty for taunting the Bengals bench
perfect George Pickens play, no notes pic.twitter.com/X4y4SEcx0X
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) December 1, 2024
Both players have a reputation at this point that will require some serious effort to mend. A lot of the work needs to be done on their end, but it’s also clear that the officiating crew was rather flag-happy on Sunday (minus this play, for some reason) — so don’t call for Porter to be benched just yet.
7. The offensive line steps up
A large part of T.J. Watt re-entering the NFL sack race was his two sacks on Sunday. The other big aspect? Pittsburgh held NFL sack leader Trey Hendrickson to no sacks and just one tackle assist all game.
Going into the game, the plan was obvious: shut down Trey Hendrickson and the Bengals’ pass-rush becomes nonexistent. It sounds easy enough, but Hendrickson has 11.5 sacks on the season despite teams employing that exact strategy against him. And the Steelers allowed Myles Garrett to have a three sack game last week. Sunday’s performance was a massive step in the right direction.
Russell Wilson was sacked just twice, and he only lost four yards on those plays. He had the time to throw for a season-high 414 yards, and the Steelers averaged over four yards per rush and nearly eight yards per play. It was a great bounce-back performance for the Steelers’ O-line, especially tackles Broderick Jones and Dan Moore Jr.
8. Odds and ends
The Steelers’ offensive stretch at the end of the first half to the beginning of the second was horribly mismanaged: penalties, painful clock management, a blocked field goal. Pittsburgh had a very real chance to go up three scores in the third quarter and botched the opportunity. It shows that the offense is still far from perfect, but it’s also a good sign as the Steelers were able to score over 40 points despite the errors.
Ben Skowronek had an underrated game with a big 23-yard catch and multiple great blocks, including the one that sprung George Pickens’ touchdown. He’s become a valuable utility player on offense and special teams.
Calvin Austin III had another touchdown on a similar play to last week’s score. His size remains less than ideal, but his toughness hauling in contested catches has stood out this season.
The Justin Fields package is going to become one of those play-calls this season where Arthur Smith is a genius when it works and an idiot when it doesn't — try to keep a level head. That being said, the balance and flow of the game when bringing Fields in this week felt less desperate than last week. Having a vertical runner of his abilities remains a cheat code in must-run situations, and his in-game awareness was much improved from the Ravens game.
My favorite under-appreciated moment from the game: Najee Harris winning an argument by pointing out the facemask flag:
The Steelers defense misses Alex Highsmith, but Nick Herbig continues to make plays as the starter. A fully-healthy rotation of Watt, Highsmith, Herbig, and Preston Smith will be a scary one for opposing offenses.
Pittsburgh could really use Cory Trice Jr. back on defense. Secondary depth might be the weakest part of the team right now.
What are your takeaways from Steelers vs. Bengals? Agree/disagree with the ones above?Join our Behind The Steel Curtain community and let us know in the comments!
