The Pittsburgh Steelers new-and-improved offense broke a 58-game streak of not gaining 400 yards of offense on the way to a 16-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Here are our big takeaways from the win.
Mike Tomlin should have listened
Hindsight is 20/20 but if head coach Mike Tomlin had fired Canada earlier in the season or better yet not brought him back, how good would this team be right now? We will take what we can get but you can’t help but wonder what might have been.
Pat Freiermuth's best game
Tight end Pat Freiermuth was a big part of Sunday’s gameplan. The Steelers finally took advantage of the middle of the field and Freiermuth was a big reason why. He had perhaps his best game as a pro with nine catches for 120 receiving yards.
T.J. Watt dominates
Another big game by T.J. Watt as he finished with two sacks and five tackles. He rushed the quarterback, dropped into coverage and stuffed the run all game long.
The defense still has problems
Make no mistake, this wasn’t a perfect game by the defense. But when you consider how depleted the inside linebacker and safety units are it’s hard to complain too much when the team is holding opponents to just 10 points.
The run game still works
Pittsburgh didn’t give up on the run game and had another big performance. Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren combined for 149 yards on the ground and Harris had 99 of them.
