Labriola talks about the win over the Ravens

Here’s the thing about the NFL:

Success is not measured based on performance against pre-determined standards of what competency is supposed to look like. Instead, it is determined by the numbers on the scoreboard after 4 quarters against a specific opponent. The Steelers are lucky with the way the NFL decides games, because even though their level of efficiency Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium left a lot to be desired, they were better than the others.

Being better than the rest yesterday meant they took home a 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens that left them at 3-2 and as the unlikely leaders of the AFC North.

Sure, there was enough going wrong for them to give the fan base a lot to complain about, but no matter how bad it looked and how loud it got in Pittsburgh, it was bound to be worse in Baltimore. The Ravens dropped several passes that should have been picked off, gave up 3 gimme points at the end of the first half and then couldn’t score at all in the second half, had a punt blocked for a safety, and had a sub-2 turnover percentage, one of which was an interception In the end zone.

Looking at those same sequences through black-and-gold colored lenses, the Steelers played their best along the lines of scrimmage, stayed in the fight, and used their defense and special teams to hold things together for the offense to get going. This combined with their back-to-back scoring drives in the fourth quarter, they benefited from their stars playing like superstars in several critical situations at the right times. This is why so many NFL teams win games in October.

“Just in recognition of the effort, it’s nice to be sitting at the top of the North, especially with everything we’ve been through,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “It’s still a growing and evolving group. Obviously there was a lot we didn’t like. But that’s life in this business too. Our job is to win, and we got the job done today.”

All of this is true, but so is the continued scoring of goals down the line through attack. Gaining yards and scoring points is by no means easy in the NFL, but it doesn’t have to be as difficult as the Steelers make it seem. Yes, the offense rose off the deck by going 49 yards in 9 plays on a 25-yard field goal from Chris Boswell and following that up with an 80-yard drive and ending with a touchdown thanks to a 41-yard punt and catch play that has been a big play in the NFL. Until now, efficiency has been limited to snippets, and it needs to become more than just snippets. Sooner rather than later.

The glass-half-full perspective is that it was a game against an opponent you’d love to beat, played on a perfect day of football, and for 3 hours it was thrilling, frustrating, aggravating and thrilling, capped off by the happy ending that is an NFL regular season win. And remember, it ends with a win over an opponent you love to beat.

The quarterback is still learning when it’s the right time to use his movement, the offensive line isn’t always able to stop breakouts on plays, and the wide receivers miss having someone who can open themselves up with the run (Diontae Johnson). They are all legitimate factors, but the immediate task should be to figure out a way to score more and more goals.

Twenty-one points in a game is not very high in today’s NFL but it is something the Steelers have only managed 7 times in their last 22 games. The recipe they used to get to their 3-2 bye and atop the AFC North Division simply isn’t sustainable over the course of a 17-game regular season, not with an offense that has produced 5 touchdowns in 5 games.

But these Steelers also have some traits.

Their defense is opportunistic and dynamic at times, recording 4 sacks and 3 takeaways versus the Ravens bringing their 5 game total to 17 sacks and 11 takeaways. They have some starters who have shown they belong and are earning expanded roles as a result. Their alternative is money. It is very dangerous when leaning against a wall. They are not pointing fingers. They are teammates.

There are no quick fixes, no white knights on the horizon, and there is nothing realistic to do at this stage of the process other than work with who they have, and their star players have to give their best.

TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith combined for 3 sacks, 2 passes defensed, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery against a very slippery opponent in Lamar Jackson. George Pickens had 6 catches for 130 yards (21.7 average); He twice threw critical blocks up the field to create more space for his teammate; He put it back for a 16-yard touchdown, which tied for the team’s longest run of the game; He won a 1-on-1 play and converted it into a 41-yard scoring drive that provided the decisive points.

“George had to have a big game,” Tomlin said. “This type of game, very competitive, a lot of one-on-one games, we talked about all week. A lot of times it comes down to individual playmaking, especially on the perimeter at the end when things get going.” “A little tight. So it was important that we stayed involved for 60 minutes and made those plays at the right time at the end, which he did.”

The quarterback now has two fourth-quarter winners against the Ravens — in Baltimore last season in his 11th career start, and in Pittsburgh yesterday in his 17th career start. Pickett’s numbers look simple on the stat sheet, but he’s a player, a fierce competitor, and a guy with a lot of intangibles that allow a quarterback to lead a team.

In Houston the previous week, Pickett suffered a knee injury while getting sacked in the fourth quarter, but received a positive result after a medical test, and three days later practiced. Pickett told anyone who asked that he planned to start against the Ravens, and showed Tomlin and his teammates that he meant it by stepping up during the week and doing more every day.

When Tomlin was asked Friday before the game whether the juxtaposition of the injury, the bye and the quarterback’s struggles on offense prompted him to give Pickett a week off to sit and reset himself by watching Mitch Trubisky, the answer was definitive. “Absolutely not. This is a competitive business. If he’s healthy enough to play, you put him back out there and allow that competitor the opportunity to compete.”

Pickett didn’t back down from the challenge of a physical game against a Ravens team while less than fully healthy, and his performance through most of three quarters reflected both of those realities. But he stuck to it. Keep competing. In the end, he converted to Islam. And that’s the cherry on that sundae.

“There are ups and downs in the season. There are ups and downs in games,” Pickett said. “We found a way to win along the way; that’s all that matters. It’s not as good as it could be, when we talk from an attacking point of view. We understand that – everything the players do, everything the coaches do. We’re working tirelessly. We’ve been able to Getting better and scoring more points, but at the end of the day we got down and got a ‘W’. We’re going to the bye week, stay healthy.”

They also walk away with some important issues to work on and some of the tools needed to do so.