Wait For It: Steelers WIN

The Steelers got the ball first and came out with the first offensive series in two weeks with two WR screens, the second of which Ben threw off the back of Heath’s head. 3-and-out.

The Jets were able to pick up a first down and pin the Steelers deep, giving them an early edge in field position.

Kelvin Beachum came out determined to do his best Mike Adams impression and took a holding penalty then almost gave up a sack that would have been a safety if Ben was not Ben. Probably the play of the first quarter right there for Ben to get away from that pressure. Two straight 3-and-outs.

The Jets keep in on the ground and work their way down to the 2 where the Steelers eventually stand strong on a 3rd down run and force a field goal.

The offense sticks to the screen game and Bell picks up a first down then AB single-handedly puts the team on his back and atones for another Beachum holding penalty by turning a WR screen on 3rd and long into a first down. Ben gets sacked as the quarter ends.

Ben comes out of the break and slings his best pass of the year to Heath down the seam, fitting it in right over the linebacker’s arms and right in front of a safety for a huge 30-yard gain to flip the field. The offense doesn’t do much else, but AB is able to get 9 yards on 3rd down to get us into field goal range.

Jason Worlids shows up for the first time all season and sacks Geno Smith on 3rd down, forcing a 3-and-out. Big stand by the defense after the offense put points on the board.

Ben goes right back to what works and hits Heath to get things rolling. Ben and Manny were finally able to connect to get across the 50 then a horsecollar tackle on Will Johnson moved us into field goal range. Haley goes deep into the playbook and calls a reverse pass by Antonio Brown to Felix Jones. Jones is wide open but bobbles the ball and barely comes down with it before running out of bounds inside the 20. The offense sputters out and Suisham gives us a lead.

Geno takes a shot deep for Stephen Hill who is wide open behind the coverage but the ball is luckily overthrown. Woodley puts an end to things with a 3rd down sack. Two straight 3-and-outs from the defense. Solid.

The Steelers take over with 4 minutes left in the half and Ben goes to work, hitting Heath then hooking up with AB three times to move us into Jets territory. After another penalty on Beachum that knocks us out of field goal range, Ben goes back to AB who almost picks it up all by himself again and gets us back into Suisham’s range. 48 yards kaboom.

The Jets get the ball back with 45 seconds left and would seem content to sit on the ball but Geno is able to convert a 3rd down with 20 ticks left. Geno connects on a few short outs then hits Hill on a pump-and-go down the sideline to get them into field goal range. Hill gets blasted by Troy but is able to hang on. The fact that the Jets were able to add points before the half is crazy. One tackle in bounds and the half is over.

A halftime lead, what is this?

All the commentators gushed at halftime about Geno Smith’s 45-second field goal drive before the half and seemed to think this was reason enough to turn him loose in the second half. Maybe Rex Ryan was listening because they came out with 3 pass attempts and went 3-and-out.

The Steelers finally had a whiff of field position and pounded Le’Veon Bell for two carries to get into a 3rd and 1. Good field position, 3rd and short, with a lead. You would think they would keep it on the ground and keep things rolling. But credit Haley, he went for the juglar. Ben goes play-action and bombs one downfield to a wide open Manny Sanders who just blew past Cromartie and summersaults into the end zone.

The Jets come back and start working in their tight end and are able to move the ball. They start mixing runs and passes and have the Steelers defense on their heels as they move into field goal range. Geno gets greedy and tries to go for it all and Ryan Clark makes a great play coming over the top and making the pick.

Lost in the fact that it was the Steelers first turnover of the year was that Ryan had a LOT of grass in front of him and might have brought it back 100 yards if he hadn’t tripped over the 10 yard line.

A lead! And a turnover! What is this?

The Steelers don’t do much with it, but the turnover prevented a Jets scoring drive so that was good enough.

Vince Williams blows up a screen pass and the Jets go 3-and-out again. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 4 3-and-outs for the defense.

The Steelers had the lead and put together one of those 7-minute second half drives that extend the lead and suck the will out of the other team. 

Ben hit AB to convert a 3rd down then picked up some more yardage on a pass interference call on Cromartie. Heath got in on the act to move us into the red zone.

Facing a 3rd and 10 at the 12, Ben stepped away from pressure, saw a running lane and took it and was able to pick up the first down by the nose of the ball. It was nothing but backwards from there as Bell lost yards then a Beachum hold put us at the 14. A screen pass to Bell got us back inside the 10 but Haley decided to get cute again and call another reverse pass by Brown. 

This one didn’t work and wound up with Brown getting run out of bounds for a sack. At least he didn’t throw a pick.

The game starts to get a little sloppy after that with the teams trading off drives that really don’t do anything. The Jets work their way out near midfield but a holding penalty on Willie Colon puts an end to their chances. A backbreaking penalty by Colon? Never would’ve expected that!

With 7 minutes left, the Steelers start to go into grind it out mode and just run the ball. They take a few minutes off before the Jets get the ball back.

With the Jets in desperation mode, Ziggy comes up with a sack but Smith is able to complete a few passes and move them across midfield. They catch the Steelers napping on a run to get inside the 25. Two plays later, Jarvis Jones comes free and hammers Smith right in the numbers as he’s letting the ball go and the pass floats right to Lawrence Timmons.

Two turnovers

In one game

I can’t even. What is going on? 

The Steelers take over with 3 minutes left and the running game takes over. Ben doesn’t even have to throw another pass and they take all but 20 seconds off the clock. Great close-out by the O-line and Bell/Dwyer/Jones.

A win! It’s a win!