If you had to choose a theme for this season so far – “Next Man Up” and “The Standard is the Standard” both work pretty darn well.

How can anyone argue that?

The Steelers, by the time they got to the second half of the game versus the Jets, had a starter missing at every level of the defense (Cam Heyward, Ryan Shazier, Robert Golden).

Somehow they only got better!

Oh I hear you out there Nation – I hear your minds starting to wonder if maybe we should trade Shazier, trade Heyward, trade Golden, because you know what, we did fine without them.

I have two words for you – be quiet!

Vince Williams, in my opinion, is the epitome of these philosophies. He had 15 tackles last week, and lead the team with 8 yesterday. After the game, Vince said this:

“The standard is the standard. We believe in that. It’s real. Nobody on this team believes they’re a backup. Everybody is waiting for their opportunity to put their hand in the pile to help this team win a football game”

That’s awesome. That is a tribute to Mike Tomlin and the coaching staff, and to the willingness of the players to buy into these ideas.

It’s hard to argue that it’s not working:

• 31-13
• Another 30+ point game
• Another victory running away in the second half.

Yeah, it could maybe have been easier, but let’s be fair, the Jets are not as bad as their 1-4 record (Ryan Fitzpatrick may be that bad, but the Jets as a whole probably aren’t).

So it’s time to look at the Good, Bad and the Ugly for yesterday’s game. There is a whole lotta good, a little bit o’ bad and a smidgen of ugly to review.

With all that said, let’s get to it Nation.

The Good

Ross Cockrell

For the better part of the first half, Ross was sitting solidly in the “could go either way” category. He could have ended up in bad for some real poor coverage, but every time I thought that, he’d make a great play on the ball and I’d think “Hmmm… maybe he ends up in the good”.

The second half pushed him over the top easily.

Ross was the guy tasked with dealing with the Jets only weapon – Brandon Marshall. He let him get a score in the first half, and he was beaten a couple of other times, but he also made some real nice defensive plays.

In the end, he led the team with 3 passes defended, and had 4 tackles to go with it. Ross is a needle pointing up kind of guy right now!

Sammie Coates

Just like Ross Cockrell, Sammie was on the edge: huge 72 yard bomb from Ben for the touchdown sure did make him look like he was going to be an easy “good”.

Then the drops started.

In the end, I had to divide Sammie up into both the good, and later, in the bad.

From the good side, he rebounded well in the second half, and started making catches, despite a laceration on his finger (a laceration that, by the way, ended up needing 17 stitches).

Coates ended up with 6 catches for 139 yards – a whopping average of 23.2 per catch. Oh yeah, and he had two TD’s as well.

Yeah, he had some drops (5 of them) and he should have caught every one of those balls – but you know what, nobody’s perfect, and considering the finger, I’m willing to just say he was damn good.

Sammie is still young, raw and growing. The best thing he did yesterday, in my opinion, is not get down on himself when the drops started happening.

He came back strong, and that shows growth.

Ben Roethlisberger

If things keep going this way, I should probably just pencil in Ben’s spot on the good list each week, as a given.

Sheesh!

• 34 of 47, 380 yards
• 124.4 passer rating
• 4 TD’s

Ben leads the league in TD passes right now with 15, which, in case you hadn’t heard, is also a Steelers record for the most TD passes through 5 games. He’s third in yardage by about 244 yards, and at this rate, I would expect him to only move up on that list.

He’s just playing fantastic ball.

7 different receivers caught passes yesterday. 6 of them caught more than 1.

He threw TD’s to 3 different guys (AB, Jesse James and 2 to Coates).

I saw a picture the other day that read “Never retire – play forever”.

Yes, that please.

Vince Williams

Has Vince Williams gotten your attention yet?

How great a move was it for the Steelers to lock this guy up in the off season?

Eight tackles and a sack (23 tackles and 2 sacks in the last two games).

He’s playing out of his mind.

Yeah, he got beat a couple of times in coverage, but you know what, he more than makes up for it in the passion he plays with.

Honestly, I think the defense feeds of him right now. He was critical when Cam Heyward went down, and his presence I think helped keep the defense on track in the second half.

Great job Vince Williams!

Jesse James

All the man does is catch first downs and touchdowns.

Ed Bouchette tweeted a couple times in the last few games “Heath who?” and while I’m not ready to go there yet, I’m very impressed with how James has developed.

The Steelers are going to have to make some decisions when Ladarius Green comes off the PUP list.

James is making a case for being a full-time player, and how scary would this lineup be with AB, Wheaton, Coates, Green, Bell and James all lined up?

Holy crap.

If I was a defensive coordinator I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

If “The Outlaw” can keep it up, maybe the “Heeeath” cheer will convert into “Jaaaaames!”

Second Half Defense

How overpowering was the Steelers defense in the second half? Somebody sure lit a fire under their butts!

The Jets seemed to have no problem moving the ball in the first half (scoring, well, yeah, but moving it, not so much). They racked up 216 yards in the first two quarters.

It was a different story in the second half as the Steelers limited them to all of 100 yards. Total.

The Jets first half drives went like this – Field Goal, Punt, Field Goal, TD, End of Half.

The second half? Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt and turnover on downs.

If I’m being fair, the defense was at least slightly assisted by the fact that the offense kept the ball for majority of the third and fourth quarter (18:29 seconds of the second half to be exact). Still, the Jets had the ball 6 times, managed 100 yards and 0 points.

Great job – I mean if I was giving game balls out, the defense would get one as a group for that second half effort.

Coaching

Talk about second half adjustments: this was a one-point game that turned into an 18 point victory.

We went into the half with the narrowest of leads, and came out and just played some smash-mouth Steelers football. The coaches did a fantastic job of squaring things up, as Brandon Marshall essentially disappeared in the second half, and the Jets had nothing else.

That doesn’t even count the fact that Chris Hubbard, a third string guard was playing tackle, and ended up with the highest PFF (Pro Football Focus) score of any offensive lineman for the Steelers (possibly the best grade of any Steelers O-line man this year).

How lucky are we that Mike Munchack is here? (and yes, consider this my shout out to Chris Hubbard as well – I almost forget him because he was completely unnoticeable, which is exactly what you want an o-lineman to be).

The Bad

Getting Cute

The fake field goal. I hated it. I’m all about being aggressive, and normally I love it when Tomlin and crew try and pull a fast one.

It’s not that it didn’t work, or that it never had even a chance of working.

It’s just that if you were going to decide not to take the 3, let the best offense in the league try and pick up the first down. I’d rather have Ben, or better yet, Le’Veon, trying to pick up those 2 yards, rather than Jordan Berry.

I have this theory that when the Steelers start to get a little full of themselves on offense, they get cute. There was another little cute play in the first half that didn’t work, and just annoyed me so much I think I blanked it from my mind.

I have no problem with trick plays: when we are ahead by 3 scores.

In a close game, if they don’t work, it throws the offense off track, and it’s just not worth it.

I understand about getting stuff on tape so other teams have to work on it. Fine – get ahead by 14+, then get it on tape.

Not when we are up by one, or worse, down by 6.

Minor complaint overall, I know, but sometimes we just get too cute for our own good.

The Ugly

Fake Field Goal

Okay, I know I already mentioned this, but it was just that bad, so I’m mentioning it again.

Cam Heyward Injury

This was the worst thing that could have happened in that game yesterday.

Okay, that might be overstating it: tt wasn’t the worst, but it was not a good thing.

I have no idea how long Cam will be sidelined, and yes, Ricardo Mathews is much much much (add as many as you want) better than Cam Thomas, but he’s not Cam.

Cam is, in my opinion, the heart of the defense. He’s the fire. The guy is the personification of fire and persistence.

The fact that the D played so well without him might even be because they knew he was gone, and everyone rallied. That can’t be counted on every week.

Get well soon Cam Heyward – we need you!

(Yes, the bro-mance is real. Cam is the man!)

Conclusion

This was a great team win. Just a tough gritty first half, that showed guts and fortitude. That drive to take the lead at halftime was classic, and showed that this isn’t the same team that used to have problems with second tier teams.

They’ll get another chance to prove that next week, when they head down to Miami to face the 1-4 Dolphins.

The Titans put up 30 on the ‘Fins, so what do you think we might do? 70?

And with the Patriot’s on deck, maybe it’s time to listen to old Admiral Ackbar – cause it could be a trap!

Until next time Nation!