A desperate New York Jets team came to Heinz Field on Sunday, trying to keep their season alive with a 1-3 record. However, things did not go according to plan for Jets head coach Todd Bowles and company, as we were entertained for a second straight week with a high octane Pittsburgh Steelers offense.

The game appeared to be a close at first, but wound up getting away from New York before it was all said and done, with a final score of 31-13. The final score is almost a shock, given all of the elements that went into this game.

Honestly, I was worried about this one.

This Steelers/Jets match-up had all the makings of a classic “trap game.” Pittsburgh was riding high after having their way with the Chiefs last week, and New York was in dire need of a win. The Steelers were known to have been battling through some injuries, as Chris Hubbard was forced to make his first start of the season at right tackle for an injured Marcus Gilbert and Ryan Harris. Pittsburgh was supposed to have a weakness (Hubbard) in their offensive line, whereas New York’s defensive line is thought of to be their strong-suit.

Head Coach Mike Tomlin and the rest of his staff (notably Mike Munchak, the offensive line coach) deserve to pat themselves on the back as this wasn’t a trap game, but instead a victory by a multiple score margin.

Similar to last week’s game, Sunday afternoon kicked off with a boom: same play, same players – different and better result.

Ben Roethlisberger chucked it deep to a nearly wide-open Sammie Coates on 3rd and 7, for a 72 yard touchdown: Sammie’s first career touchdown.

Coates never even had to break stride.

 

The pass was one of the better, if not best, deep balls I have seen all year from Roethlisberger, and an amazing display of speed from Coates.

Both were just getting warmed up for the day.

Surprisingly, The Steelers offense would stall after the big play to Sammie. At one point, The Jets even managed to take the lead from Pittsburgh.

They would not have it for long though.

After a Brandon Marshall score, Big Ben and the offense took to the field for a fan favorite: the two-minute drill.

Roethlisberger guided the team down the field with ease, getting help from key contributors Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown (both registering first downs during the two minutes).

Then, in the redzone, Ben found Sammie Coates short, who broke out a wicked stiff arm on a would-be tackler and made his way to the 1 yard line.

The next play would not go as smoothly for Sammie though, as he would drop a wide open touchdown.

Luckily, for Sammie Coates and fans everywhere, Big Ben connected with Jessie James on the very next play, for a 1 yard touchdown (The Outlaw’s 3rd TD of the season).

Scratch Sammie’s drop, and the two-minute drill was run to perfection.

Pittsburgh enters the locker room for half time with a 14-13 lead.

Pittsburgh received the ball to open things up in the second half, but the first drive was a dud. A well executed comeback route by Antonio Brown was the lone highlight before Jordan Berry had to take the field for a Steelers punt.

However, it wouldn’t be long before the Pittsburgh defense forced a stop of their own and got the ball back for Big Ben.

Chris Boswell would later connect off a 47-yard attempt to extend the Steelers’ lead 17-13. (Never take him for granted.)

After yet another impressive stop by Pittsburgh’s defense, the score remained 17-13.

On the next drive, Le’Veon Bell would achieve back-to-back first downs right off the bat. Bell was mesmerizing for a second straight week. Not only is he obviously a very gifted running back, but I’m pretty sure he could start at wide receiver for some teams.

He looks uncoverable when he is catching passes from Roethlisberger.

Le’Veon would actually tie Antonio Brown for the team lead in catches in this game with 9.

After Bell’s back-to-back first down plays, The Steelers were given some outside help in the form of a mistake made by The Jets. New York fell for Big Ben’s false cadence as they jumped offside, signaling a “free play” for The Steelers. Roethlisberger knew his offense had 5 free yards coming their way – instead of just accepting the penalty yardage, an aware quarterback usually will take a deep shot, given this scenario, because if the defensive back makes a play, the offense can come back to accept the penalty and move on. But if the wide receiver makes the play and catches the long pass, the offense can simply decline the penalty, and take what they just got on the throw.

Once the flag had been thrown, Ben wasted no time connecting with Sammie Coates for 22 yards, and a first down. 22 yards is much better than 5, obviously. Also, it was encouraging to see Sammie catch this one, as it was a somewhat difficult grab, and he was still mentally battling through his drops at the time.

Shortly after the heads-up play by Big Ben, the 4th quarter would begin.

On the very first play of the 4th quarter, Antonio Brown would find pay dirt. AB caught a 5 yard pass in the middle of the endzone, with style, after breaking wide-open across the middle, off a successful slant route (too easy, in my opinion… at least, he made it look that way!)

Maybe it looked so easy because of Brown’s route running, but it also could have been how clean Ben Roethlisberger was kept, giving time for the play to develop. Chris Hubbard holds his block beautifully on this scoring play, which was a theme for him the entire game.

Hubbard impressed many, not just me. 24-13 Black and Gold.

This would mark the 6th straight home game in which Big Ben has at least 3 touchdown passes – truly impressive.

Unfortunately, a rare hiccup for the offense was on the horizon. After more than a couple of first downs achieved by Jessie James and AB, the Jets defense actually forced a turnover: sacking Roethlisberger, and stripping him of the ball. The pigskin popped from Ben’s hands right into the awaiting arms of Sheldon Richardson of the Jets.

The turnover would prove minor however, as the Jets were forced into a punting situation shortly after getting the ball.

The writing was on the wall for New York. Some, myself included, thought that The Jets would, and should have gone for it, but hindsight is always 20/20.

They would realize their mistake soon.

Big Ben and the offense milked a majority of what was left of the clock in the 4th quarter, working their way back into the redzone. After a clear pass interference call on Buster Skrine, attempting to cover AB, #7 to #14 would strike again.

That’s right, Sammie Coates would catch his 6th pass of the day, and his second touchdown of the day.

Roethlisberger found Coates in the middle of the field for a short 5 yard touchdown that looked mighty similar to the prior touchdown scored by Brown.

Boswell nails the extra point, and the nail was in the coffin: 31-13

The Pittsburgh Steelers handled their business Sunday afternoon and (for now) have claimed the top spot in the AFC North race: Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Cleveland all lost their games.

Mistakes were made by Pittsburgh, don’t get me wrong, but if mistakes can be made, and the game can still be won by multiple scores, I’m okay with a few mistakes. We, as a fan base, would like things cleaned up, but I’m definitely going to enjoy this win.

You can really start to see the potential this offense has as a whole. I expect Le’Veon to get even better as he becomes more comfortable (if you can believe that) and I expect Sammie to decrease his drops. I expect Ben to fine tune his timing with his receivers, and I expect AB to keep on being AB.

Hopefully, these winning vibes keep up as The Steelers travel to Miami next week to face a drowning Miami Dolphins team.

My advice?

Don’t fall for the trap!