Saunders: These Steelers Might Be a Second-Half Team, After All
PITTSBURGH —A lot can happen in two weeks. The Pittsburgh Steelers left Acrisure Stadium on Nov. 30, with the echoes of the boos of their fanbase and the calls for the firing of head coach Mike Tomlin still echoing through the concourses.
Monday night, two weeks and one day later, the Steelers dominated the Miami Dolphins , putting themselves into a commanding position in the AFC North — and looking like a team that could win games in January.
Of course, the Steelers didid’t need this two-game stretch to learn that less. The members of the squad’s 2024 team can recall the halcyon days of that season, which at one point saw the Steelers with a 10-3 record, only to fall for 10-7.
The Steelers stumbled into the postseason last year and then got blasted once they got there, falling apart in front of a beating at the hands of their fiercest rivals, the Baltimore Ravens .
Obviously, the ideal situation is for a team to get to its best football early, power through the regular season, clinch their playoff situation early, rest for a few games, and then hit the playoffs in full stride. A quick glance around the NFL doesn’t show very many teams taking that optimal path. The Los Angeles Rams seem to be on their ways. Maybe the New England Patriots will join them.
For most of the rest of the team, there’s going to be some struggle involved at some point. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it’s lot better to have that struggle behind you as the days get shorter and the games get tighter.
It’s a bit premature to say the Steelers have their struggles behind them at this point, but they’ve come an awful long way in two weeks. They also had to overcome an awful lot of outside noise and potential strife to get to this point.
“I just think it’s a credit to the leadership from the top down,” linebacker Payton Wilson said. “You’ve got to keep the outside noise, outside noise. The fans had a right. The outside noise was obviously legit with the way we were playing in those games. It’s just cool to see some of the leaders that stepped up from the top down, keep us together and let everyone know we have the pieces and we have the tools to put it together.”
A big part of the frustration of the fanbase was not only a 4-1 start that turned into a 6-6 malaise by midseason, but that the Steelers appeared on paper to be a team that was capable of much more than that — and that’s what Wilson is talking about when he said the Steelers have the pieces.
On Monday against Miami, they finished the first half with a 7-3 lead. It was the eighth time they led at the half this season, but the Steelers were just 3-4 in the previous seven games. They blew leads in the second half against the Seattle Seahawks , Green Bay Packers , and in back-to-back weeks, the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills .
Against Miami, the Steelers were a second-half team in the sense that they played their best ball in the second 30 minutes of the contest. Heck, the team’s third quarter was pretty much flawless.
The defense allowed -20 yards on six plays. The two three and outs involved two sacks of Tua Tagovailoa , a pass broken up by Alex Highsmith , and two De’Von Achane runs for a total of negative-1 yard.
The offense scored a touchdown on each of its two full drives. The third, which spilled over in the fourth quarter, also ended in the end zone.
“We got seven and then we doubled up,” Connor Heyward said. “That was big time. That’s something Aaron [Rodgers] and Coach T always talk about. After that, we controlled the game.”
That’s pretty much perfect complementary football, and the first time we’ve seen that all this season from the Steelers.
“I’ll say that’s probably the most complete half we played as a team,” right tackle Troy Fautanu said.
“We didn’t really ride that wave of emotions,” Wilson said. “Just leaders being leaders and guys having fun. That’s really what it comes down to.”
Everybody wants to be great throughout the season, but the next best thing is to be playing well in December. Everyone wants to go through every game with a consistent performance. But the next best thing is to do what the Steelers did on Monday and dominate in the second half.
The 2025 Steelers aren’t a great team — that much is clear. But they might be a second-half team. And in an AFC that seems to lack a heavyweight, that just might be enough to make things interesting into the postseason.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Saunders: These Steelers Might Be a Second-Half Team, After All
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