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Feats of Strength: TJ Watt’s timely turnover; Calvin Austin contributions key to ‘MNF’ victory over Giants

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Feats of Strength: TJ Watt’s timely turnover; Calvin Austin contributions key to ‘MNF’ victory over Giants

The Pittsburgh Steelers posted a 26-18 victory over the New York Giants on Monday night at Acrisure Stadium. That was on the heels of a 37-15 Sunday night win over the Jets last week.

So, now the Steelers no longer need to be in a New York state of mind. In fact, they don’t need to be in any state of mind at all for the next week as they go into their bye at 6-2.

When they come back,reality will smack them in the face as they get ready to face a brutal second half of the schedule.

And almost they got smacked in the face by a 2-6 Giants team that struggled to put up 10 points over its previous two games.

Here are this week’s “Feats of Strengths” and “Airing of Grievances” from yet another Steelers’ game with plenty of roller coaster peaks and valleys.

FEATS OF STRENGTH

Timely T.J.

Steelers All-Pro outside linebacker TJ Watt didn’t exactly wreck the game against the Giants.

Until the game was in the balance.

Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson fumbled with four minutes and 30 seconds remaining. The Giants recovered on Pittsburgh’s 37-yard line, trailing 26-18.

Five plays later Watt made one of his typical game-altering plays. He blew by right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor and strip-sacked New York quarterback Daniel Jones on a third down snap. For good measure, Watt recovered the fumble himself as well.

In advance of the game, Eluemunor said he was relishing the opportunity to go one-on-one with Watt during the game. Watt was pretty quiet in the first half. But that was his second sack in the second half to go along with seven total tackles.

“I respect each and every player in the National Football League,” Watt said. “They work hard. I feel like I work hard. I’m just trying to make those plays when they are presented to me. I haven’t had a lot of one-on-ones the whole year. But when I have them, I try to make the most of them.”

Watt set the table for that play on the previous snap when he tripped up Jones by a shoelace for a one-yard gain. It appeared Jones had more room to roam on the scramble attempt, but Watt didn’t let it happen.

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Beanie is big

Despite Watt’s heroics, the Steelers would need one more big play to wiggle out of the game.

After Watt’s fumble recovery, the Steelers only ran 1:07 off the clock. Punter Corliss Waitman pinned the Giants 93 yards from the end zone, forcing a fair catch at the New York seven-yard line.

But New York is threatened, getting the ball to Pittsburgh’s 35-yard-line with 34 seconds to go. That’s when Beanie Bishop stepped up with an interception to seal the game.

“When we get the rush going, and we are able to play spy-drop coverage, it’s like going out there and playing seven-on-seven,” Bishop said. “We’ve got great rush guys and great cover guys. Being able to look at the quarterback and seeing where the ball goes, just being able to make the most of our opportunities.”

Bishop had two interceptions against the Jets last weekend as well.

His interception was aided by good pass pressure from Jeremiah Moon and Ade Ogundeji. Both backup outside linebackers were in the game because Watt and Alex Highsmith were out of gas, having rushed six plays in a row as the Giants were in hurry-up mode, down eight points with time running out.

Routinely special

The Steelers’ special teams came up big again. After three straight weeks with a blocked kick, Danny Smith’s troops returned one for a touchdown.

While the offense was plodding along through a 9-9 tie in the third quarter, Calvin Austin jump-started things with a 73-yard punt return TD.

“I can’t say enough about Calvin,” head coach Mike Tomlin said of Austin. “That’s a big play. It was a catalyst for us.”

That’s the Steelers’ first punt return for a TD since Diontae Johnson went 85 yards at Arizona on Dec. 8, 2019. The last one at home was courtesy of Antonio Brown. That was a 71-yarder against the Indianapolis Colts on Dec. 6, 2015.

The Steelers probably got away with a roughing-the-punter call on that one. More on that later.

All Austin

Austin contributed on offense too, hooking up with Wilson for a 29-yard scoring strike.

For Austin, this was his first multi-touchdown game in the NFL.

That wasn’t the only successful deep ball from Wilson. He dropped a 36-yarder into Van Jefferson’s breadbasket in the third quarter.

Plus, Wilson hit Pickens for 43 yards on a deep strike. That one was less of a patented “moon ball”” from Wilson. It was more of a comet streaking across the sky.

For the night, Wilson averaged 9.9 yards per attempt. If you want a comp, Detroit’s Jared Goff leads the NFL right now at 9.0.

No doubt for Najee

It should not be shocking that Najee Harris gashed the New York Giants rush defense en route to a 114-yard night. After all, Harris eclipsed the 100-yard mark the previous two weeks, and the Giants look as bad as advertised against the run.

They came in averaging an NFL-worst 5.4 yards against per carry on the ground. That’s exactly the number the Steelers put up per rush attempt against the Giants on Monday as well.

Furthermore, the Giants gave up 3.4 yards on average after first contact entering play this week. Only four defenses were worse. As of Monday night, Harris had 278 yards after first contact, which is the fourth-best in the NFL.

To no one’s surprise, a healthy portion of Harris’ yards were after first contact on Monday as well.

AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

For the dogs

The Steelers’ in-game entertainment crew staged corgi races at halftime. The small dogs lined up at the 40-yard line and sprinted for the end zone.

The four-legged competitors did much better than either the Steelers or Giants did in the red zone. The Steelers were 0-4 in the red zone. The Giants were 0-3. The Steelers had one touchdown pass to George Pickens called back when Broderick Jones was called for a facemask on the first drive of the game.

Pickens also had a touchdown taken off the board by replay when he got his right foot down twice but never got the left foot down at all.

Mike Tomlin challenged the call that had already been overruled by replay assist. He’s lost. So the Steelers forfeited a timeout. That red zone trip resulted in a field goal.

Meanwhile, the Giants also had a touchdown pass to Chris Manhertz, nullified by an illegal shift early in the second quarter. New York kicked a field goal on their trip as well.

Feel like sticking around

New York’s Darius Slayton has always been on the periphery of the Steelers’ wide receiver trade acquisition conversation.

On Monday night, he looked like Brandon Aiyuk, Cooper Kupp and Davante Adams all rolled up in one.

Slayton ended up with 108 yards on four catches, including a 43-yarder.

He also posted a 37-yard catch and run. On both plays, Slayton beat Donte Jackson for both of those receptions. Coming off a shoulder injury last week, this was Jackson’s first rough game as a Steeler.

In general, the defense had some shaky moments. Sure, Watt and Bishop cashed in the big plays. But it yielded 145 yards rushing (including a 45-yard TD) to Tyron Tracy. And a Giants offense that only put up 10 points over the past two games had 394 total net yards.

Ref show

This was a primetime, standalone game. So, of course, the NFL officials felt obligated to throw as many flags as possible.

The Giants committed 13 penalties (11 accepted) for 65 yards. Scott Novak’s crew also flagged the Steelers five times for 50 yards. They were flagged a total of 5 times.

The most egregious of those penalties was a roughing the passer violation against Alex Highsmith when Highsmith fell to the ground after the contact, but Jones didn’t.

The one called the officials didn’t make was a potential roughing the punter call on Moon during Austin’s punt return for a touchdown.

The only penalty that was called on that play was an illegal formation against the Giants. I don’t think Moon was blocked into the punter on that. The Steelers may have gotten away with a big one there.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.