Two years later, JuJu Smith-Schuster remembers the sick feeling the Pittsburgh Steelers had after losing on the road to a heavy underdog.

The Steelers traveled to Oakland in December 2018 and were upset 24-21 by a Raiders team that had committed to relocating to Las Vegas and owned a 2-10 record entering the game. It was the worst of four losses in a five-game stretch that would keep the Steelers out of the AFC playoffs for the first time in five years.

It’s an experience the Steelers would like to avoid repeating Sunday when they put their undefeated record on the line against the 2-6 Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.

“For us, we have to stay humble,” Smith-Schuster said.

It’s stay humble or be humbled by a Cowboys team that began the season with Super Bowl aspirations but has underwhelmed in Mike McCarthy’s first season as coach amid a rash of injuries at quarterback and turmoil in the locker room.

And as much as the Cowboys have underachieved, the Steelers have gone in the opposite direction, winning all seven games to become the NFL’s only unbeaten team. After running what coach Mike Tomlin called a “gauntlet” of “five-star matchups” against teams with one or zero losses, the Steelers enter a trio of games against opponents with a combined 5-17-1 record.

The talk of a letdown is inevitable, particularly given the team’s history this decade of road clunkers.

“For us to get too high or too low would be ill-advised,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said. “There is a lot more football to be played. If we don’t play to our standard, we’re setting ourselves up to fail.”

It wouldn’t be the first time. Consider the road games the Steelers lost to lesser teams — at least record-wise — since 2014 when they returned to the playoffs after a two-year absence.

• 2019: The Steelers, at 8-6, were trying to shrug off a loss to the Buffalo Bills when they visited the 5-9 New York Jets. The inconsistent quarterback play without Ben Roethlisberger was never more evident in a 16-10 defeat when Mason Rudolph replaced an ineffective “Duck” Hodges only to suffer a season-ending shoulder injury. With the loss, the Steelers no longer controlled their postseason fate and wrapped up an 8-8 season a third consecutive defeat.

•2017: Off to a 2-0 start, the Steelers visited the 0-2 Chicago Bears. A national anthem protest that went awry served as a distraction the Steelers couldn’t overcome in a 23-17 overtime loss. The Bears finished 5-11.

• 2015: The Steelers took a 9-5 record into M&T Bank Stadium yet were beaten by a 4-10 Ravens team that started Ryan Mallett at quarterback, 20-17.

• 2014: The Steelers had scored 94 points combined in wins over Indianapolis and Baltimore and were 6-3 heading into the Meadowlands for a game against the 1-8 Jets. Roethlisberger threw two interceptions, the Steelers had four turnovers and the Jets pulled off a 20-13 upset en route to a 4-12 finish.

“I think we will have a level of urgency,” Tomlin said when asked whether the Steelers can maintain their focus after beating the Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans and Ravens in succession. “I think we can all understand what that means. More than anything, it’s about how we function and the state that we’re in and us doing the things that we need to do to produce victory in spite of the challenges that attrition and the game of football often presents teams. That will be a challenge for us this week.”

The Steelers will be on the road for the third week in a row thanks to a revised NFL schedule that moved their bye to Week 4 when a coronavirus outbreak hit the Titans. Tomlin eased up the practice regimen this week in an attempt to get his players rested for the game in Dallas.

“It’s one of those things that we joke football is work during the week, but when Sunday comes, we’re just playing ball,” Roethlisberger said. “We might be drained during the week, so this is one of those weeks where you mentally focus in preparation in terms of the meeting times and things like that. When Sunday comes, you can be as tired as you want during the week, you have to dial it in and get ready to go.”

The Steelers have remained undefeated despite injuries that have impacted the depth at all three levels of the defense. Inside linebacker Devin Bush is out for the season, nose tackle Tyson Alualu will miss the game Sunday and slot cornerback Mike Hilton is doubtful with a shoulder injury.

Tomlin preaches a “next-man up” philosophy that players believe is necessary for the Steelers to avoid a letdown against the Cowboys.

“Each week we have a gameplan, and we’ve got to execute our gameplan that’s given to us by these great coaches,” said defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs, who could make his first NFL start Sunday. “They line everything up for us, and we’ve just got to execute it well to our ability. Week in and week out, we’ve got to stay consistent to that, and if we do that, we’ll have a good season.”

That the Cowboys are dealing with injuries at the most crucial position should, in theory, work in the Steelers’ favor. Franchise starter Dak Prescott is out for the season, veteran backup Andy Dalton is on the reserve/covid-19 list and rookie seventh-rounder Ben DiNucci of Pine-Richland was benched in favor Garrett Gilbert.

McCarthy waited until Saturday to name Gilbert as the starter over another journeyman, Cooper Rush.

“Although they don’t have the quarterback, you just never know,” Smith-Schuster said. “The biggest factor for the Cowboys is they have an opportunity to beat an undefeated team. It’s staying humble and going into Arlington, Texas, and getting the job done.”

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