Feats of Strength: Steelers win run game battle, 3rd downs, red zone en route to victory over Carolina

Congratulations to the 2022 Pittsburgh Steelers. They are the undisputed champions of the NFC South.

That’s right, thanks to their 24-16 victory over the Carolina Panthers Sunday, the Steelers swept all four of their scheduled games against NFC South opponents after also beating New Orleans, Tampa Bay and Atlanta earlier this season.

So four of the franchise’s six wins in 2022 have occurred against that rudderless division, which featured losing records for all four teams entering action this week.

Maybe Art Rooney II can petition the NFL for his club to be a replacement option for the eventual South division champ as the fourth seed in the NFC playoff bracket.

Short of that happening, or asking the league to permanently relocate the Steelers from the AFC North, the Steelers are just going to have to keep praying for a series of AFC holiday miracles to make the postseason. Or they are just going to have to focus on finishing at 8-8-1 or better to continue the club’s 18-year streak of non-losing seasons.

Either way, as Festivus week is upon us, let’s enjoy some feats of strength and air a few grievances from a Steelers win over yet another interconference southern foe.

FEATS OF STRENGTH

Where has this been?: The Steelers rush defense returned to the form that we saw in the middle of the regular season when it climbed into the top 10 of the NFL.

It answered the challenge of facing a Carolina rush attack that had been averaging 169 yards per contest over the last four weeks. The Panthers managed just 21 yards on the ground in this game. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin’s players were good early, which was important because they forced the Panthers to do something they normally don’t like to do.

Pass.

“We threw a little schematics at it. Some personnel groups,” coach Mike Tomlin said of his rush defense. “As we talked about at the start of the week, (the Panthers) put unique big-people packages on the field. You’ve got to match that. I thought we did. … They were using big people. So we were using big people.”

Carolina had only 26 rush attempts. The Panthers didn’t pick up a single first down running the ball all day.

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Turning the tables: It was actually the Steelers rushing offense that was more effective. For the game, the Steelers averaged a pedestrian 3.5 yards per carry.

But they won enough on first and second down to make the third downs makeable. Running backs Najee Harris (86 yards) and Jaylen Warren (38 yards) were both effective. Steven Sims had a clutch 22-yard rush on a third-and-1. Warren and Harris both had rushing touchdowns.

.@Nunless2 taking it in for 6️⃣

???? Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/E0NYNUzFXC pic.twitter.com/L60wuoW2mu

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) December 18, 2022

Warren also caught an 11-yard pass.

In all, the Steelers had 156 yards rushing. And it was good enough that they tried to run 45 times. The Steelers have now outrushed their opponents six times in their last seven tries.

Oh, that O-Line: That often-maligned Steelers offensive line was quite good Sunday.

It controlled the line of scrimmage to the point that the Steelers were able to hold the ball for 36 minutes, 11 seconds. The Steelers managed to string together a 21-play, 91-yard touchdown drive that lasted 11:43.

Based on some negative yards that were regained during the drive, it netted 106 total yards.

According to the Steelers media relations staff, that was the most yards gained by the Steelers on a drive (including penalties) since Oct. 7, 2007, when Pittsburgh had 110 yards on an 80-yard scoring drive.

The offensive line opened large holes for Harris and Warren, especially in the first half. It also yielded just one sack of quarterback Mitch Trubisky.

The line was part of the reason why the Steelers were an eye-catching 12 of 16 on third downs in the game.

“Oftentimes, third-down success, it’s not how you operate. It’s about the distance. We were in third and short. Those are consistently more marketable than the longer ones,” Tomlin said.

The Panthers, conversely, were 4 of 11 on third downs.

Mitch and D.J.: Quarterback Mitch Trubisky was more careful with the football than he was last week, and it didn’t hurt the team’s overall efficiency.

Trubisky was 17 of 22 for just 179 yards and no touchdowns. But he also had no interceptions and took just that one sack. Furthermore, the Steelers were 3 for 3 in the red zone after Trubisky threw three interceptions deep in the Ravens end of the field last week.

“I just thought he managed (the game) well,” Tomlin said of Trubisky. “He kept the ball off the ground. Played clean. Had a high completion percentage. It’s easier to do those things when you are playing behind an effective run game. I can’t say enough about our big dudes up front and how they controlled it.”

Diontae Johnson was his top target, and those two had a good connection all game. Johnson caught all 10 of his targets for 98 yards. One of the biggest connections was a 9-yard gain on a third-and-6 with just over three minutes left. It extended a field-goal drive that essentially iced the game.

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That’s more like it: The Steelers playmakers on defense actually got back to making plays.

Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt had 1 1/2 sacks each. Alex Highsmith had a sack, too, as well as another tackle for loss.

Safety Terrell Edmunds was a handful for the Panthers to handle in the blitz game. And defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi also had some disruptive moments at the line of scrimmage.

The red-zone defense for the Steelers was particularly good. It was 2 for 3. In the second half, the Steelers “D” didn’t break on a first-and-goal from the 4-yard line or during another sequence that started at their 12-yard line. Both instances resulted in field goals instead of touchdowns.

AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

Just dumb: The Steelers had their share of dumb penalties. In the third quarter, Johnson finally had one of his “I’ll go backwards to try to move forward” runs-after-the-catch work out. He gained 8 yards on third-and-6 for a first down. But then got a 15-yard taunting penalty after the play.

Fortunately for him, the Steelers ended up scoring a touchdown anyway.

Marcus Allen got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on a fourth-and-27 in between plays during a timeout as the Panthers were preparing to punt. He ran up to their sideline to jaw-jack with someone, then tried to get in their sideline huddle.

He was flagged, as he should’ve been. The Panthers were awarded a first down as a result.

Fortunately for him, eventually the red-zone defense stiffened and held the Panthers to a field goal.

On the first play of the next defensive sequence, Watt lined up offsides on what would’ve been a sack on Darnold.

Fortunately for him, eventually, the red-zone defense (again) stiffened and held the Panthers to a field goal.

On the next offensive series, George Pickens got a false start on a third-and-9 to make it third-and-14. Fortunately for him, Trubisky and Johnson hooked up for a 19-yard conversion.

Fortunately for the Steelers, across the board, they were playing the Panthers, who dropped to 5-9 with the loss.

Where were they?: The tight ends were a non-factor.

Zach Gentry had just one catch for 4 yards. Pat Freiermuth and Connor Heyward weren’t targeted at all.

But Freiermuth has been dealing with a foot injury lately. So he might have been compromised. Plus, because Trubisky admitted two of his interceptions last week were the result of trying to squeeze passes to Freiermuth, maybe limited attempts over the middle of the field to the tight ends were part of the design.

If it’s any consolation, the Panthers got only two catches and 20 yards out of tight end Tommy Tremble, as well.

Big-play potholes: Largely, the Steelers defense got the job done. But they did have a few big-play cracks.

Carolina running back Chuba Hubbard had a long catch and run for 45 yards. Terrace Marshall Jr. had a 40-yard reception. D.J. Moore had a 26-yarder, and Shi Smith’s lone catch went for 24 yards.

That said, those four plays totaled 135 yards. For the rest of the game, the Panthers had only 79 yards from scrimmage.