Madden Monday: With win, maybe Steelers 'can fool us a bit longer — and fool themselves'

For Mark Madden of TribLIVE and 105.9 The X, analysis of Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers victory in Los Angeles is straightforward.

“I think it’s real simple,” Madden said during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast. “(George) Pickens and (T.J.) Watt were game-changing. Diontae (Johnson) was important. (Kenny) Pickett was better and played a good second half. The three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, two on Pickens and one on Diontae, were inexcusable. Minkah (Fitzpatrick) was everywhere and made a ton of tackles (11).”

That said, though, Madden says figuring out the big picture may be more difficult.

“I’m not sure the better team won, because I’m not sure either team could truly be called better,” Madden said. “I think these were two, probably, slightly below-average teams, and somebody had to win. And the Steelers picked it up in the second half, especially Pickett, and got out of there with a W. I still don’t see the Steelers as a team, necessarily, going any place but maybe they can fool us a bit longer — and fool themselves a bit longer, which is probably more important.”

More Steelers

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• Diontae Johnson returns helps spark Steelers in productive 4th quarter of win over Rams

On the topic of being fooled, Madden said fans shouldn’t inflate the Steelers’ back-to-back wins over Baltimore and L.A.

“I think they’re probably, bang, mediocre,” Madden continued. “I think their defense has a handful of great players and a bunch of rotten ones. I think their offense is severely flawed starting with the offensive line. I think it all adds up to mediocre. I think they were incredibly lucky to win (Sunday). But had L.A. won, they would have been incredibly lucky as well. It was that kind of game.”

One thing that had nothing to do with luck was T.J. Watt’s influence on the game. The Steelers star outside linebacker seems to do that every week. He did so Sunday with a crucial interception to start the second half.

TJ Watt INT!

: #PITvsLAR on FOX
: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/iTs8HMaXlh pic.twitter.com/3MYOvdoM6R

— NFL (@NFL) October 22, 2023

“The T.J. Watt pick just turned the game around,” Madden said. “T.J. Watt, this year, should be the defensive MVP and the offensive MVP. He has done more to get points than a lot of guys on the offense.”

Also during the podcast, Madden and I examine the landscape of the AFC North, we discuss some of the controversial referee decisions in the Steelers-Rams game, we get into the Penguins loss in St. Louis, and we analyze the debate over how Pitt’s game ended against Wake Forest.