Refreshing sports notes: As delicate and delicious as a field-goal attempt pinging off the goal post, then dropping in for three points. Matthew Wright is a trick-shot artist.

• The Steelers defeated two lousy teams by narrow scores, nearly blowing the game in the second half both times. The Steelers scored just three touchdowns in those games. This two-game win streak is no renaissance. It’s just bad football …

• … unless Baltimore is now also rendered lousy by the loss of quarterback Lamar Jackson due to a knee injury. The Steelers play Baltimore twice, including next Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. If there’s reasonable cause to dream, Jackson’s absence provides it. If Jackson misses the rest of the year, the Steelers’ schedule looks a cakewalk.

• In Sunday’s victory at Atlanta, Kenny Pickett threw 28 passes. The Steelers ran the ball 37 times. They possessed the ball 33 minutes. Wright kicked four field goals. That formula won’t beat good teams. It’s outdated. The Steelers aren’t expanding what they do. They’re not progressing. They’re scratching and clawing to get not enough wins.

• In that vein, Pickett completed 16 of 28 attempts for 197 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He’s thrown four TDs in nine games. I just don’t see progress. None that the stats indicate. Pickett rarely makes plays. He’s a game manager. He’s being taught to eke out close wins over bad teams. Pickett displays no quick-strike inclination.

• Steelers get 2nd win in row by beating Falcons on road • Heyward brothers enjoy emotional Steelers' victory in return to Atlanta • Steelers vs. Falcons: What they're saying in Atlanta after loss

• Who’d have thought that a Diontae Johnson drop (the one that was originally ruled a fumble) would save the Steelers?

• George Pickens has potential to be the next Antonio Brown. In every way possible, as his sideline tantrum Sunday confirms. Call him AB Jr. Jr. Jr.

• With Brown wanted on a domestic battery warrant and a fugitive from justice in Florida, nobody should waste one ounce of sympathy on him. All his problems are of his own making. Don’t blame the big hit he absorbed from Vontaze Burfict in 2016. Brown was a jerk long before. His toxicity kept him from playing college football at a Power Five school and dropped him to the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

• The flaws in the college football playoff system are summed up by Texas Christian and Southern Cal being at a disadvantage to Ohio State and Alabama because TCU and Southern Cal qualified for the risk of their respective conference championship games while Ohio State and Alabama did not. That got Southern Cal out and Ohio State in.

• When the playoff expands to 12 teams in 2024, Penn State will make it almost every year. Pitt will become utterly irrelevant.

• Bryan Reynolds wants to be traded. Bucco media stooges say that Reynolds’ remaining three years of forced servitude don’t exactly coincide with the Pirates’ window of contention, so perhaps trading him is wise. When is that window, exactly? It seems to keep moving back.

• Tim Benz: 'Feats of Strength' after Steelers stack wins for 1st time this season • Madden Monday: Back-to-back Steelers wins are 'not the beginning of a new season'

• Since Reynolds is eyeing the exit, the stooges want money that Reynolds might have got to be earmarked for Oneil Cruz. But who says Cruz wants to stay? The Pirates won’t keep anybody past their arbitration years that’s better than a mediocre talent like Ke’Bryan Hayes.

• Despite denials, the Pirates will deal Reynolds this season. By the trade deadline at the latest. That won’t help the team. Reynolds is one of MLB’s top outfielders. He’s 27. No return can be good enough. But Reynolds did the Pirates a big PR favor by asking out. Says veteran MLB scribe Ken Rosenthal, “The relationship is broken.”

• Reynolds reportedly turned down the biggest contract in Pirates history. Big deal. That’s a fraction of what he’ll get elsewhere. Anyway, it’s easy for the Pirates to offer a sum like that when they know Reynolds won’t take it.

• Kris Letang may be able to return relatively soon from his stroke. Which is more than I’d be able to say. That Letang hasn’t yet been placed on long-term injured reserve says something. Going on LTIR mandates missing a minimum of 10 games and 24 days.

• GM Ron Hextall needs to find a way to get salary cap relief and summon defenseman Ty Smith from the Penguins’ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club. Smith isn’t as good as Letang. Duh. But Smith’s game has much the same skill set. The Penguins need somebody to provide a facsimile of what Letang does. P.O Joseph is playing better, but isn’t it.

• Kasperi Kapanen had a hat trick in Saturday night’s 6-2 home win over St. Louis. But he had one last year, too, before finishing with just 11 goals. At least Kapanen went to the net Saturday night. He doesn’t always.

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