The Pittsburgh Steelers are in sole possession of first place in the AFC North after moving to 6-2 on the season with a 26-18 win over the New York Giants on Monday night. The latest victory for Mike Tomlin's team was a slow burn propelled by a two-touchdown effort from Calvin Austin III, who found the end zone as a receiver and returner in the second half. This latest loss drops New York to 2-6.
These clubs traded field goals throughout the first half, as their issues in the red zone had reared their ugly heads through the first two quarters. In all, there were five red zone trips in the first half, but neither team could reach the end zone. New York had a touchdown nullified due to an illegal shift penalty. For Pittsburgh, it had two touchdowns called back, both going to George Pickens. The first was called off due to a penalty, while the second was negated because he did not get both feet in bounds despite tapping his right foot twice.
Both offenses remained silent throughout the third quarter. However, that was where we saw the game's first touchdown, thanks to Pittsburgh's special teams unit. With less than five minutes to play in the third, Austin took a punt 73 yards to the house to break the tie and give his team a 16-9 advantage.
That helped swing the momentum in favor of the Steelers, who added to their lead in the early seconds of the fourth quarter when Russell Wilson completed a 29-yard touchdown to Austin, putting Pittsburgh up by 14. New York running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. would eat into that deficit with a 45-yard touchdown run, but a gigantic disaster of a two-point conversion kept the Giants behind by eight.
The Giants briefly flirted with a comeback after forcing a fumble on Wilson late in the fourth quarter, but pass rusher T.J. Watt gave his club the ball back almost instantly after stripping Jones just outside the red zone. That fumble, followed by an interception from Jones in the final seconds, helped secure Pittsburgh the win.
Wilson completed 20 of his 28 passes for 278 yards and a touchdown in the win. On the ground, Najee Harris ran for 114 yards on 19 carries for Pittsburgh. On the Giants side, Jones had 24 completions on 38 pass attempts for 264 yards and an interception. Tracy, who left this game late with an apparent injury, rushed for 145 yards and a touchdown.
For more on how this game unfolded, check out our takeaways below.
Pittsburgh continues to dominate the third quarter and has yet to allow a single point during the period this season, including in this winning effort. After these teams were knotted at nine points at halftime, the Steelers defense came alive and finally got after Daniel Jones. On the opening drive of the second half, back-to-back sacks from Watt and then Alex Highsmith pushed New York out of field goal range and forced them to punt. Those were the first two sacks of the night after the Giants kept Jones upright through the first two quarters. From then on out, it felt as if Jones was under siege, and the Steelers were able to get after him for 12 quarterback hits and four total sacks for the game.
While the defense shut out New York in the third quarter, Calvin Austin III's punt return for a touchdown injected life into the overall team, particularly the offense. Now playing with a touchdown lead, Russell Wilson displayed strong touch with his deep ball for the second straight week. In the second half, Wilson completed eight of his nine passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. It was also a strong showing for the ground game, totaling 167 yards on 5.4 yards per carry.
The only area where Pittsburgh truly struggled was in the red zone (0-for-4 on the night), but it didn't prove to be a fatal flaw.
While it was largely a better night for New York's offense, there's still plenty of room for improvement. Tyrone Tracy Jr. ran the ball exceptionally well, but there were times when the overall unit looked disjointed. Even after Tracy's 45-yard touchdown run, the momentum from that score was essentially sucked out of the Giants sideline after a bizarrely botched two-point conversion attempt where no blockers even moved in front of Malik Nabers, who was quickly tackled. That kept it an eight-point lead for Pittsburgh instead of making it a field goal game with a six-point deficit.
New York did a solid job of limiting Pittsburgh's pass rush in the first half, but things went off the rails as the game went on. Alex Highsmith had his way against starting left tackle Chris Hubbard, as he accumulated 11 pressures and a sack against him. Watt also soundly beat right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor during a key fourth-quarter strip-sack of Jones. Against that level of top-tier pass rush, New York should have looked to have more help on the edges to chip or double-team the likes of Watt and Highsmith.
Pre-snap penalties and infractions across the board also kept putting the Giants behind the eight-ball. As a team, they were called for 11 penalties for 65 yards.
Before Calvin Austin III's 73-yard punt return for a touchdown, the Steelers had been stagnant on offense, consistently settling for field goals. In fact, they finished 0-for-4 in the red zone on the night, further emphasizing how key this score proved to be in the winning effort. Not only did this break a nine-all tie and give the Steelers the lead, but it also provided a spark for the offense. After that return, the offense scored on its next two possessions, which helped keep pace with New York's sudden second-half surge on offense.
Coupled with his 29-yard touchdown reception, Austin became just the fifth different Steeler to have a punt return for a touchdown and a receiving touchdown in a game. He's also the first player to do this on "Monday Night Football" since Devin Hester did it in 2010 against the Vikings.
There was a second where the Giants seemed to be on the verge of pulling off an upset. This came after Wilson fumbled the football on a scramble, which gave New York the ball back deep in Pittsburgh territory trailing by just eight. However, it was at the three-minute mark of the fourth quarter when Watt came crashing off the right side to strip-sack Jones and give possession back to the Steelers.
That ensuing offensive possession for the Steelers forced New York to burn all three of its remaining timeouts, which drastically limited its ability to orchestrate a possible scoring drive on its final possession with under two minutes to play.
From here, the Giants will head back to MetLife Stadium for an NFC East matchup with the Washington Commanders. As for the Steelers, they are on the bye in Week 9.
Beanie Bishop Jr. gets his third pick is as many games, sealing Pittsburgh's 26-18 win. The Steelers enter their bye with a 6-2 record and all alone in first place in the AFC North. The NYG fall to 2-6.
Daniel Jones hits Theo Johnson downfield for a 25-yard gain. He then hits Nabers on the sideline as the Giants are at the Steelers' 35 with 47 seconds left.
Giants defense forces a punt after holding Harris to 5 yards on 2 carries, then tackling Wilson for a short gain on third-and-5. Kudos to Wilson though for not forcing something as no one was open. Still though, not sure why the Steelers considered a rollout in that situation.
If I'm the Giants, I'm attacking the Steelers downfield. Jones had success earlier doing just that while attacking any Steelers DB not named Joey Porter Jr.
T.J. Watt gets a forced and recovered fumble of Jones, giving the Steelers the ball back with under three minutes left. Watt tripped Jones on the previous play. DPOY caliber stuff.
A great punch out by the Giants forced a fumble of Wilson. New York takes over at the Steelers' 37 with 4:30 left. Not sure what the Steelers were doing there. Would have been better off milking the clock and keeping it on the ground.
Despite a drop by Nabers, the Giants also get their fourth FG of the night and are back to within one score of the Steelers. A 18-yard grab by Slayton and a 17-yard run by Tracy set up the score.
It's been a really nice night for the Giants' offense. Several bad play calls have really hurt them tonight, especially the call on the 2-point try:
Boswell hits his fourth FG of the night, extending the Steelers' lead to 11 points with 7:15 left. Wilson took a sack on third down, which was smart. No one was open, and instead of forcing something, he saved the FG attempt and allowed more time to come off the clock.
Wilson completes an absolute dime to Pickens on the near sideline for 43 yards. Wilson has been on fire the last two drives with completions of 36 to Jefferson, 29 to Austin for the TD and now to Pickens.
Tyrone Tracy Jr. has had a surprisingly good year for the Giants, and it continues tonight with a 46-yard TD scamper that saw him outrun Minkah Fitzpatrick to the end zone. The Giants miss the 2-point converson, though, so score remains 23-15 Steelers with 11:07 left.
The Giants had just 42 rushing yards in the first half but are up to 129 now on 20 carries. Tracy himself has 118 yards on 16 carries.
Pittsburgh parlayed the deep completion to Jefferson into a 29-yard TD grab by Calvin Austin III, who just scored on a 73-yard punt return. Pittsburgh is now ahead 23-9 with 13:16 left.
Wilson struggled at the end of the first half, but he's bounced back in the second half after hitting a few deep passes downfield. Pittsburgh's line has also done a great job in pass protection this half.
Wilson, after just missing on a deep pass attempt to Scotty Miller, winds back and hits Van Jefferson for a 36-yard gain as the third quarter comes to a close. The deep ball was an element that Wilson brings to the offense.
The Steelers wanting to add to their receiving corps isn't a secret. But one of the reasons why they've held back so far on acquiring anyone is their quiet confidence in their current group and their optimism in Wilson getting more out of them. That appears to be the case with Austin and Jefferson.
Pittsburgh's special teams, which has truly been special this year, just got on the game's first TD courtesy of Calvin Austin III's 73-yard punt return for the score.
A third-year pro, Austin is arguably the Steelers' fastest player. He showed it on this play.
NYG had reached the 31-yard-line on the strength of a 26-yard run by Tracy, but they had to punt after consecutive sacks by Watt and Highsmith. The Steelers actually moved Watt to the right side in an effort to give him a better matchup. It worked.
Score: 9-9
First downs: Steelers 13-7
Third down: Steelers 3-7, Giants 2-7
Yards: Steelers 238-183
Red zone: Steelers 0-3, Giants 0-2
TOP: Steelers 16:35
Jones: 11-16, 141 yards, 0 sacks
Wilson: 11-18, 131 yards, 2 sacks
Harris: 10 carries, 82 yards
Slayton: 3 catches, 90 yards
Instead of playing it safe, the Giants are going for a score to end the first half. Jones hits Slayton for completions of 37 and 11 yards as New York is in FG range with under a minute left in the first half.
Finally, both defenses stood tall with the first half coming to a close. The Giants' pass rush is finally getting to Wilson, who is holding onto the ball too long. Fittingly, the Giants' top-two defenders (Burns and Lawrence) collaborated for a sack of Wilson.
Officials determined that Pickens did not get both feet down, so Boswell comes on and makes his third field goal, giving Pittsburgh a 9-6 lead midway through the second quarter.
Officials are reviewing whether or not George Pickens got both feet in bounds after catching Wilson's pass in the back of the end zone. It looks like Pickens definitely got both feet down, the question is did he while also having possession of the ball.
It's early, but this is shaping up to be Najee Harris' best game as a Steeler. He's already up to 79 yards on just 9 carries, and it looks effortless. He's well on his way to his third straight 100-yard game.
The Giants continue to swap field goals with the Steelers, but they almost scored twice on their last drive. A flag wiped out a Jones touchdown pass (illegal shift on Nabers) and Nabers wasn't able to get both feet in bounds in the end zone two plays later.
Giants could easily have the lead right now, but I'd imagine NY fans are happy with their team's performance so far. The Giants are catching Pittsburgh's defense off guard with screens and Jones has nearly gotten them on a few deep passes.
The Giants did convert on a fourth down prior to their game-tying FG.
Jones threw a great ball to Nabers that would have given the Giants the ball inside the Steelers' 5. But they couldn't connect on the pass, largely because Porter was a bit handsy with Nabers. That was Porter's MO coming out of college and probably one of the reasons why he fell to the Steelers at the start of the second round.
Steelers lead 6-3 after 1, but Giants have the ball in Steelers territory.
Pittsburgh got two chunk plays on its second drive: a 29-yard completion to Wilson to TE Darnell Washington (who has been used a lot in Arthur Smith's offense) and a 22-yard run by Najee Harris. But the Giants' defense held in the red zone again after Wilson misfired on two straight passes. Boswell hits his second FG as Pittsburgh takes a 6-3 lead with 3:05 left in the first.
Here's a look at the two big plays on that drive.
Daniels Jones throws a dime to Darius Slayton downfield for a 43-yard gain. Daniels looked off safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, which allowed Slayton to be open deep after he beat Donte Jackson in one-on-on coverage.
Giants also have to settle for 3 after committing a bad penalty in the red zone (delay of game).
A face mask penalty on Steelers OT Broderick Jones wipes out a TD pass from Wilson to George Pickens. Pittsburgh was forced to settle for a short Chris Boswell FG and an early 3-0 lead.
Wilson 3-3 for 25 yards on the drive. Harris had 3 carries for 25 yards.
Pittsburgh got the ball first and moved effortlessly into Giants territory. Wilson made two quick completions and Najee Harris gashed NYG's poor run defense with runs of 5, 10 and 10 yards.
And Giants standout DT Dexter Lawrence is getting evaluated on the Giants sideline. We'll be sure to give an update on that.
Mike Tomlin is 20-3 all-time on "Monday Night Football" and is second to only John Madden as far as winning percentage on "MNF".
This game will be closer than most think. The Giants' record isn't good, but they have a tough secondary, a good pass rush and a solid group of receivers. That being said, I'll take the Steelers on the strength of their defense and running game.
Score: Steelers 20-13
This matchup will be interesting, but in general, Pittsburgh's corners against New York's deep receiving corps will be interesting. Specifically I'm interested to see how Beanie Bishop does following his two interception performance in last week's win over the Jets. He'll likely be matched up tonight with Wan'Dale Robinson and/or Darius Slayton tonight.
Cam Heyward will play in his 202nd game tonight, the most ever for a Steelers defensive player. He is currently tied with Hall of Fame safety Donnie Shell, who played in 201 regular season games from 1974-87.
