5 Steelers surprises in Monday’s win against the Giants
Our SCU staff and contributors pick the “surprises” from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ latest matchup each week. Check out more below to see which plays and situations surprised us the most!
The Pittsburgh Steelers picked up their sixth win of the 2024 season with a 26-18 victory over the New York Giants on Monday. The victory also gives the Steelers a one-game lead in the AFC North over the Baltimore Ravens.
Here are some surprises from that game.
Najee Harris
For the first time since his rookie year in 2021, Najee Harris has topped 100 yards rushing in three games within the same season. Harris ran angrily against the Giants, carrying the ball 19 times for 114 yards: a 6.0 average per carry.
Harris had three of the Steelers longest plays against the Giants, including two runs – one of 26 yards and another of 14 yards. He also caught a 13-yard pass.
The 114-yard performance also leads to Harris having three consecutive games hitting the century mark, the first of his career. He now has 592 rushing yards on 136 carries, which is a career-best 4.4 yards-per-attempt, along with two rushing touchdowns on the year.
Harris is now a prop bet favorite among various sportsbooks as listed on onlinesportsbooks.ltd and appears to a a heavy-favorite to continue his 100-yard pace with five of the Steelers nine remaining games coming against teams in the bottom half of the league in run defense. (Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Washington.)
Steelers Offense
The Pittsburgh Steelers offense exploded to 426 net yards on the evening, the second time they’ve surpassed 400 total yards in as many games.
It is Pittsburgh’s third 400+ offensive showing of the 2024 season with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith calling plays.
To put what Smith has done into perspective, the Steelers never had a 400+ yard offensive output in 2.5 seasons under previous coordinator Matt Canada. The team failed to achieve the 400+ mark entirely in 2021 and 2022, and only eclipsed it twice in 2023. Both of those games came after Canada’s firing (against the Bengals and Seahawks) with a second matchup against the Bengals coming up three yards short last season as well.
The 2024 Steelers still have work to do, but the back-to-back performances with Russell Wilson show promise as the offense now ranks 15th in points for and 16th in yards. They are also protecting the football, ranking as the 4th-least in turnovers among the league’s offenses.
T.J. Watt
We’ve often said that Watt is from another planet, as his other worldly play often defies the usual circumstances of the gridiron. When the Steelers needed a big play on Monday, Watt delivered: again and again.
The first of Watt’s two sacks came on the Giants first series of the second half, as he switched sides and brought down Jones. His counterpart, Alex Highsmith, would swoop in on the next down to bring Jones to the ground again, forcing the Giants to into a 4th-and-22 and out of field goal range.
Watt’s second sack was a strip-sack on Giants QB Daniel Jones in the fourth quarter, following a series where Steelers QB Russell Wilson fumbled the ball and was unable to recover. Unlike Wilson’s run situation, Jones was a sitting duck who had the ball swatted from his grasp as Watt not only knocked it down, but also fell on the football for the recovery.
Watt was named the AFC’s Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
Steelers Defense
It’s a mixed bag of surprises for the Steelers defense from Monday night. While the Steelers were unable to completely run down the clock or capitalize with points after Watt’s forced fumble, the ensuing drive made it difficult for the Giants to make a push to tie the game at the end, leading into a series that finished with undrafted rookie Beanie Bishop picking off his third pass of the season.
Bishop played a season-high in snaps (60) and snap percentage (83%).
Despite Bishop’s emergence, and T.J. Watt’s stellar performance the defense had more give than usual against a two-win New York franchise. Giants rookie running back Tyrone Tracy carried the ball 20 times for 145 yards and a touchdown. His 7.3 average was highlighted by a 45-yard TD run, as Pittsburgh failed to bring down the ball carrier.
New York’s 157 rushing yards are the most allowed by Pittsburgh in 2024, with the Indianapolis Colts coming in second with 133. The only other team to run for 100 or more yards on the Steelers this season is the Dallas Cowboys, who finished with 109 yards. (The latter two games were both losses.)
As Pittsburgh enters their bye week, they’ll need to button up their run defense with strong offensive opponents left on the back half of their schedule, including the Washington Commanders, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, and Kansas City Chiefs.
Calvin Austin
Austin arrived on the scene Monday night with a pair of electric touchdowns. The first was a major momentum shift in the game, as Austin lined up to receive a punt on the Giants second failed offensive series of the second half.
Austin would escape tackles and zip behind clever blocks from his teammates for a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown that gave the Steelers a 16-9 edge.
Early in the fourth quarter Austin would strike again, this time connecting with Russell Wilson on a 29-yard deep pass for a score. Austin gained several steps on his coverage and scampered across the goal line to give Pittsburgh a near-comfortable 23-9 lead.
The Steelers would eventually secure the victory over New York, 26-18, with both of Pittsburgh’s touchdowns coming from Austin, who was named the AFC’s Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts.
