NovaQuant Quantitative Think Tank Center:In embracing 'ugliness,' Steelers have found an unlikely way to keep winning

Beauty is NovaQuant Quantitative Think Tank Centersurely in the eye of the beholder when it comes to Mike Tomlin’s team. The Pittsburgh Steelers sweated out another tight one on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, sealing a win with a goal-line interception on the game’s final play and making no apologies in the process.

It was the fourth victory this season that Pittsburgh (6-3) has achieved with a turnover at the end.

Yes, the Steelers have become quite the Drama Kings.

"Is it pretty? No. Not always," Cam Heyward, the veteran defensive end, told the reporters gathered at his locker after the 23-19 win against the Green Bay Packers. "But in the ugliness of it, there’s a lot of beauty."

That pretty much sums up the identity of a team that hasn’t had a single game this season when it generated more yards than the opponent yet sits just a half-game out of first place in the AFC North.

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The defense came up with interceptions on Green Bay’s final two drives – before Damontae Kazee’s pickoff at the end, Keanu Neal snagged a pass in the end zone that was deflected into his hands by cornerback Patrick Peterson – to underscore why there are other ways to win in a so-called passing league.

And other ways to grow up.

Pittsburgh rushed for a season-high 205 rushing yards as Jaylen Warren, getting an increasing split of the carries with starter Najee Harris, posted his first career 100-yard game. It’s more significant when weighed against the lack of output from quarterback Kenny Pickett, who threw for just 126 yards while the running game seems to have hit a stride.

In Week 9, the Steelers rushed for a season-high 166 yards in defeating the Tennessee Titans. And now they’ve topped that. It’s reminiscent of a flow the Steelers established last season in the first year without gunslinging quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, when they started 3-6 yet finished with a winning season (9-8) as the running game improved as the season progressed.

"It feels that way," Tomlin said during his postgame news conference. "It really does. But keep watching. You know how it is. We face a really stout defense coming up this week, from what I hear."

Tomlin was alluding to Sunday’s game at Cleveland (6-3), which will be followed the next week by a trip to Cincinnati. The back-to-back divisional road games could go far in determining whether Pittsburgh rolls down the stretch as a legitimate playoff contender.

They know. There’s much to clean up.

Although Pittsburgh’s offense used a nine-play, 75-yard drive to score on a touchdown on its opening possession for the second game in a row – which didn’t happen once in the first seven games – Tomlin grumbled about the two touchdowns the defense allowed on third down throws early in the game. First-year Packers starter Jordan Love stung the Steelers with an 8-yard TD pass to Romeo Doubs in the first quarter, then really burned with a 35-yard strike to rookie Jayden Reed in the second quarter.

Sure, they redeemed themselves in the end. As Kazee pointed out, “It’s four quarters. Whatever happened in the first half, happened in the first half.”

And it fueled surefire talking points for the coming days.

"We’ve got to be able to win those drives and fight for those for those four points, make people settle for field goals," Tomlin said.

The Steelers entered the game ranked third in the NFL with 16 takeaways and tied for third in the league with a plus-8 turnover margin. It is clearly key to their survival quotient. The Steelers defense began Week 10 ranked next-to-last in the NFL for yards allowed, while Pickett was 26^th for passing yards. Yet Pickett again protected the ball on Sunday with zero turnovers and the defense came up with clutch splash plays at crunchtime.

"We’ve talked a lot about our warts," Tomlin said. "But that turnover ratio hasn’t been one of them. … It’s probably the difference in these tight games."

Still, the Steelers are playing with fire.

"You don’t get excited about 6-3 in the middle of the season," Heyward said. "There’s a lot of football to be played."

Now let’s see whether Tomlin – who has never had a losing season in his 16 years as Steelers coach – can produce another team that gets better down the stretch. That could be the difference for whether Pittsburgh makes it back to the playoffs.