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The Pittsburgh Steelers got a nice victory over the struggling New York Jets in Week 7. Pittsburgh's rookie cornerback Beanie Bishop came up with two huge interceptions on Aaron Rodgers, and the Steelers won 37-15.
While many would love to jump to the conclusion the Steelers are the powerhouse of the AFC, it is time to pump the brakes on that assertion. Here are some reasons why the Steelers victory doesn't prove the squad are Super Bowl contenders just yet.
The Steelers still don't know exactly who the starting quarterback is
Russell Wilson returned to the field for Pittsburgh in the Jets game. He finished the contest with 264 passing yards and two touchdowns. Wilson has been hampered this season with a calf injury.
The Jets game was the first time the veteran Wilson was able to come back for a start. This past offseason, Pittsburgh got rid of their entire quarterback room. The Steelers brought in Wilson and Justin Fields to replace those players. Fields looked good through the first several weeks of the season, and started the team's first six games.
Pittsburgh is now 5-2 on the year, and tied for first in the AFC North. While that's good news for the squad, the team is still uncertain as to who the starter is on this team. One game is not enough of a sample size to truly establish Wilson as the bona fide starter. Despite this, it seems Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was impressed with Wilson.
“I thought he was excellent,” Tomlin said of Wilson, via the team's website. “I thought he got better as the game went on. But I'm not surprised by that. It's been a while since he played some ball, but I thought he settled in, knocked the rust off and distributed the ball around and played well.”
Fields has also played well. The backup quarterback brought in from the Chicago Bears won four games for the team this season. On the campaign, Fields has 1,106 passing yards and five touchdowns. He's thrown just one interception, so the young play caller is keeping himself in contention for the starting job.
There's another reason why the Steelers shouldn't be given flowers just yet.
The Jets are a mess
New York is 2-5 on the year and the franchise seems to be on the cusp of a dumpster fire. The Jets fired coach Robert Saleh mid-season, and the squad is led by former defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. It hasn't helped, as the team has lost four games in a row. Even the team's general manager Joe Douglas is on life support; he's in the last year of a contract with no extension in sight.
The Jets' defense is not as strong as it has been in the past. This season, the team has allowed 145 points to opponents through seven games. That's one of the worst scoring defenses in the AFC, and the second-worst in the East division. The only teams allowing more points are: New England, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, Jacksonville and Indianapolis. Almost all of those teams have losing records, so Pittsburgh need not get too excited yet with its offense.
The point is that a win over the Jets right now is not a good barometer on whether a team is good enough to make the Super Bowl. The Steelers have several tougher challenges moving ahead, and the team will certainly know in the coming weeks if it is good enough to contend for a championship.
Pittsburgh next plays the New York Giants on Monday. Steelers fans are surely excited to see if the team can continue this offensive production.
