It was remarkable to watch a Pittsburgh Steelers defense minus so many starters step up and shut down Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Half the defense was out with injuries but the group rallied, played with impressive intensity and executed the game plan to a tee.
This is a good thing, right? Of course, it is. A win is a win no matter what. But watching the way the Steelers played on Sunday, it does set the bar quite high for the rest of the season and only magnifies how poorly this group played in the four previous weeks.
It also sets the stage for the next two games. Pittsburgh travels to the Miami Dolphins this week, followed by a road tilt against the Philadelphia Eagles. Then the team gets a bye week to regroup, heal up and hopefully keep pressing on toward a potential playoff birth.
Pittsburgh has to come out this week and match the intensity of last week. If not, the Bucs win will look like an outlier and Pittsburgh will be viewed as the same they were before the win.
But I want to pass the question on to you. Do you expect a repeat performance this week or was Sunday’s game more of a one-off and the team can’t keep that type of intensity up? Let us know in the comments.
