Kovacevic: The Steelers' battle level might be a breakthrough unto itself

The way Jaylen Warren saw it, the Steelers' sickly offense, the subject of scorn far and wide within the football world, has needed to clear a couple hurdles for quite a while:

1. Earn opposing defenses' respect for the run.
2. Earn opposing defenses' respect for the pass.

And being that they hadn't come close to achieving either through 3 1/2 games, there couldn't have been much confidence that they'd do so on this second half of this Sunday. Particularly not with Matt Canada still employed, still calling plays.

And then ...

Steelers 17, Ravens 10.

And believe it or not, those three blood-and-guts beauties by Warren, all in succession on the same second-half series, might not even amount to the most meaningful sequences on this Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium.

Not when George Pickens, 0 for 8 in combat-catch targets entering this game, had already emerged from the intermission fighting for footballs like this:

Before busting it open with 1:23 left:

My goodness. What a gift this kid's got.

Which swings me back to Warren and the theory he'd share with me at his stall afterward about all of the above.

"That felt like a breakthrough," he'd begin. "That felt like, OK, George's got something going downfield, big catch here, big catch there. Next thing, you see them backing off a bit."

Both in the box and the secondary?

"Definitely. Everything changed. And now there was room for us to make something happen with the run or some underneath throws. Which you saw us doing, all of a sudden. But now we had to earn that respect. For the run."

Which, naturally, meant attempting this absurdity:

Talk about clearing hurdles.

"We gotta find a way, man. We just do. Let's go. Let's get it done together. Enough's enough."

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No, I'm not buying it. Neither's anyone else, I'll bet. 

Not with the offense, which still squeaked out only a solitary touchdown and, overall, showed precious little progress beyond the stark examples illustrated above. Still only 289 total yards. Still only an 88.5 passer rating for Kenny Pickett, on 18-of-32 passing for 224 yards. Still only a 2.6-yard average for Najee Harris, on 14 carries for 37 yards. Still throwing everything outside the numbers. Still not getting what's needed up front.

And sure, I'll say it, still no reason to keep Canada. Fire him today, tomorrow, yesterday, next week, last year, whenever.

But I'll also, in the same breath, insist that there's a bunch of good that came from this event.

Let's start here: They're in first freaking place.

"It's good to go into the bye sitting at the top of the North, particularly with all that we've been through," as Mike Tomlin would say. "It's still very much a group in growth and development. There's a lot out there, obviously, that we didn't like. But that's life in this business, as well. Our job is to win, and we got the business done today."

They did. Full credit. No one at NFL headquarters is about to apply an asterisk to any aspect of their 3-2 record, which, for real, overtook the Ravens by virtue of head-to-head, an edge that they also hold over the idle Browns, by the way:

NFL.com

That's good stuff. No one needs to apologize for it.

Let's continue here: The Ravens ... aren't good.

"It’s a disappointing loss for us," John Harbaugh would say after his wide receivers dropped two touchdowns, after multiple other unforced mistakes were made, and to top it off, after he made a mindblowing decision to go for it on fourth down at the Pittsburgh 23 with 19 seconds left in the first half ... and failed while leaving the greatest kicker in human history, Justin Tucker, standing on the sideline. "We had our opportunities, obviously."

Uh-huh. But again, no one on this side of the fence needs to weep for the archrival's woes.

Let's continue: The Ravens reported for work on this day at full health, a point that Tomlin, uncharacteristically, made himself after the game to set a contrast for the Steelers' status.

"Baltimore had a full complement of players today," he'd say. "We had some significant guys inactive. And so I just appreciate the fight."

He's right: Diontae Johnson, Pat Freiermuth, James Daniels and Dan Moore would all be starters on offense, and Anthony McFarland was set to be a big part of it, too. Cam Heyward's just one guy, but it's taken a village to try to replace him on run defense, and it still hasn't happened.

It's not an excuse if it's legit. And it's doubly not an excuse if it's overcome.

But now, finally, let's go where I really want to go with this: There really was a "fight" in this group, to borrow Tomlin's term.

And that fight came amid what felt like an unprecedented level of local distraction with the calls for firing Canada reaching a crescendo in recent days, plus all kinds of related rancor aimed at Tomlin, Art Rooney II and, really, the institution as a whole. Fans had become disillusioned, as I wrote in my preview column, in a way I hadn't witnessed before. Some openly discussed whether they should root for the Ravens, if only to raise the chance that Canada'd get fired.

But, at the risk of oversimplifying public sentiment here, they showed up like this:

JOE SARGENT / GETTY

A fan holds a sign calling for Matt Canada's firing in the first quarter Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.

And walked out like this:

JOE SARGENT / GETTY

A fan waves her Terrible Towel -- colored pink for cancer awareness -- in the fourth quarter Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.

That's awesome. That's a W unto itself for those involved.

Sure, there were still a few 'FIRE CANADA!' chants, along with some boos, for the offense:

That's to be expected and, at least in my view, respected. They're the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Pittsburgh comes before the Steelers. The city's got every right to voice its collective displeasure in a circumstance as dismal as most of the first four games.

But this also happened: The city showed up for duty. The crowd of 67,272 filled the yellow seats and left little room for any purple interlopers. And by the time 'Renegade' thundered through the loudspeakers early in the fourth quarter, and the Pirates' own Renegade, David Bednar, stood in his box to lead the twirl ... wow.

WDVE's Randy Baumann recorded this from his seat:

Most of the place never sat down again.

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They couldn't if they'd wanted. The Steelers wouldn't let them.

This, to start, was what Renegade wrought:

Blocked punt by Miles Killebrew for a safety. Baltimore's lead: 10-5.

He's the special teams captain, he's universally respected in the room, and he's as humble as they come, as I hope this talk he and I had demonstrates:

"I just happened to be the one whose hand got to the ball," he'd say, as if there aren't countless hours of prep for precisely such a moment that he himself acknowledged comes with "odds that are so minute."

Next came Warren's drive and a field goal. Baltimore's lead: 10-8.

Next came Gunner Olszewski fumbling a punt return and handing the Ravens the ball at the Pittsburgh 5 ... but soon followed by this:

Joey Porter Jr. took Patrick Peterson off the field earlier in the half. That should now stick. 

Baltimore still led by two with 4:06 left and the Steelers taking over at their 20. Which is when Pickett, who a week earlier looked like he'd be lost for weeks to a knee injury and then took this high hit from old friend Arthur Maulet in the first half here ...

... went on to make these three throws:

Those are throws an NFL starter makes.

That's also, based on everything I heard after this game, how an NFL starter conducts himself in the face of adversity. Meaning the knee, the distractions, the whole deal. Calvin Austin III told me, "Kenny had us ready to go out there and play for each other," and I believe it.

"I think we stayed together. I was preaching that all week," Pickett would say. "You get to this level, and there are so many outside factors trying to get into a team and pull them apart, whether that's media-related, fan-related, whatever it may be. You have to stay together in football. It's the ultimate team game. Offense, defense, special teams ... 11 guys working together, pushing each other and playing their hearts out to win. That's what we did. I'm incredibly proud of our team." 

And never to be left out of such scenes, here's the franchise's best player being exactly that, then making damned sure the city remembered he's part of this process, too:

Of the crowd's rekindled love affair in the fourth quarter, T.J. Watt, who's always in tune with such stuff, remarked, "Steelers Nation came alive again for us, and it was huge. We absolutely needed them in the end and, as always, they delivered."

Anyone have a problem with any of this?

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Tomlin sure doesn't.

"They made a commitment throughout the week, the prep, the things that we talked about leading up to the week that we had to do better in preparation," he'd say. "I felt that. I felt an earnest effort in that regard. And there's football justice."

Football justice?

Somewhat strong for my taste. If football justice was meted out in any form, it was to sentence the Ravens to a week of watching film of all their errors.

And yet, as noted above, Tomlin also readily acknowledged that there's voluminous work heading into this bye week. And he's right. This might be the most flawed first-place team the NFL's seen in some time.

Decisions need to be made, too.

Will all of the rookies who shined in this setting, not just Porter but also Broderick Jones, be allowed to keep growing?

Again, they should. Both of them.

Will Warren ever earn a heavier workload than Harris?

Tomlin's response when this came up was the standard, "I'm open to all of these guys that play well, giving them more opportunities," but it's yet to happen. Which is getting sillier with each passing Sunday.

Not to be forgotten: Will Canada get fired?

I don't see it. And honestly, I wouldn't have seen it even if this had been a loss. The Steelers are who they are in this regard, and so's Tomlin. It'll take to the next Ice Age to change that.

But I do see -- and don't laugh at this -- the management and coaching staff utilizing these extra few days to deep-dive into what's gone wrong. And, from there, adjusting roles, authority, etc. There's ample precedent for that sort of thing.

In the interim ... yeah, you know, this isn't so awful. Time's been bought for healing in the football and physical senses. As T.J. told me, "The No. 1 thing we need to do is get healthy," and I can't argue that. Within that, it's better to be in first place than last, better to have prevailed in both AFC North matchups, better to now see that one of their two losses came against an apparent powerhouse in San Francisco.

"We're OK," was how Warren worded it for me. "We needed this. Everyone needed this. We got it. Now let's regroup and come back stronger."

MARK ALBERTI / GETTY

Kenny Pickett hands his gloves to a young fan after the game Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Team feed
• Highlights
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard

THE IN-GAME INJURIES

• Steelers: LB T.J. Watt (finger, returned), WR Calvin Austin III (concussion evaluation, returned), DT Larry Ogunjobi (foot, returned). Also, I checked on all three, and they all told me they'll be fine.

• Ravens: None, per Harbaugh.

Full report on our Steelers Feed.

THE INACTIVES

• Steelers: P Pressley Harvin (hamstring), RG James Daniels (groin), LT Dan Moore (knee), TE Pat Freiermuth (hamstring), DE DeMarvin Leal (concussion), RB Godwin Igwebuike (concussion), QB Mason Rudolph (emergency). On Injured Reserve: DE Cam Heyward (groin), WR Diontae Johnson (hamstring), RB Anthony McFarland (knee).

• Ravens: CB Jalyn Armour-Davis, OL Sala Aumavae-Laulu, OT Morgan Moses, TE Charlie Kolar, LB Odafe Oweh, QB Josh Johnson (emergency). 

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE SCHEDULE

Next up's the bye week, then a flight to Los Angeles to face Aaron Donald and the Rams.

THE CONTENT

We also have a separate column by Corey Crisan on the rookies' contributions, plus a Chalk Talk breakdown of the Pickens touchdown by Chris Halicke. Visit our Steelers Feed for all the latest.