Dec 4, 2016 4 min read

Yes, wins over the Browns and Colts the past two weeks were nice, but they weren’t nearly as impressive as Pittsburgh’s 24-14 demolition of the Giants.

This was an old-school Steelers beat down, circa 2008 or so.

Pittsburgh’s defense had its way against the Giants in this one, limiting Eli Manning and company to 200 or so yards and one touchdown when the game was still in question.

The Giants finished with 234 total yards and two scores, but the last touchdown came with 26 seconds remaining and was nothing if not cosmetic.

The Steelers dominated the Giants on both sides of the line of scrimmage and imposed their will upon them.

That’s a very positive sign for this team.

The Giants aren’t as good as their 8-3 record coming into this game would suggest, but they’ll be a playoff team in the NFC. And they’re still the only team to beat the Dallas Cowboys this season.

So no, they’re not the Browns or Colts, the last two teams the Steelers had thrashed to pull out of their four-game tailspin that left them at 4-5.

Rookies Artie Burns and Sean Davis are getting more confident in the secondary by the week and it’s showing up in their play. They are making snap decisions and, typically, they are correct.

That’s helping to change this entire defense.

And their teammates also are trusting the young guys to do their job, as well. That also is a big plus.

Nobody is trying to do too much any longer. They’re just doing what is required of them.

• Ladarius Green was once again a big factor in this game, catching six passes for 110 yards and a touchdown.

It was his first TD as a member of the Steelers. Just as importantly, it was his first career 100-yard game.

Antonio Brown is going to continue to see double teams. That pretty much leaves everyone else with one-on-one matchups.

With Sammie Coates continuing to be a non-factor after breaking two fingers on hsi left hand in Pittsburgh’s fifth game, the Steelers needed somebody else to step forward as a player who could consistenly win against one-on-one coverage.

At 6-6, 240 pounds, Green was signed to a 4-year, $20-million contract to be that guy.

He’s now looking like a pretty good signing after finally getting onto the field.

In four games since coming off the PUP List, Green has 11 receptions for 207 yards and a touchdown. That’s a Gronkowski-like 18.8 yards per catch average.

• Mike Tomlin might not be into five-man rotations at outside linebacker, but he ran one again Sunday. James Harrison, Anthony Chickillo and Bud Dupree were announced as the starters and played the majority of the snaps, but Arthur Moats and Jarvis Jones got two series each.

Look for that to continue to get shorter as the Steelers get deeper into December.

• I was told that placekicker Chris Boswell will be OK moving forward but the Steelers will keep Randy Bullock around this week, just in case Boswell has a setback.

• The Steelers had Ross Cockrell follow Odell Beckham early in the game, then switched things up and had Artie Burns do so later. Still later they just stuck to their own side.

Pittsburgh also played a lot of zone in this game, so that was a factor as well.

• The Steelers had 12 penalties in this game to just four for the Giants.

That’s too many penalties for the Steelers, who seemingly had one on every special teams play. But no penalty was more impactful than Ereck Flowers’ hold on Harrison in the end zone in the first quarter.

That got things rolling for the Steelers with a safety. They never trailed after that.

• That Harrison continues to be such a disruptive force at 38 is unbelievable. He now has five sacks in his past five games.

I don’t know if he can continue to do that at his age and you wonder if he’ll break down at some point, but as Tomlin said a couple of weeks ago, “What are they saving him for?”

The Steelers had just two sacks in this game, but they made Eli Manning move around in the pocket quite a bit and he just doesn’t throw well on the move.

As we saw on Ben Roethlisberger’s TD pass to Antonio Brown, he still does.