Oct 23, 2016 5 min read

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It’s OK to admit. You feel a little better about Landry Jones now than you did last week.

Yes, he didn’t beat the New England Patriots Sunday. But he gave the Steelers a chance to win. And that’s about all you can ask for out of your backup quarterback.

In fact, with another play here or there, Jones might have gotten it done.

The Steelers played better than anyone probably gave them a chance to in this game and they came up short.

But I certainly didn’t think Jones was the reason why.

That said, I wouldn’t feel the same about him going to Baltimore in two weeks. Playing a decent game at home is one thing. Doing so on the road is another.

• Speaking of that, I’m still told the Steelers expect Ben Roethlisberger to be ready to play against the Ravens in two weeks.

Obviously, there have been conflicting reports about that, with Roethlisberger telling the Post-Gazette one thing – and Chris Mortenson picking up on that.

But what Dr. Roethlisberger reports and what the real doctors are telling him are often two widely different things.

• Perhaps just as important to this team’s long-term success will be getting Cam Heyward back in two weeks from his injured hamstring.

That’s what he’s shooting for.

Remember, the Steelers are now 0-4 in the last two seasons in games in which they’ve played without Heyward and fellow defensive end Stephon Tuitt.

• I looked at the stat sheet after this game and see that Tuitt was credited with just two tackles and no QB hurries. I thought he was more active than that.

Jarvis Jones, meanwhile, had seven tackles, a QB hit, a tackle for a loss, a fumble forced and a recovery.

If you really want to see why tackles are an overrated, statistic, Lawrence Timmons led the Steelers with 11 tackles in this game most of which came after yet another 6-yard Julian Edelman catch.

• The Steelers saw enough of that matchup in the first half to sub in Sean Davis for Timmons in the second half.

Davis then decided to shade to the outside receivers on Rob Gronkowski’s TD catch against Robert Golden instead of giving Golden help down the middle against the game’s best tight end.

Do you like to be beaten slowly with Edelman or quickly with Gronk? I’ll take the Edelman torture every time.

• Yes, LeGarrette Blount ran for 127 yards. And yes Edelman caught nine passes for 60 yards. But at the end of the day – to steal Golden’s go-to phrase – it was Gronkowski who beat the Steelers … again.

• That said, the Steelers do need to clean up this run defense. Artie Burns had better turn into the best cover corner in the NFL – or at least one of the best – because he wanted little to do with tackling Blount.

Then, when he actually did get physical with receiver Chris Hogan, slamming him to the ground, he was penalized for unnecessary roughness.

• While the players weren’t looking for moral victories coming out of this game, the fact that they went toe-to-toe with the team considered the best in the NFL and had a chance to win with their backup QB in the game had to give a little comfort.

After all, the Steelers have just three games remaining against teams that currently have a winning record.

They’ll get Roethlisberger, Heyward and right tackle Marcus Gilbert back after the bye.

They’re still a very good team.

And no matter what happens next week, they will come out of the bye still in first place in their division, which looks very watered down.

• I heard Mike Tomlin’s explanation for attempting a 54-yard field goal on fourth-and-three from the New England 36 down 27-16 in in the fourth quarter and I’m sure it made sense at the time.

After all, he was playing with his backup quarterback and with his best receiver, Antonio Brown, hobbled with a quad injury. How many third-down passes from Jones to Cobi Hamilton can you expect to complete.

I still would have gone for the first down, even though the field goal would have brought the Steelers to within one score.

• The Steelers’ offensive line finally pitched a shutout in the sack department.

But a holding penalty on Gilbert’s replacement, Chris Hubbard, negated a touchdown that would have tied the game at 14-14 in the first half.

• These two teams are still the two best in the AFC. Oakland is playing well, at least on the road, where it is now 4-0. But its wins have come over Baltimore, Jacksonville, New Orleans, San Diego and Tennessee.

It’s 1-2 at home with losses to Kansas City and Atlanta, arguably the only two good teams the Raiders have played.

Of course, the Steelers are 1-2 on the road, though that loss at Miami doesn’t look quite as bad after the now-healthy Dolphins did the same thing to Buffalo on Sunday that they did to the Steelers last week.