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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Steelers don't play a particularly aesthetically pleasing brand of football. It's been that way for a while.
The offense can lack explosion for long stretches. The defense can get pushed around with alarming ease against quality opponents. The coaching decisions sometimes randomly flip-flop between aggressive and overly cautious.
The Steelers almost need a specific set of circumstances to succeed. They need to run the ball. They need to take it away. They need to avoid mistakes. It's a formula as old as the game itself, and at times in recent years, it has felt more stale than steady.
Yet occasionally, there are stretches when Pittsburgh finds a way to thread the needle well enough that what is old feels new again.
One of those stretches arrived late in the first half of what became a 28-15 dismantling of Miami on Monday night that kept the Steelers (8-6) one game ahead of Baltimore for the top spot in the AFC North.
Four offensive drives, all of them at least 60 yards in length, produced touchdowns that turned a 3-0 deficit into a 25-point lead, their biggest advantage at any point in a game since 2020.
While 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers was channeling his prime at wintry Acrisure Stadium by completing 23 of 27 passes for 224 yards and two scores, a defense playing without superstar outside linebacker T.J. Watt overwhelmed Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa during a third quarter in which Miami ran six plays and lost 20 yards in the process.
Though the Dolphins managed a pair of meaningless touchdowns late to make the final score more respectable, the outcome was never in doubt in the second half and offered tangible proof that Pittsburgh's hope of playing its best football in December wasn't just an empty promise.
Stringing together performances like the one the Steelers enjoyed on Monday night has been a challenge -- and what has made the Steelers so confounding for much of the last decade.
Yet for the first time in a while, Pittsburgh looked like a first-place team capable of doing more than squeaking into the playoffs before meekly exiting. As rocky as it was during a 2-5 stretch in which their comfortable AFC North lead vanished, they'll take it.
"We hold ourselves to a higher standard here," longtime defensive captain Cam Heyward said. "You know, when you play for a team like this that's had a lot of success, and, you know, we're not responsible for that, those guys before (did that). We are trying to grasp what they did. The expectations are high, and we like it that way."
What's working
Finding experienced players looking for an opportunity midseason and having them make an impact.
The list of what Rodgers described as "cast-offs" includes wide receivers Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Adam Thielen and cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., all of whom made plays that contributed to perhaps Pittsburgh's most complete performance since beating Minnesota in Ireland at the end of September.
Valdes-Scantling caught his first touchdown pass from Rodgers since 2021 when they were both in Green Bay. Samuel collected his first pick since 2023 and Thielen had his first reception and added a perfect kick-out block that opened up a lane for a Jonnu Smith touchdown run.
What needs help
The weather wasn't conducive to a hot start and it took the offense a while to get going. While Pittsburgh did eventually score touchdowns on four straight possessions for the first time since 2018, the Steelers have been slow to warm up for most of the season, something they'll likely need to avoid on Sunday in Detroit if they want to keep pace with the Lions.
Stock up
Tight ends Jonnu Smith and Pat Freiermuth had virtually disappeared from the offense entirely in recent weeks as Darnell Washington took on an increasingly larger role in the passing game.