The Pittsburgh Steelers come into Week 3 with an ugly loss and an ugly win. That certainly creates the expectation that the Steelers will continue to operate with an ugly appearance.
Playing the Las Vegas Raiders provided another opportunity to win ugly. Las Vegas comes into the game with a struggling run game and its own collection of mixed performances to begin the 2023 season.
The Steelers' offense has soaked up most of the bad and ugly since the regular season began. While there's still a long way to go, Pittsburgh's offense did look better. But the bar is low, and there is truly only so much lipstick you can put on a pig.
Defensively, the toughest task was always going to be containing Jimmy Garoppolo's primary weapons in Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers. Conversely, the Raiders came in with a poor rushing attack while the Steelers' defense has struggled against two elite backs early in the season.
It was far from a perfect night, though picking up a key conference win over the Raiders will pay dividends later in the season if Pittsburgh continues to improve. Building on the good, and enjoying it, is the next step after ironing out the bad and ugly from the Sunday night victory.