Seven storylines from wild Week 7

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NEW YORK -- Seven storylines for a weird Week 7, when rock-bottom teams found a way to get worse, England hosted New England, the Saints blew away what I thought was a good defense, Norv Turner survived, the amazing Miles Austin carried the Cowboys again, the Cardinals beat back that East Coast thing ... and the Steelers continued their quest to build a defense without peer:

1. That, readers, was a Steelers Sunday right there.

I think we've all gotten spoiled by the defense of the Steelers. Three times in the past five years, Pittsburgh's finished with the best defensive numbers in football, including last season, when it had an unheard-of sub 4.0 yards-per-play defensive average. (The league average is usually around 5.3 yards per defensive snap.) You get a number like Pittsburgh's 3.90 last year by the kind of D the Steelers played Sunday against one of the game's explosive attacks. The Vikings can pass (Brett Favre), run (Adrian Peterson) and return (Percy Harvin) as a combo platter better than any other team in football. That's why this game was such a great chess match -- the diverse offense against the defense that's shut down most everything over the years.

From the start Sunday, the Vikings knew Dick LeBeau was going to take the run away, and so Favre began probing the secondary to see what was there. And time after time, the shiny new Minnesota toy, Harvin, got his clock cleaned by the Pittsburgh safeties. On four third downs, Favre went to Harvin. Four times Troy Polamalu or Ryan Clark, or both, hit the kid like they had anvils in theirs shoulder pads. Polamalu covers so much area, and Clark's an underrated sideline-to-sideline guy, and they set the stage for what happened in the last half of the final quarter.

The Steelers have had 40, 50, who knows how many, of these games over the years. Tight in the fourth quarter, and the defense just does something. Or more than one something. Minnesota had a sure touchdown nullified midway through the fourth quarter when Vikings tight end Jeff Dugan roll-blocked a Steelers rusher and was called for tripping. I thought it was a bad call. In the NBC viewing room, Rodney Harrison and Tony Dungy were apoplectic. The Vikings, instead of taking a 17-13 lead, now had to come back to try to score again.

Pittsburgh led 13-10. The Steelers were in a position they'd been in twice this year -- ahead in the fourth quarter, only to lose. "Championship teams don't do that,'' LeBeau had told me Thursday. "We have to stand firm. And the other thing we've got to do if we're going to be a great defense is start forcing more turnovers.''

On third-and-goal from the eight, Favre got strip-sacked by left end Brett Keisel, and in rushed linebacker LaMarr Woodley and seven of his closest defensive friends. "When I first saw the ball on the ground,'' Woodley said via the cell phone Sunday night, "I figured, 'OK, just pick it up and see how far you can go.' But we've got this thing in practice every day when the ball's turned over, our main thing is just find somebody to block. It's drilled into us, day after day after day.''

Woodley swerved downfield. Favre got disposed of early, then a couple more offensive players got lost in the wash of the seven-man convoy downfield. Woodley scored, covering 77 yards. But Harvin answered, scoring on a kick return to make it 20-17 Pittsburgh. Later, Favre drove the Vikes downfield again, threatening another of his thrilling finishes. He tossed a screen pass to Chester Taylor that bounced off Taylor's hands into those of sub linebacker Keyaron Fox. He rumbled 82 yards. Another score. And that was it: 27-17 Pittsburgh. Finally, a win for the defense.

Back home Sunday night, Woodley sounded content, as if the team had finally played a complete game against a good team. It had -- with a little help from an official's call and a little more from the slippery hands of Taylor. But that's football. Mistakes happen. What are you going to do when they're made?