As the Los Angeles Chargers came away with a massive victory over the Pittsurgh Steelers, 25-10, to bring themselves to a 7-3 record on the season, their defensive resurgence was the certainly the story of the night.
Yet, contained within that story was an even more subtle narrative: the fact that the strong performance of their secondary, and especially rookie safety RJ Mickens, continues to make their decision to trade away Alohi Gilman in exchange for an extra pass rusher look even more genius.
Against an offensively capable team in the Steelers, the Chargers dominated both against the pass and the run, locking down DK Metcalf and making a number of stellar defensive plays throughout the course of the night.