LAS VEGAS — As many expected, Sin City transformed from sequins and shine into a sea of black and gold on a perfect fall weekend, Yinzers enjoying their Vegas vacations and making their presence felt inside a raucous Allegiant Stadium.

But as the Pittsburgh Steelers rumbled to a 32-13 victory over the Raiders — Najee Harris carrying defenders, T.J. Watt throwing punches like he was participating in a prize fight, and Chris Boswell casually drilling four field goals — let's shift our attention to another set of colors.

More than a third of the way through the NFL regular season, have the Steelers started to show theirs?

It's tough to say.

They're 4-2, trailing only the Chiefs and Texans in the AFC. Their point differential (plus-38) also leads the conference, while the Steelers on Sunday enjoyed a resurgent running game and got several splash plays from their defense.

In many ways, it's how Mike Tomlin's group wants and expects to win.

"I think there's an identity starting to form," Pat Freiermuth said inside a jubilant visitors' locker room here. "This is what we've wanted to do all along.

"I'm happy we're hitting our stride, but we have to continue to build. We can't just be satisfied about this. We need to continue to work."

Freiermuth made a bunch of valid points there, especially when discussing what the Steelers are looking to do: run the ball, turn it over on defense and play a more physical brand of football than their opponent.

They followed that script against the Raiders, rushing for a season-high 183 yards, forcing three turnovers and clamping down on what Vegas could do for a solid stretch in the middle of the game.

Example: After a 70-yard touchdown drive on their opening possession, the Raiders totaled just 65 yards on their next six.

In the meantime, the Steelers outscored the Raiders 19-0 in the middle two quarters behind a variety of impactful plays.

Watt knocking a ball loose that Keeanu Benton recovered. Fields scooting in from 3 yards out. Jeremiah Moon blocking a punt. Harris ripping off 26- and 36-yard runs on the same drive, the second of those giving the Steelers a 22-7 lead with 4:21 to play in the third.

"I felt like we had to get a win," Harris said of his inspired running. "We had lost two in a row. This was the perfect time to get another win and be 4-2. That was my mindset."

Added Watt: "There are still things to correct, even though we were able to win and win by a decent margin. But we need to start games faster."

That much we know, yes. We can also confidently say Watt and Boswell (field goals of 52, 49, 37 and 36 yards) are among the NFL's best at their respective positions.

The Steelers are also plus-7 in the turnover margin (not insignificant), while Harris remains a strong, fearless runner who might've provided a blueprint for what's possible in this offense.

But what else do we know about the Steelers at this point?

It's murky because the Raiders aren't good. Just look closer at what happened in the middle quarters, when they seemed eager to ensure everyone flew back to Pittsburgh with a souvenir win.

Short field, third-and-4 from the Vegas 24. Fields was intercepted by linebacker Divine Deablo, but defensive tackle Matthew Butler's personal foul gave the Steelers a first down, setting up a Fields touchdown run.

Third quarter, Vegas had tight end Brock Bowers' one-handed grab nullified by a holding penalty before Moon blocked the punt. On the drive where Harris scored, defensive end K'Lavon Chaisson was penalized for roughing the passer, giving the Steelers a reprieve when they failed to convert third-and-18.

The Raiders, who went just 2 for 11 (18.2%) on third down, certainly did their part to help the cause. This might be one of the easier tests the Steelers face this season, though it shouldn't diminish some of the important positives we saw.

Certainly not the inspired running by Harris or the defense doing its thing: Watt quite literally delivering a knockout blow by punching the ball out on third-and-goal from the 1 on the second play of the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh's fourth red-zone takeaway this season.

This came shortly after the Raiders had their own score nullified by another penalty.

"We're trying to make splash plays any place on the field," Watt said. "It just happens that right now they're coming in the red zone. We'll take 'em any way we possibly can."

At the same time ...

— Is the defense for real? I want to say yes. But let's also not forget the Steelers had allowed 803 yards the past two games.

Then on Sunday, with the Raiders missing their top two wide receivers (most notably Davante Adams), No. 1 running back and a key offensive lineman (Thayer Munford), the Steelers only outgained Vegas 293-275, the defensive allowing three drives of at least nine plays and 70 yards.

— The offensive line. Zach Frazier left with an injury midway through the third quarter that could be relatively serious. For a group already missing Troy Fautanu and James Daniels, it's not great.

— The wide receivers. George Pickens' 31-yard reception late helped. At the same time, he dropped a catchable ball on third-and-12 on the Steelers' first drive and the contributions from that entire group remain limited.

— Yeah, almost forgot the big one: the quarterback.

Do you know who will start against the Jets? I don't.

In one corner, you have Fields coming off a performance where he led the Steelers to a season-high in points. He also ran for 59 yards and a pair of scores, that part of his game a clear advantage for the Steelers' running game, as well as an offensive line that has been leaking oil. His rating through five starts: 97.1.

In the other, of course, is Russell Wilson, the player the Steelers added this offseason to start, the veteran who likely would be the guaranteed starter this week if not for the aforementioned context.

It's a microcosm of the Steelers' situation.

A walking question mark or dichotomy of two football teams, one good and one only so-so, a place where the conversation seems to shift weekly between playoff viability and fans wanting the coach fired.

In other words: pretty much exactly what we expected.

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