After an ugly but at times promising season-opening win over the Atlanta Falcons, any Steelers’ momentum ground to a screeching halt after a 20-3 loss to the New England Patriots on the road in Week 2.
As always, there are plenty of takeaways to be had:
1. The Steelers need an offensive line fix
You could fill this entire article just writing about the shortcomings of any one Steelers offensive unit, but the offensive line might’ve been the most frustrating to watch on Sunday.
Aaron Rodgers was sacked four times and pressured on a whopping 17
snaps, according to Patriots.com, with the Steelers averaging just 3.5 yards per play for the game. Rodgers was constantly under siege in the pocket, and once again, there wasn’t a ton of room to work with in the running game.
It’s a tired line at this point: Pittsburgh has invested copious resources into its offensive line under the Omar Khan regime, and yet the results are looking as depressing as always. But the fairer way to look at things is that the right side of the line — which has clearly been the weak link through two weeks — does not contain any long-term starters with first-rounder Max Iheanachor and third-rounder Gennings Dunker still on the bench. And the left side of the line, which started on the right last year, still hasn’t settled.
Of course, the Steelers had an entire offseason to prepare for those changes. If they’re a victim, it’s of their own plan. Pairing a young offensive line still clearly undergoing growing pains with a veteran, less-mobile quarterback was certainly a choice.
But although some of Troy Fautanu and Mason McCormick’s struggles have been of the more surprising variety, easier fixes could exist for the right side. After rough performances from Dylan Cook and Spencer Anderson against New England, could it be time to look for Iheanachor to start at tackle and veteran backup Brock Hoffman (16 career starts) to get the nod at guard? (Dunker’s inactive status through two weeks tells me he’s not as pro-ready as many believe).
All that to say: Yes, the offensive line was bad on Sunday. Yes, it’s a big concern moving forward. No, it’s not a finished product yet.
2. Explosives remain missing on offense
Head coach Mike McCarthy said the Steelers were struggling with the “basics” on Sunday. Anyone who watched the game would agree.
But his comments later in the press conference provided what I thought was a more insightful detail on why the Steelers’ offense so often looks to be lagging behind the rest of the NFL: a lack of explosive plays.
“I don’t want to dink and dunk,” McCarthy said. “There’s a place for that maybe situationally, but that’s not the philosophy — we have to attempt to get the ball thrown downfield.”
The broadcast showed an interesting statistic midway through the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach: The Patriots had managed six offensive plays of 20 or more yards; the Steelers had zero.
The New England offense actually struggled for the most part against the Steelers. Those explosive plays were the difference, whether it was TreVeyon Henderson’s 39-yard touchdown, Rhamondre Stevenson’s 24-yard run, or Romeo Doubs sneaking behind the Pittsburgh secondary for a 63-yard gain.
The Steelers, meanwhile, had a long of 14 yards on the ground. Only one reception went past 20 yards by the time the clock hit zeroes — a 26-yard catch and run from Jaylen Warren late in the game when the score was already 20-3.
NFL defenses are good. It’s unrealistic to expect any offense to score on every drive, or even consistently get a handful of first downs every possession.
But defenses aren’t perfect, either, and offenses need to be able to take advantage of the open holes and creases when they become available. Pittsburgh is startlingly bad at achieving that.
Nowhere is that more apparent than in the game of WR1 DK Metcalf, who had another Sunday of maddening inconsistencies. He recorded several drops, but even when the team did succeed in giving the blazing-fast, 6’4 target the ball, he couldn’t do much to push the ball forward, finishing with a stat line of four catches for 27 yards on nine targets.
And Jaylen Warren, who has been the Steelers’ only consistent creator of chunk plays through two games, has averaged just 14 touches a week to start the season. Meanwhile, Rico Dowdle has averaged just 2.5 yards per carry over that same span.
The Steelers do have some talent issues on offense — most analysts have been worrying about the lack of explosiveness all offseason — but the Steelers could be doing a better job of maximizing the talent they have, as well.
3. At least the pass rush is still good
If you still want something Steelers-related to feel good about entering this week, the pass rush has been about as good as you could hope for them to be through two games.
Against the Patriots, T.J. Watt notched another 1.5 sacks. Alex Highsmith also added another to his season total. And Nick Herbig recorded three tackles for loss — including a play where he perfectly read and blew up a wide receiver screen — as well as a forced fumble.
The Steelers were able to generate consistent pressure against Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, holding him to just 208 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. Cam Heyward, to the surprise of no one, logged another batted pass at the line of scrimmage.
Subtracting New England’s defensive score, the Steelers defense gave up just 13 points on Sunday. Yes, they’ve had some busts and given up more chunk plays than you’d want, but over two weeks Pittsburgh has only allowed two touchdowns and 26 points in total.
Tougher opponents will come, but overall the Pittsburgh defense looks like a much improved unit from last year. The problem, of course, is that the same can’t be said of the offense.
4. The season is a roller coaster
Sure, there were doom and gloomers following the Steelers’ somewhat ugly season-opening win over the Atlanta Falcons, but there were plenty of hopeful takeaways as well: A win! A new-look offense and defense! And Aaron Rodgers looking the best he had in a while, to name a few.
And all it took was one painful game the next week to undo all of that optimism.
But although I haven’t watched a Mike McCarthy Steelers team before, I have watched plenty of past Steelers teams, and for better or worse, this looks all too familiar. There are always some exceptionally ugly games sprinkled throughout the season, with final results that have the internet worrying that Pittsburgh has never lost this badly before.
Enough of those games occurred over the last several seasons of Mike Tomlin’s tenure that it became an actual problem. But McCarthy? This is game No. 2.
It’s more than fair to be critical of just how poorly the Steelers played on Sunday. But it’s still far too early to overreact. I promise: Pittsburgh will win some more games this year.
5. Odds and ends
- My “don’t panic” points aside, Mike McCarthy did seem unusually downtrodden in his postgame press conference. I’m curious to see how the team rebounds from losses such as Sunday’s under the new coaching staff.
- One of T.J. Watt’s sacks came on a power rush — a nice changeup from his usually speed- and effort-based approach.
- Sure enough, Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham unleashed plenty of blitzes against New England after barely sending any last week.
- I found it interesting that practice squad elevation Travis Homer got in the game on offense before rostered running back Eli Heidenreich did.
- The offensive line is understandably the subject of plenty of criticism this week, but rewatch some of those sacks; Aaron Rodgers definitely drifted into pressure a few times against New England.
- The Rodgers strip sack that led to a fourth and 43 was a sequence ripped right out of a mid-Saturday college game.
- I’ve harped plenty about the Steelers’ lack of explosive plays, but third downs have been another massive problem. The Steelers finished Sunday two-of-12.
- Rookie wide receiver Germie Bernard would’ve been a bigger bright spot on offense if he hadn’t finished a strong performance by having a ball fly out of his hands for an interception. Outside of that, he made a noticeable impact on offense, with four catches for 35 yards — somehow a team high against New England.
- Metcalf’s inconsistencies highlighted just how much this offense missed receiver Michael Pittman Jr., who got off to a strong start with Rodgers last week before missing the Patriots game with an injury. It’ll be huge to get him back for later games.
- The Pittsburgh run defense was gashed a few times, but I thought young interior defenders Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black each had some standout reps.
- An underrated moment of the game was Nick Herbig pulling Asante Samuel Jr. out of a heated exchange with a Patriots player following a big stop, preventing a potential penalty. That’s great leadership on the field.
- This has nothing to do with keeping four quarterbacks on the roster, as Mason Rudolph was set for the QB2 role following the preseason regardless, but I do wish the Steelers could’ve given one of their young passers some reps in garbage time instead of a proven veteran backup. Instead, both Will Howard and Drew Allar were (understandably) inactive.
Next week, the Steelers will take on a 2-0 Cincinnati Bengals team to open AFC North play in Pittsburgh.
What are your takeaways from Steelers vs. Patriots? Agree/disagree with the ones above? Join the Behind the Steel Curtain community and let us know in the comments!
