Oh we got trouble, right here in River City. With a capital “T” and that rhymes with “C” and that stands for Collapse.
Actually, “C” could also stand for Clinch because the Steelers did clinch a playoff berth earlier in the day when Miami lost to Kansas City. But nobody in Pittsburgh was thinking about that Sunday night. After what we witnessed in Buffalo, the Steelers don’t exactly appear primed for any kind of a post-season run, anyway.
In fact, over the course of 3 games (in 12 days) the Steelers have quickly regressed from a “can they go 16-0” team to a “can they still win the division” team to a “can they even win one playoff game” team. And unless things change relatively quickly, they won’t.
Mike Tomlin was succinct when asked if there is enough time over the last three regular season games to fix the offense. “Yes,” he defiantly replied. But will they? Can they?
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Despite the return of Maurkice Pouncey and James Conner, the so-called running game was even worse in Buffalo and there doesn’t appear to be a solution. Conner carried 10 times for 18 yards and eventually gave way to Jaylan Samuels. In the meantime, both left guards – Matt Feiler and Kevin Dotson - suffered pectoral injuries. Although there was no immediate update, they could be out for a good while which would obviously be very bad for the Steelers.
Dropped passes continue to be maddening. It began with Diontae Johnson on the first play of the game then he missed another on third down. After making a nice play on the second series, Johnson dropped another third down pass and Mike Tomlin made good on his threat to replace him. Eric Ebron was also banished for a time.
Of course, once the Steelers had fallen behind 23-7, Johnson and Ebron reappeared and Johnson in particular was instrumental making plays on an 81-yard TD drive that briefly provided hopes of a comeback. But an offense cannot succeed if it’s most dynamic playmaker is dropping three passes a game.
As much as Roethlisberger is being victimized by those drops, he is also hurting himself with inaccuracy, especially downfield. It seems almost all of those poor throws are down the right sideline, either out of bounds or underthrown like the pass intended for James Washington that was picked off. Many medium-range throws are just enough behind receivers just to cause incompletions which more than offsets perfectly-placed passes like that 19-yard missile to Washington for a first-half touchdown.
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So what’s the solution? Without a running game and next-to-no downfield passing game, the Steelers short passes are too easy to defend. Maybe more motion and jet sweeps would put defenses off-balance and open up space but that wouldn’t mean receivers will catch the ball. Players have to be better.
Defensively, the question is more like “what players do they have left?”
Injuries will never be an acceptable excuse but sometimes injuries are actually more of an explanation.
With Vince Williams on the COVID list, that left Avery Williamson as the most experienced inside linebacker and he’s been a Steeler for 6 weeks. With Joe Haden in concussion protocol, the Bills finally remembered it might be a good idea to get the ball to Stefon Diggs, who leads the NFL with 100 receptions, plus he hangs onto the ball, and he keyed the two, easy, second-half touchdown drives.
After a fast start in Buffalo, even the best defensive players – TJ Watt, Cam Heyward - started to look tired. Heyward certainly appeared that way after the game and was visibly and audibly irritated in his postgame Zoom. Even though an extra day of rest doesn’t sound like much, based on the Steelers recent schedule, not playing now until Monday night should help. Williams and Haden may return against Cincinnati as well.
Two straight losses shouldn’t be the end of the world, especially since the Steelers had won their first 11 games. But most of the players were here the last two seasons and they can’t help but think of what happened.
In 2018, the Steelers lost 4 of their final 6 games and went from 7-2-and-1 to 9-6-and-1 and out of the playoffs. Last season, they lost their last 3 games to finish 8-8 and out of the playoffs, finishing 7th both times.
We know that can’t happen this season; they’ve already clinched a playoff spot. But that doesn’t mean they won’t collapse – again.