PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The Steelers offense struggled to only a pair of first downs in the first quarter and three points in the first half, but Mike Tomlin pointed out his issues with his defense early on Sunday.
Winning the opening coin flip, Tomlin wanted his defense on the field first, leading the NFL in points allowed through three games.
"I didn't like the slow start on defense," Tomlins aid. "We put the defense on the field for a reason, to set a tone, to quell the environment. That's why you put the defense on the grass."
They failed, remarkably, against a team that was 1-2 on the season. First play of the game, inconsistent starter Anthony Richardson found Michael Pittman open for a 32-yard gain. A 14-yard run by Jonathan Taylor followed by a simple nine-yard run up the middle by Richardson on 3rd and 6 and ending in a Taylor TD from two-yards out.
Next possession, again on the first play, Richardson with a 28-yard pass to Pittman. Even when Richardson was stripped by DeShon Elliott, Colts would find a way to the ball. The Colts starting quarterback suffered an injury on the play as 39-year-old Joe Flacco came off the bench and threw a TD pass.
Flacco still the QB, on the second play of the third series, a 27-yard pass to Pittman on a drive ending in a field goal.
Three possessions, 17 points.
Tomlin had hoped to quiet the crowd, instead it got them off their feet and made it harder for his young offense.
"We just intensified the environmental component of the matchup, and so we've got to do a better job there," Tomlin said. "We can't warm up to the action. It really hadn't been us, but it was us defensively last weekend, and so I'm excited about getting that group out and in the stadium again."
It was an atypical performance by the defense in may ways, not just the 27 points, but only two sacks, 133 rushing yards allowed and 8-15 permitted on third down.
"That's a responsibility that I expect them to embrace," Tomlin said. "We've got a lot of veteran players, and whether they're new to us or not, we've got a lot of veteran players on that unit that understand the importance of that, and so looking forward to giving them another opportunity to manage that component of it."
Early defensive struggles against Cowboys Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, even with their inconsistent play early in the season, would present a similar hole. You'd be asking a lot of an offense to try and dig again.
Tomlin said he loved how the defense finished, but that's not enough with a group that experienced. A group built with so much draft capital. A group built with high salaries.
After its worst game of the season, how will the defense respond Sunday?
