PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Arthur Smith’s offense lacked the physicality that was promised along with the bottom line lack of scoring in a 9-3 loss to the Bills on Saturday night. The explanation from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was a little deeper than that.
“Still not winning enough possession downs on offense, particularly early, in an effort to establish rhythm in game plays and develop personality and so forth when you're not winning possession downs in the early portions of the game,” Tomlin said. “All those things really get stymied. Included in that but also separate from that, I thought we didn't do a good enough job of protecting the quarterback.
Related
Between Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, the offense combined for a field goal and failed to take advantage of the lone turnover of the game, an interception by Miles Killebrew off Mitch Trubisky.
The longest play of the game was a 20-yard run by Justin Fields during the two-minute drill. The second-longest was a 19-yard scramble as Fields was able to find receiver Dez Fitzpatrick on the sidelines late in the fourth quarter.
On the first six possessions of the game, the Steelers combined for 53 yards. There were five possessions with only five offensive plays or fewer and the QBs were sacked four times and hurried 10 other times.
“We've got to do a better job in pass protection than we did not only in possession downs but just in general,” Tomlin said. “I was really up front with the group about it in that regard. That can't be a problem for us. We've got to be better than we were tonight in that area.”
Wilson ran the first five series combining for 21 plays and going 8 of 10 passing. Tomlin called his game an incomplete study because he never got a chance to establish rhythm because of not winning the possession downs.
“I think the biggest thing is staying on schedule,” Wilson said. “I think we had too many 3rd and longs in the first two drives in particular, and we did some good things on offense, but at the same time, we've just got to give ourselves the best chance possible to be successful, and that's 3rd and shorts and 3rd and mediums.”
Justin Fields came in on the sixth series of the game and while he had a seven-play drive for a field goal, he had 14 and 11-play drives that ended not converting on fourth down.
“I just want to show cleanliness,” Fields said. “I want to put drives together and end it with points. I think we had long drives. We converted on some third downs. I think next week we have to end those with touchdowns and points. That’s the biggest thing, you can have however many yards and do this and do that, but if you don’t end the drive in points, none of it matters.”
Fields finished 11-17 for 92 yards and ran for a team-high 42 yards.
Broderick Jones
There were reports, even after the injury, Troy Fautanu would be the starting right tackle and Broderick Jones would move over to the left. Jones struggled a lot against Bills edge rusher Greg Rousseau giving up a couple of sacks and disrupting at least two other plays. In all of 2023, Jones allowed four sacks.
Finding time for Nick Herbig
It’s not that you are ever wanting to have fewer reps for TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith, but Nick Herbig continues to take advantage of opportunities. Last year in the preseason, 3.5 sacks and then could have three sacks in his 191 defensive snaps. After a sack against Houston, another 1.5 sacks and four tackles for Herbig in less than a half of play against Buffalo.
“There is never going to be a true time when you are like ‘hey, I’m ready’,” Herbig said. “You just got to stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.”
Herbig said Mike Tomlin called him ‘Mr. Herbig’ coming off the field and he called one of the top-five best feelings in the world for him to have Tomlin recognize him like that. As for where he’s improved this year.
“I think just recognizing alignments and pre-snap things, stuff I wasn’t keen to last year,” Herbig said of his improvement. “I think that’s coaching and being around guys like TJ and Alex and seeing how they go about their business and trying to take mental notes of that.”