Plenty taking blame as Steelers offense stinks

FOXBOROUGH, MA (93.7 The Fan) – There were a lot of ‘bottom line’ conversations after the Steelers lost to New England 20-3 Sunday afternoon. The bottom line is in two games, the Steelers offense has one touchdown.

If you are looking to place blame, Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy was quick to accept the arrows.

“It starts with me,” McCarthy said. “I'm calling the offense. I have to get the detail better. If you need someone, fire away. I felt it on Wednesday and Thursday (at practice). I'm a veteran coach. I know better. I didn't do a good job.”

McCarthy explained that he felt it going sideways during the week. He said the offense was herky-jerky—the protections weren’t clean, communication breakdowns took away some opportunities. The run game was herky-jerky, this is all per the Steelers first-year head coach.

The stats back all of that up—Aaron Rodgers sacked four times, hit seven. A pair of turnovers, one returned for a touchdown. Rushing for 91 yards, some of that coming against a prevent defense. Rodgers averaged only 4.7 yards per attempt, and again that is inflated by check-downs later in the game.

Let’s start up front.

“We put a lot of time and energy into the protection component of how we felt today's game was going to go,” McCarthy said. “Expected pressure, got pressure. We didn't answer the bell. Our protections weren't clean.”

“Something got to change,” said offensive tackle Troy Fautanu. “I don’t know if we aren’t working hard enough as an offense. We aren’t working hard enough as an O-line or just not connecting well with each other. Something got to change.”

He believes that starts watching back the game film and ‘figuring some things out’.

Rodgers mentioned that the pocket wasn’t stable, although saying the Patriots often came with six-man pressure. McCarthy wants to take more shots down the field, but the offensive line play wasn’t stable.

There were also a couple of plays missed. Steelers drove early in the fourth quarter and a Germie Bernard bobble lead to an interception. DK Metcalf with another huge drop.

“Very frustrating, especially starting with myself,” Metcalf said, adding his teammates kept trying to encourage him. “We just got to be better all-around on offense.”

As a couple decade veteran, Rodgers put it on himself for not telling McCarthy what they should run.

“We've got to keep taking the ownership,” Rodgers said. “In a game like today where there wasn't a lot of flow to it, we need to be better, and that starts with me at making sure Mike [McCarthy] knows what's working, what's not working, our coaches know, so we can call stuff that we feel like has a better chance.”

“Coach McCarthy said it best, the defense gave up 13 points, we should win every game when the defense gives up 13 points,” said tight end Pat Freiermuth. “They’ve been balling in the past few weeks. We have a responsibility on offense to play complete team football. Whatever it takes throughout the week to do that, we need to do that.”

And that starts inward.

“People have to process throughout the week and see how they can better themselves so when get out into a game-type situation we can execute,” Freiermuth said. “We’re not far off, it’s Week 2. We have to go out there and not shoot ourselves in the foot. I feel like year after year I keep saying that, but I feel like we have the right formula and the right guys in the locker room to really change the tide. It’s just a play here or there.”

“I think we've got to take ownership as players,” Rodgers said. “We've got to be accountable to each other about our performance. Mine wasn't good enough, and a lot of guys on offense wasn't good enough. We've got to start with ourselves and not point the finger and not ride the roller coaster.”

“This is a long season. They're the Super Bowl team from last year; we knew it was going to be a tough game. Our defense played excellent football. When they hold them to 13 points, we've got to win the game. It's definitely on us

to play better.”

“You're not going to see me panic. I don't think Mike's [McCarthy] going to panic. Urgency is going to go up for sure, but no panic.”

Rodgers expects the team to handle the urgency well, but as he said that’s got to come from the group—offense or defense.

“We all just got to grow, every player has got to look in the mirror and say ‘I got to be better’,” said Cam Heyward. “We got to be better, I look forward to leading that charge.”