Every team has defining moments in a season that can make or break a season. For the 2013 Pittsburgh Steelers, there were unfortunately more breaking moments that led the Steelers to missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season. We now look at the five plays that broke the Steelers stride in a tumultuous up and down season.
Down goes Pouncey
Four minutes into the 2013 season, the Steelers’ season had a nightmarish theme of impactful injuries. Every NFL franchise expects to deal with injuries throughout the season as injuries are common in the workplace. However, losing one of your best offensive weapons in Maurkice Pouncey after getting rolled up by David Decastro, the Steelers endured one of the worst offensive outputs in the last decade at Heinz Field. Once the Pro-Bowl center went down, the Steelers offensive line had to start shuffling moving parts around to keep their franchise quarterback upright. As strong as the Steelers finished the season, the offensive line never fully recovered until it was too late.
It Happens to the Best of them
Anytime a quarterback passes for 400 plus yards in a game, one would think his team faired well that day. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for the Steelers in 2013. Big Ben was 0-2 in games when he passed for more than 400 yards. In the Steelers’ Week 3 matchup against the Chicago Bears, Roethlisberger passed for 406 yards. He also coughed up two fumbles and threw two interceptions. Trailing Chicago 34-23 with 4:09 left, Roethlisberger was leading the Steelers down the field only to be sacked and his fumble was returned for a touchdown essentially handing the game over to the bears.
Dominance disappeared
Over the course of the season, we were seeing the stages of a once dominant defense starting to show its age. In the Steelers Week 8 matchup against the Oakland Raiders, we saw the age and the dominance wither away on a single play. Terrelle Pyor, the Oakland Raiders quarterback, who would only start at quarterback for a lowly Raiders team took the opening play 93 yards for a touchdown. That play completely derailed the Steelers for the entire game. When the Steelers did decide to wake up and get back into the game, they simply ran out of time.
One-Way-Ticket Out
During the offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers matched the offer sheet from the New England Patriots to Emmanuel Sanders. In doing so, the Steelers envisioned Sanders becoming a legitimate number two threat at the wide receiver position. Throughout the course of the season, Sanders never really lived up to those expectations. In Week 13’s matchup against the Ravens, Sanders had the opportunity to erase all of those expectations and numbers with one play. He didn’t. In the end, the Steelers failed to complete the two point conversion, lost the game 22-20, and Emmanuel Sanders played his way out of Pittsburgh.
Fundamentals overlooked
In Week 14, the Pittsburgh Steelers played in a thrilling 60-minute contest with the Miami Dolphins. For a game that will always be remembered for the final play of the game, that play should have never happened in the first place. Charles Clay, tight end for the Miami Dolphins, finished the day with seven receptions good for 97 yards and two touchdowns. Forty-six of his yards were obtained after six missed tackles by the Steelers. Late in the fourth quarter, Clay caught a pass short of the first down looking to be stopped by Cortez Allen. Clay breaks that tackle, only to be met by future Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu. Clay, however, breaks that tackle and streaks into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown, undeniably becoming the defining moment in this game as fundamentals were overlooked.
