In the middle of a tight AFC playoff race, all signs pointed to the Pittsburgh Steelers coming out of the gates strong following their bye week.
They had a week off to recharge the batteries, got some key players back healthy, had a New Orleans Saints team coming to town that has been especially poor on the road and was coming off a short week having played Monday night.
Those are the types of things that you can throw out the window when trying to figure this Steelers team out though, evident by a 35-32 loss that could severely impact their playoff hopes.
There wasn’t much to like about the Steelers performance on Sunday, as I hand out my weekly grades in my Steelers Report Card.
Quarterback: This was an anticipated matchup of two of the NFL’s premiere signal callers, but unfortunately Ben Roethlisberger didn’t play that way. His stat line that reads 32-for-58 for 425 yards and a pair of scores is very deceiving as all of his production came when the game was out of hand.
Roethlisberger claimed after the game that the issue wasn’t with his hand, which he clearly hurt during the game, but something was wrong as he was missing high and wide all afternoon long. The two interceptions were killers and truth be told Roethlisberger was fortunate that he didn’t throw four or five picks. This is hands down his lowest grade of the season. Grade: D-
Running Backs: Le’Veon Bell gained 71 yards in the first quarter on the ground, but because the Steelers couldn’t score touchdowns and fell behind, they all but abandoned what was working. He did have a team-high 11 catches for 159 yards to go along with 95 yards rushing and a touchdown. He did his job. Grade: A
Wide Receivers: Heath Miller had a positive day with eight catches for 82 yards and Antonio Brown finished with eight catches for 97 yards and a pair of meaningless late touchdowns. No other receiver made an impact and as the Saints took away the deep ball. Roethlisberger didn’t give his receivers much of a chance, but it was a pretty unproductive day from their perspective as well. Grade: C-
Offensive Line: They got off to a good start as for one quarter Roethlisberger was sacked only once and Bell was chewing up yards on the ground. But as the game wore on the Saints were able to collapse the pocket frequently, tipping quite a few passes. Bell did average 4.5 yards per carry, but did all of his damage early on. Grade: C-
Defensive Line: Truth be told, the Saints offense got going when they decided to start running right at Cam Thomas. Once they did that, they had huge holes and cutback lanes the rest of the game. Mark Ingram ran for 122 yards on 23 carries, which turns out to be the most by any back this season. Once he got going he made things easier for Drew Bress. The Steelers front provide no pressure as they were torched both on the ground and through the air. The also lost defensive end Brett Keisel for the season, which hurts moving forward. Grade: F
Linebackers: Let’s not just blame the defensive line as Ingram made the linebackers miss plenty of tackles as well. James Harrison also lost Ben Watson in covarge for the Saints first touchdown. Jason Worilds had a season-high 11 tackles to go with the Steelers only sack, but it is the same old story. These guys can’t provide consistent pressure and the Steelers defense gets lit up. Grade: D-
Secondary: It’s like a broken record with the Steelers secondary. Ike Taylor comes back and gets beat deep. William Gay gets torched frequently. Troy Polamalu is missing tackles and Mike Mitchell is well Mike Mitchell. On a day where the Saints don’t even target Jimmy Graham, the Steelers secondary gets picked apart as Brees threw five touchdowns to five different receivers. Grade: F
Special Teams: Shaun Suisham went 3-for-4 kicking field goals and Markus Wheaton had a nice kickoff return as Wheaton is starting to be productive as a returner. However Antonio Brown has not been a productive punt returner this season, as he hasn’t had a 15 yard return since Week 1. Grade: C+
Coaching: Another loss to a team with a poor record and coming off a bye week nonetheless. Under this coaching staff, that’s who this team is. Grade: F
Photo Credit: Getty Images
