What a game. And what a loss. The Pittsburgh Steelers (4-5) almost held on to beat the Dallas Cowboys (8-1) but ending up falling, 35-30, on a last-second touchdown run by Ezekiel Elliott.
Here’s this week’s edition of “Three up, three down.”
Three up:
Roethlisberger shines at Heinz Field— Well, you certainly can’t blame the crushing loss to the Cowboys on the Steelers’ franchise signal caller. Once again, Ben Roethlisberger put up massive numbers at home, tallying 408 yards through the air with three touchdowns while completing 80 percent of his passes.
Roethlisberger’s Dan Marino-like “fake spike” play that led to what looked to be the winning 15-yard touchdown toss to Antonio Brown was magnificent. But it happened with too much time left on the clock for Pittsburgh’s defense. What a shame.
It wasn’t a perfect night for Roethlisberger, considering he was 0 for 4 on 2-point conversion attempts. Part of why head coach Mike Tomlin is so aggressive with the conversion attempts isn’t just about the numbers, it’s because Roethlisberger and the offense are so good at them in practice.
Bell and Brown find ways to produce at elite level— Despite the Steelers’ rushing attack being held to 48 net yards, Le’Veon Bell was still able to produce 134 total yards and two scores. Much of the damage came on his nine catches that netted 77 yards and a touchdown.
You have to worry about Bell’s durability the rest of the way as he took a pounding. With few weapons beyond Bell making consistent contributions, it’s a concern.
Antonio Brown did his part with 14 catches for 154 yards and the aforementioned touchdown grab with 46 seconds left.
Fewer penalties but…— After combining for 23 penalties the past two weeks, the Steelers were able to stay relatively disciplined in this regard, only getting called Sunday for four for 40 yards. That’s fine and dandy, however, two fourth quarter personal foul penalties — one on Sean Davis the other on Ross Cockrell — were absolutely crippling and helped fuel two pivotal Cowboys touchdown drives.
Three down:
Dear lord, this defense— Despite its rough stretch, I’ve tended to believe this team has what it takes to make a playoff run. Maybe it still does, but this defense has just been flat out putrid.
For all the talk about what a great camp Javon Hargrave had, he’s struggling mightily to man the interior. To say that Hargrave had a tough Sunday would be an understatement, and it was a stark reminder to Steelers GM Kevin Colbert that the inability to find a defensive tackle who can win battles (Daniel McCullers, anyone?) is killing the cause.
Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt weren’t much better. Tuitt was credited with a sack but didn’t make enough plays beyond that. Same can be said for Heyward, who ended the night with two tackles and couldn’t win the battle against a Cowboys offensive line that, to be fair, is probably the best in the NFL.
So, about that defense— This might be the worst linebacking group the Steelers have had in quite a while. Outside of an early sack and a forced fumble by Anthony Chickillo and some flashes time to time from Ryan Shazier, this group just isn’t making nearly enough plays. Lawrence Timmons is a shell of himself. Remember when Pittsburgh’s linebacking corps was among the finest in the league? Not so much anymore.
Then there’s the secondary. Give rookies Artie Burns and Sean Davis some credit, they look like they have some real promise despite some struggles yesterday. Burns, in particular, had trouble dealing with Cowboys star receiver Dez Bryant — but Burns isn’t the first to struggle against Bryant and won’t be the last.
Burns’ struggles probably could have been avoided or at least limited. Why is defensive coordinator Keith Butler leaving the rookie out on an island on Bryant? Why not have Cockrell shadow Burns? Where was the over-the-top help on Bryant’s 50-yard touchdown grab?
That leaves the safeties. Let’s just say the play of the safeties has been god-awful. Both Mike Mitchell and Robert Golden whiffed on chances to tackle Ezekiel Elliot on a short screen pass that became an 83-yard touchdown. Golden is starting to look like more of a backup/special teams player every week, and his play was far below the line last night.
Mitchell’s play is particularly galling, because of all the trash talking he did ahead of last week’s loss to the Ravens, only to miss a tackle on a 95-yard touchdown by Mike Wallace.
How about a little less talk, a little more production?
Accountability— There’s been a lot of talk about accountability in the wake of last night’s heartbreaking loss to a team that looks like a frontrunner to win the NFC crown.
Maybe the accountability lies with the coaches. I frankly only had a problem with the second of the four two-point conversion attempts, so you won’t hear me go crazy criticizing Tomlin for that. But the defense under Butler is giving up way too many big plays and is getting gashed by the run. There’s no pressure on opposing quarterbacks, and forced turnovers are few and far between. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley has talked at length about an offense that will score 30-plus points game in, game out. Yet some of the play calling is out of sorts, and his unit lacks consistency.
Special teams coach Danny Smith has to be worried about his job after his unit was flat-out dreadful yesterday. I could write a long column on that aspect of the loss alone.
You can blame the coaches. It’s easy, it’s convenient. But I won’t go the easy route and oversimplify it — the accountability is on the players, first and foremost. This loss wasn’t about game plans or risky, aggressive play calls, it’s about execution.
This team is losing because it’s failing to execute in all phases consistently enough to win in an increasingly competitive league where parity is the common theme. It’s time to be accountable and find a way to win.
No more excuses; it’s time to get the job done.
Image credit: Steelers.com
