Steelers’ shortcomings go well beyond final drive: ‘Gotta stop kicking our own ass’
PITTSBURGH — With the ball at the 1-yard line and 35 seconds on the clock, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Elandon Roberts flew downhill ready for a collision.
The 6-foot-1, 238-pound defender whom coach Mike Tomlin affectionately calls a "tooth chipper" jumped over the pile to meet Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle head-on as he reached for the end zone.
The impact jarred the ball loose and, for a second, it lay on the turf. Had the Steelers recovered the second-down fumble, they would have survived the Cowboys' late rally and escaped with a win. Instead, Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott recovered, breathing new life into the Cowboys.
Two plays later, on fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line, the Cowboys ran a mesh concept over the middle, a perfect man-coverage beater. As Steelers safety DeShon Elliott fought through the traffic to find the receiver running a crossing route, he was a step slow getting to Jalen Tolbert , who reeled in Prescott's pass for the game-winning touchdown.
The play capped the Cowboys' 15-play, 70-yard drive that lifted Dallas to a 20-17 victory at Acrisure Stadium. The once 3-0 Steelers have now lost back-to-back games to fall to 3-2.
-ahead TD throw"There's a fine line between drinking wine and squashing grapes in our business," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said, reflecting on the fumble. "That's an example of it. The ball was on the ground there in our red area. That's the difference."
Or was it?
Last week, when the Steelers dropped a three-point game to the Indianapolis Colts , it was easy to look back, pinpoint a handful of plays and imagine the result going the other way. This game was similar in a way, sure. Quarterback Justin Fields felt his deep shot to Connor Heyward on the first drive was "six inches" from a big play. Later in the first half, his pass to Darnell Washington floated just high in the red zone. On defense, players were pointing to penalties on critical downs and the late-game letdown near the goal line.
But when you zoom out, this really was not a case of one or two plays making the difference. Had the Steelers won, they would have done so in spite of themselves. Instead, the two losses show that there are recurring trends emerging that are holding Pittsburgh back.
Offensively, the Steelers have been plagued by repeated slow starts. The talk going into this week was about building on the second-half momentum created in Indianapolis. Trying to ignite his unit early, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith broke from his tendencies by calling more first-down passes. While the approach was sound, the execution was missing. In the first half, the Steelers scored three points and tallied a dismal 89 yards of offense.
"I think the recurring thing is shooting ourselves in the foot," Fields said. "Penalties. False starts. Stuff like that. It just comes down to execution."
The Steelers were flagged eight times for 50 yards. The sequence that best encapsulates the miscues on offense came on the Steelers' third possession. They went three-and-out in a sequence that included a pair of false starts and a sack.
"We gotta stop doing stupid things," tight end Pat Freiermuth said. "We had offsides, two of them ... and certainly manageable situations where we could have got the first down to get the drive going. We gotta stop kicking our own ass."
The Steelers know what kind of offense they want to be: a dominant rushing team that can consistently pick up yards, even against stacked boxes, to set up manageable third downs. If anything, this should have been an opportunity for Pittsburgh to establish its identity. The Dallas defense was playing without stars Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence and entered the game allowing the sixth-most rushing yards in the league.
Yet, the Steelers running game again struggled to find its footing. Najee Harris ran 14 times for 42 yards (3.0 average), and as a whole, the Steelers recorded 92 rushing yards on 26 carries (3.5). The Cowboys had allowed 4.6 yards per carry over the first four weeks. With inconsistent rushes and penalties setting them back, the Steelers converted just 3 of 12 third-down opportunities.
"I think we know who we are," Fields said. "We're a team that's predicated on running the football, staying on schedule on first and second down and then executing on third down. We just didn't get the job done."
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has been building this defense for years to be the backbone of the team. Evaluating that side of the ball is a bit more complicated. Yes, the Steelers held a potent passing attack to just 20 points. They produced three potentially game-changing turnovers and, with mostly defensive players on the field, blocked a field goal.
But the 445 yards the Cowboys gained is a more accurate representation of how the defense performed.
"When you look at this game, not a lot of ebbs and flows. (It was) just a roller coaster," defensive co-captain Cameron Heyward said. "We had good plays, bad plays. I think when you look at this game, you're kicking yourself because we missed some golden opportunities."
Missed opportunities and, more to the point, miscommunications were a problem on at least one — maybe two — of the touchdowns the Colts scored last week. Again, getting on the same page was a problem, leading to several chunk plays between the 20s. The Cowboys produced 15 plays of 10-plus yards, including five completions of 20-plus yards.
"It just felt on the back end, we just just ... almost," cornerback Donte Jackson said. "Just too many almosts."
Even with the slow start on offense and the issues on defense, the Steelers looked for a minute like they'd escape with a win.
The Steelers' defensive anthem, "Renegade," blared through the speakers as T.J. Watt and company took the field early in the fourth quarter. Trailing by three points with 10:28 remaining, Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. chased down a Prescott overthrow and returned it 16 yards to the Steelers' 37-yard line.
That set the stage for Fields. The QB completed a season-low 55.6 percent of his passes (15 for 27) for 131 yards. But in crunch time, he led the Steelers down the field on a 12-play, 63-yard drive, capped by a 6-yard shovel pass to Freiermuth for a touchdown, Fields' second through the air on the day.
Victory was within reach with less than five minutes remaining and a 17-13 lead. The Steelers defense needed just one stop. And they couldn't get it.
"If you put the game in our hands, we want to win the game," Porter said. "And we're expected to win the game."
It didn't happen. The Cowboys marched down the field, chewing up 4:36 of clock on the 15-play drive. They faced just two third downs, a third-and-1 that Ezekiel Elliott converted and a third-and-goal from the 4 that fell incomplete. But on fourth down, the Cowboys dialed up the bang-bang play that went in their favor.
"Those touchdowns were on me," said DeShon Elliott, who was also in coverage on the Cowboys' third-quarter touchdown. "Without those touchdowns, we win the game."
When a reporter pointed out that Elliott made plenty of positive plays for the Steelers, tallying nine tackles, he responded: "But I didn't make the one that we needed."
As the Steelers look ahead to Week 6 in Las Vegas, the focus will be on starting faster, cleaning up the penalties and correcting the miscommunications. At the same time, the quarterback question might dominate the headlines.
Russell Wilson increased his workload in practice this week. According to the NBC broadcast, the QB believes he should be ready next week. One way or another, the long-awaited QB decision is coming to a head.
By losing back-to-back games and playing arguably his worst game as a Steeler on Sunday, Fields has left the door open for Wilson to reclaim the starting role.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But it's clear that Tomlin's opinion is the only one that matters. Only time will tell when Wilson will be healthy enough to be in the conversation, when Tomlin will make the much anticipated announcement and which QB he'll choose.
(Photo of Pat Freiermuth: Joe Sargent / )
