Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Monday.
The Kickoff
What a disaster. It’s one thing to lose a game. It’s another to look so inept on one side of the ball. The Pittsburgh Steelers have now scored just one offensive touchdown through eight quarters as they fell in New England 20-3. The defense wasn’t perfect by any stretch but they kept the Steelers in the game with a couple of turnovers and timely plays but right now, the focus is clearly on a Steelers’ offense that can’t get out of it’s own way.
Rodgers and Company
Aaron Rodgers was sacked four times. He averaged just 4.8 yards per throw, fumbled and also had a bobbled ball intercepted. He finished 23/39 for 187 yards. While he certainly got no help from his porous offensive line, he never really got comfortable or on track. D.K. Metcalf followed up a brutal opener with more drop problems (4 Rec, 27 yards) and was largely a non-factor. Germie Bernard finished with four catches. Oddly enough they came on four straight plays. His 35 yards led the team in receiving. The running game was slightly better than it was versus Atlanta gaining 91 yards on 23 carries but it never was a threat to the Patriots.
This is so bad.
Defensively…
T.J. Watt collected a sack and a half while Derrick Harmon led all tacklers with eight. Patrick Queen had just two tackles but did have an interception off a Drake Maye underthrow. Where the defense struggled the most was against the run. New England ran 28 times for 136 yards for an average of just under five yards a carry. There were also a couple of blown coverages including one that saw Romeo Doubs go for 63 yards. That looked to be a failure by Rayshawn Jenkins but I’ll need to look at the tape more.
Let’s Talk About Coaching
Mike McCarthy said after the game that he “saw this coming from the offense in practice this week.” Teams have bad practices and even bad days but what was the reason the entire week of practice was so bad? It’s week two for crying out loud. Motivation shouldn’t have been an issue. Why wasn’t this addressed during the week? Of course the problem with the NFL now is that coaches are limited in terms of time they can practice. Therefore, if the team is having a shitty practice McCarthy can’t keep them on the field.
Around the North
The Bengals appear to be the class of the division through two weeks and now they come to Acrisure Sunday. Cincy went into Houston and held the Texans to just six points. Clearly their defense is playing better than in recent seasons. The Ravens blew another lead in losing to New Orleans in Baltimore while the Browns got a surprising win in Tampa. That game featured an hours long delay at the two minute warning.
Random Reads
The rotation among the top three OLBs continued Sunday with all three getting between 29 and 33 snaps… If you’re mad at Chris Boswell for missing two field goals, both of which were over 50+ yards, then aim your anger elsewhere. Like the offense perhaps… The decision to move the offensive line around so much is clearly a problem. It’s taking way longer than expected for these guys to gel… Rico Dowdle is now battling a toe injury. I’m not sold on him just yet as I expected more. Granted, the offensive line isn’t helping… Does anyone know the identity of this offense yet? Is it run-oriented? Pass-oriented? I honestly have no idea what they want to be… This game coming up with Cincinnati is one that Mike Tomlin would have found a way to win. Can Mike McCarthy do the same thing? We shall see…
Hot Reads is presented by
