The Pittsburgh Steelers returned home and dropped a 20-10 decision to the Jacksonville Jaguars. These are my thoughts as the game unfolded.
Offense
-I liked the start (come out throwing), but Diontae Johnson has to make that catch. Guys making his kind of money make those grabs.
-Najee Harris has to stay between the tackles. He’s too heavy to get around the edge right now.
-After four straight three and out drives the offense came to life from their own two yard line and got a field goal out of it.
-Kenny Pickett had Diontae Johnson in the end zone but threw behind him. He has to hit that throw.
-Rodney Williams, who was on the Practice Squad just a few weeks back is getting serious time on offense. His blocking is really solid.
-There is zero reason for George Pickens to go with so few touches for so long in any game. Matt Canada has to get the ball into his hands any way possible. His one reception went for a 22 yard TD and he had just four other targets.
-Mitch Trubisky is what he is. He makes poor decisions and poor throws. Not sure if we should expect much from him should he be needed for an extended period.
-Of all the disappointing things with this unit I’d have to start with the offensive line. This was supposed to be a strength of this offense and its been anything but. Protection issues still exist and there’s very little push in the running game.
Defense
-Atrocious pass interference call on James Pierre on the opening drive for JAX. He was driving for the ball just as the receiver was.
-Defense holding to JAX to field goals early as offense struggles. See if this matters later on.
-Another horrible call. This time on Keanu Neal. A textbook hit called roughing the passer. Terrible. To make matters worse, the Jags hit Kenny Pickett at least three times in the exact same manner with nothing called.
-Great play Damontae Kazee on a very ill-advised throw from Trevor Lawrence.
-Minkah Fitzpatrick’s injury forced the Steelers into some more cover 2 looks and what I’d call “more vanilla D” overall.
-Damontae Kazee looked to be the culprit who blew coverage on Travis Etienne’s long TD catch.
-I see no reason to go back to Levi Wallace. Joey Porter, Jr still has tackling issues and he’ll make mistakes in coverage but let’s be real. This team isn’t going anywhere and you need to get JPJ as many snaps as possible.
-T.J. Watt has been relatively invisible the last two weeks. He did have a big interception last week and half a sack today but don’t we expect more from both him and Alex Highsmith?
Special Teams
-I have never in my life seen a “guard lined up over the center in the neutral zone” called. And it took away three points. The same official would later screw up a fumble which thankfully another official came in and overruled.
-Poor day overall for Pressley Harvin III. He averaged just 42.8 yards on six punts.
Up Next
The Steelers have a quick turnaround as the they host Tennessee on Thursday night. At this time, I would not expect to have Kenny Pickett or Minkah Fitzpatrick.
