My Visceral Reaction to Steelers Loss vs. Cowboys
My oh my…what a difference two weeks makes in the National Football League. Two weeks ago, I saw an offense that was improving every single week and a defense that was looking like the league’s best. Then, both sides of the ball came out flat in a loss against the Colts, but I was able to find a silver lining in that loss…and that was Justin Fields letting it rip and keeping us in the game with his arm. THEN, on Sunday, the Cowboys marched into Pittsburgh with injuries all over the damn place, and stole one on the road on a (basically) walk off touchdown pass to Jalen Tolbert.
It’s really hard for me to find a silver lining after this one. To me, we should’ve kicked this team's ass. The Cowboys came into this game awful against the run, yet the Steelers were only able to average 3.5 yards per carry as a team. I figured this week would be a nice confidence builder for Najee Harris and the offensive line, but he just wasn’t able to get much done. He’s averaging 3.3 yards per carry so far this season. That’s just not going to cut it from RB1. It’s looking like we’ll be without Cordarelle Patterson, and perhaps, Jaylen Warren for another week, so it’s hard to feel good about the RB room right now.
Maybe the only room we’re feeling worse about for the Steelers is the WR room. First off…what the fuck is going on with George Pickens? I, along with many others, ripped him pretty hard last week after that careless fumble, but he still finished that game with 113 receiving yards. I figured he would come out fired up against the Cowboys. Instead, I’m hearing rumblings that the team could be looking to trade him, he was jogging on routes in the fourth quarter against the Cowboys, and he seemed to be alienated by his teammates on the sidelines. Not only that, but he only played 57% of the snaps against the Cowboys. For context, Brandon Aiyuk played 92% of the 49ers snaps against the Cardinals. Still, when you think about what the rest of the WR room looks like behind Pickens, it’s asinine, to me, to think that this team could be looking to trade him, regardless of his alleged antics. Their #2 receiver, Van Jefferson, has 62 yards through 5 games. Pickens needs help, desperately, but that doesn’t excuse him from half-assing routes in the waning moments of the game.
It’s hard not to think about the Antonio Brown debacle toward the end of his time with the Steelers, when you’re speaking on the drama surrounding George Pickens. We lauded Coach Tomlin for his ability to keep a lot of the issues the team had with AB in-house, but every once in a while, usually after a bad loss, it would spill over and the National media would catch wind of it, and it would be a big talking point. The difference back then was we had a Hall of Fame quarterback and decent weapons behind AB. I expect Tomlin to continue to keep it hush hush going forward as it pertains to Pickens, but IF he’s limiting Pickens’ snap count as a form of punishment, that’s just insane to me, and Coach should be suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. Regardless of whether or not you think he’s a diva, he is, by far, your best weapon on offense, and he should be playing near 100% of the snaps every single week, assuming he’s healthy. With that being said, it’s hard to justify doing that when he’s very clearly not run-blocking and not running his routes at full speed. It’s just a shit situation. It’s worth noting that, historically speaking, when social media gets on his ass for his effort, he tends to come out and explode in the next game, and the Raiders defense gives him a solid opportunity to do just that.
While we’re on the topic of pass catchers, however, I want to give Justin Fields his flowers as well. He finished the game with only 131 yards and 2 touchdowns, but the box score doesn’t show you the myriad of drops and missed opportunities by the other skill guys on offense. There was a long ball to Connor Heyward that was dropped, a sideline throw to Van Jefferson that was dropped, and then a deep ball in the fourth that would’ve been perfect IF George Pickens was running his route full speed. It’s a repeat of last week @ IND where the offense left a ton of points on the field. Against Dallas, however, that wasn’t Justin Fields’ fault. He played mistake-free football, and did enough to win you that game. What sucks about this the most, is that because it was a Nationally televised game, now you’ve got the National media using Russell Wilson’s health coming into this week as a talking point to say that it could be time to make a change at quarterback. I don’t agree with that sentiment even a little bit. Russell Wilson isn’t going to throw the aforementioned balls any better than Justin Fields did, and he’s not as mobile when escaping the pocket. But, if you’re in the Steelers front office, this is the kind of shit you signed up for when you came into the year with no decent pass-catchers outside of George Pickens and TE Pat Freiermuth. Now, your skill position guys are dropping balls, and casuals are calling for a QB change. It’s just stupid and frustrating that we’re talking about that right now. If any one of those three balls I mentioned earlier is caught, that potentially changes the entire game and leads to a win, and then there’s no way in hell we’re asking for a QB change. If you want to show the world you’re serious about winning with this core, you better go out and get yourself a guy like Davante Adams, and let Justin Fields cook.
As for the defense, I haven’t rewatched the game yet, but I don’t necessarily feel like the defense played all that bad. We won the turnover battle 3-0, and TJ Watt secured his 100th career sack, which was pretty cool. The difference, to me, was the Cowboys were able to sustain drives on 3rd down, and the Steelers were not. That’s what it really comes down to. This is the league’s highest paid defense, so maybe I should expect them to win, situationally, more often than they have the last two weeks. However, I also think that regardless of the huge names on defense, we can’t ask them to win us the game every single week. More often than not, I like the defense's odds to do just that. But, against the Colts, and in the 4th quarter against the Cowboys, that just wasn’t the case.
Like I said, it’s just hard for me to feel good about anything that the Steelers are doing right now. They have a chance to get their shit together and make things right against an inconsistent Raiders team. We are pretty banged up after the Cowboys game, though, and could be without Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig, Demarvin Leal, Cordarrelle Patterson, Jaylen Warren, and Damontae Kazee.
I think, when I go back and watch this Cowboys game again, I’m going to focus on Patrick Queen. He has been quiet so far this year. More on that later.
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