PITTSBURGH STEELERS

3 BRIGHT SPOTS IN A BAD LOSS TO OAKLAND

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ already bad stretch has taken an even darker turn. With three straight losses, this one in Oakland pretty much tops them all.

It’s been a rough stretch for the Steelers. You might say it’s as bad as it being 1995 since your last win in Oakland. Losses to Denver and the L.A. Chargers are tough to take when in a playoff race, but losing to a 2-10 Oakland team in a really tough stretch on the schedule is catastrophic.

The first half was pretty mediocre, only scoring 14 points. The offense did only have four possessions in the first half and got into the red zone on three of them. Those resulted in two touchdowns and a missed field goal by Chris Boswell.

The second half is where things went bad. Ben Roethlisberger didn’t leave the locker room when the team went to the field for the second half with a rib injury. Josh Dobbs took over as the quarterback and the offense struggled mightily. In the four drives with Dobbs under center, they only totaled 64 yards combined with two punts, a turnover on downs, and an interception.

Oakland took a 17-14 lead with under six minutes to go in the game when Big Ben took over the offense again. He drove the offense down the field to take the lead back. Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t stop Derek Carr and the Oakland offense from scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 21 seconds remaining.

After an amazing hook-and-ladder play to JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Steelers were in range to kick the game-tying field goal. On the try, Chris Boswell slipped on his plant foot and the kick came out extremely low and was blocked. What a way to end it.

JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER

This guy is an elite receiver. There is no more arguing over it. JuJu Smith-Schuster had another great game. He hauled in eight catches for 130 yards and caught both of Big Ben’s passing touchdowns. He is becoming Ben’s most consistent target in the offense and showing off elite athleticism at the receiver position simultaneously.

The most impressive thing about JuJu this season has been his plays being made in clutch situations. He made an elite touchdown catch on an overthrow by Ben to close out the first half; he made a hard-fought catch in traffic for his second touchdown, and made a great run on a beautifully executed hook-and-ladder play that gave the Steelers a chance.

JuJu may be benefiting from double coverage on Antonio Brown, but other receivers haven’t flourished like this before when AB is dealing with double coverage. JuJu is special. That was clearly evident even in a bad loss.

BEN ROETHLISBERGER

There are other things that are clear. Another thing is that this Steelers offense is lost without Ben Roethlisberger at the helm.

Ben made some poor throws today. Almost all of his games leave you with some throws that you wonder what in the world was he thinking or maybe he had been eating that same popcorn Bruce ate from Adam Sandler’s rendition of The Longest Yard. But watching this offense struggle so much against a bad Raiders defense with Dobbs running the offense made every Steelers fan pine for the future Hall-of-Famer.

Outside of a couple poor throws, Ben was highly efficient and ran the offense well. He only threw four incomplete passes all game and got the team in position for points on all but one possession.

Who knows what the coaching staff was thinking when Ben stood on the sideline for about an entire quarter sporting a cap instead of a helmet on the field. Maybe the rib injury he suffered is more severe than they will admit, but it shouldn’t have taken four terrible series with Dobbs and Oakland’s taking back the lead to send him back out there.

As I said in an earlier article, the Steelers will go only as far as Ben will take them. As long as the defense doesn’t get in the way.

DEFENSIVE LINE

There isn’t much to praise about this defense. After being pretty solid during their six-game winning streak, they’ve been very bad during the three-game losing streak.

The lone bright spot is the defensive line with Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt, and Javon Hargrave. Early on in this game, the defense struggled to stop the run, but that was more on the linebackers not hitting their gaps or setting the edge. These three guys, more times than not, were constantly pushing their opponents backward.

Each of the three made eye-popping plays, with mainly Tuitt making the most of his opportunities. Heyward was great as always and Hargrave has turned into one of the most versatile interior defensive linemen in football.

Say whatever you want about the secondary and linebackers, but this defensive line is special. They are doing their job. They did their job again today in Oakland. Let’s hope they can do even better next week with the Patriots bound for Heinz Field.