There is no wrong answer. If the object is both to
pinpoint why the Steelers haven’t played winning football through the first
quarter of the 2018 regular season and to assign culpability for their spot
alongside the Cleveland Browns in the basement of the AFC North Division,
anything and anyone is fair game.
That’s certainly the case following Sunday night’s stinker
against the Baltimore Ravens, officially a 26-14 defeat that never felt as
close as the score indicated. The Steelers started slow and finished with a
whimper, and in between they were outplayed in some ways that could be
supported by statistical evidence and in some others where the visual spoke
louder than any collection of numbers could.
Football is a team sport, and that was a team loss, a game
where selecting the best player in a Steelers uniform came down to picking the
one with the fewest warts.
We’ll start with the statistics because everyone can
understand the ways in which numbers can paint a picture, and it’s not a pretty
one.
A common axiom in sports is that it’s not how you start but
how you finish, and the 2018 Steelers haven’t done either of those particularly
well. After the first quarter on Sunday night, the Steelers had been outscored
in the first quarters of their regular season games, 42-6, with the particular
deficit against the Ravens working out to 14-0. And since they were outscored,
9-0, on Sunday night in the fourth quarter that made their composite deficit in
that period a significant 44-9, and that during the 15-minute segment of each
game where good teams are finding ways to win.
Specifically against the Ravens, the two touchdown deficit
right from the start was fashioned by a defense that couldn’t get off the field
on the game’s opening possession, which then was compounded by a three-play
possession by the offense ending with a turnover that sent the defense back
onto the field at the Pittsburgh 31-yard line.
The Steelers gathered themselves to forge a 14-14 tie at
halftime, and they did it the way they had dug themselves into that early hole
– through the combined efforts of all three phases, and it was through the same
combination, albeit in the opposite way, that sent them to their doom in the
second half.
Depending upon the particular viewpoint, what happened in
the second half at Heinz Field either resulted from the Steelers offense’s
inability to convert on third down, or their defense’s inability even to get
the Ravens into a third down situation they couldn’t convert. Either way,
Baltimore possessed the ball for almost 22 of the half’s 30 minutes, and that
was reflected on the scoreboard by four Justin Tucker field goals and the
Steelers offense not being able to cross midfield.
All things considered, based on the way games are now
trending in the NFL, a defense that allows only two touchdowns and is tough
enough in scoring territory to hold the opponent to a 1-for-5 efficiency in the
red zone – especially an offense that came into the game ranked No. 1 in the
NFL in red zone efficiency – that should be enough to contribute to a victory.
In no way should the above paragraph imply a stout
performance by the Steelers defense, because the unit allowed 451 total net
yards, including 355 passing by Joe Flacco, who got there by completing 66.7
percent of his attempts. But allowing that point total would’ve been good
enough to win nine of the other 14 games played over the weekend, which shows
how little defense is actually played in the NFL these days and how
underachieving the Steelers offense was on Sunday.
After the game, Ben Roethlisberger faced the microphones and
laid the blame on himself. “You know, I don’t think I’m on the same page as
anybody right now. I’m not playing well enough. I need to play better. Today
was just a bad day at the office, we all have them. I had one today and I
promise I’ll be back to play better.”
A noble sentiment, and not untrue, but way too simplistic
for where the Steelers are one quarter of the way through their regular season.
Sticking with the offense, the running game either was ineffective and
abandoned, or abandoned and therefore ineffective, but 19 yards on 11 attempts
is pathetic production either way.
And regardless of how many three-and-outs the offense posted
in the second half, the defense has to be better than allowing the opponent to
put together four scoring drives in five second half possessions before
take-a-knee time. And hey, there’s nothing in the rule book preventing special
teams from making a big play at some point, either.
Today, the Steelers are 25 percent of the way through their
regular season schedule and they’re tied for last place in the AFC North with
the Cleveland Browns. There still is a lot of season left, but at this point
it’s really unclear whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Because while it might still be too early to say they can’t,
it’s also accurate to look at their body of work to this point and say they
aren’t.
No comments:
Post a Comment