After a 34-3 beatdown, it was fair to wonder if the Pittsburgh Steelers were just going to burn the tape, turn the page, flat out move the heck on.
It sounds like a nice, symbolic gesture, but that didn’t happen in the team facility this week. They watched every single play, as Todd Haley told Bob Labriola in this week’s Coordinator’s Corner on SNR.
“We had a tough Monday in here where we combed through that game painfully every play. We always talk to the guys about not being sensitive, coaches included. We can’t be sensitive. You look at it for what it is, what your role was, and grow from it.”
And it was just ugly football. Too many turnovers, not enough third down conversions, inefficient red zone play, and an offense whose best drive ended on a blocked field goal. The injury report, with Ramon Foster and Eli Rogers “very questionable” to play doesn’t help matters.
The Steelers, as Haley told Labriola, will need to be much more detailed in their work against a tough Kansas City team.
“We didn’t execute at the end of it, quarterback made a great play, and we drop the ball in the end zone for what would’ve been a touchdown. We get down there on our third drive and the ball doesn’t come out, we get sacked, and obviously have to settle for three. When the other team is scoring points, you have to be efficient and finish off drives and do the little things.”
It was a surprising lack of detail for an offense that put up 38 in Week One and even 24 in Week Two, even when the offense clearly wasn’t hitting every detail. It’s only the third time under Mike Tomlin the Steelers have been held to three or fewer points; once with a clearly-injured Ben Roethlisberger against San Francisco in 2011 and in 2007 during the Hurricane-game versus Miami.
There was no such excuse this time. The key players all healthy. The weather as good as it’ll be any day this season. Just a flat out lousy performance. And one that’ll need to flip 180 degrees if the Steelers want to avoid slipping to a .500 record.
