The Pittsburgh Steelers have scored 24 points or more in each of their first 10 games in 2020, which is the first time in franchise history that they have done so. I believe they are the only team this season to have pulled that off. In spite of their scoring success, coming off of a 27-point game today, however, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger still sees the need for improvement.
“We’ve got to put more points on the board”, he told reporters after the game. “I know the scoreboard says what it does, but there were too many times we punted today, and so offensively, we’re happy we got the win, but we know that we need to be better”.
He’s not wrong. It’s not like the Steelers blew this game away. They did finish with 373 yards as an offense, averaging 5.1 yards per play, but that is largely because they controlled the ball for over 36 minutes against a rather bad opponent.
The Steelers started their opening drive from the Jaguars’ 46-yard line after they attempted an onside kick. They only picked up 19 yards of offense after that with one first down, and the drive ended with a missed Chris Boswell field goal.
Their second drive started from just their own five-yard line, and they did move the ball 53 yards, starting with a 25-yard run, but they drive stalled at the Jaguars’ 42, and they had to punt. The offense would score on its next three possessions, including a touchdown aided by an interception that set them up at their own 39.
Pittsburgh did not score at all in either the first or third quarters, punting three times in the third despite opening the half with the ball. They only picked up two first downs across those three drives, somehow managing to run a combined 13 plays taking up nearly half the quarter on the two drives in which they did pick up a first down, but none of those drives made it past the Jaguars’ 48.
They would put up one final touchdown in the fourth quarter, but, again, it came from the aid of the defense, with a Terrell Edmunds interception setting them up at midfield. They also got 15 yards of penalties out of it, scoring in just four plays.
In all, the Steelers had 12 meaningful possessions, and they had to call on Jordan Berry to punt five times. He did so for 216 yards, gross averaging 43.2 yards. I don’t know what his net is off-hand, but I know it’s worse, considering he had a touchback. He did have two punts inside the 20.
