It’s becoming far too common of a theme with the Pittsburgh Steelers down the stretch this season: The team starts slow, finds itself in a significant hole and then needs a miraculous comeback attempt to even make it a game.
The slow starts are frustrating to watch, because you can see them coming rather quickly with the Steelers this season.
Steelers’ star outside linebacker T.J. Watt sounded pretty frustrated with the slow starts as well during his Friday media availability, stating that there’s no discussion to be had about the slow starts anymore, especially considering the Steelers have found themselves in a sizable hole in three of the last four games, which coincides with a 0-3 mark in those games in which the Steelers have started slow.
Well, there’s no discussion be had anymore,” Watt said to reporters regarding the slow starts, according to video via Steelers.com. “It’s to the point where we just need to start faster. It’s just something that is quite obvious. We know we need to do it better. We can talk as much as we want, but until we do it, we just have to expect that we need to come out and start faster. It’s all about actions. It’s all about what we do in practice and how we study film and all the small things that you just have to keep harping on. But nothing needs to be said, because we all understand.”
It’s certainly obvious that the Steelers need to come out faster and start games on the right foot, but there still appears to be some sort of disconnect with that understanding and putting that into action.
In three of the last four weeks the Steelers have found themselves in deficits of 14-3 against the Chargers, 17-3 against the Bengals, and 23-0 against the Vikings rather quickly, leading to three tough losses. In all three of those losses, the Steelers came out flat and executed at a poor level, leading to being behind the 8-ball rather quickly.
That can’t happen moving forward, especially as the Steelers are fighting for their playoff lives. Will that get addressed starting in Week 15 against the Tennessee Titans? Only time will tell, but the Steelers need to come out with some urgency right away, especially being backed up against a wall with the season on the line.
