The Pittsburgh Steelers’ lack of takeaways is one of the big stories from their 16-10 loss on Sunday night against the Miami Dolphins. Pittsburgh had their fair share of opportunities, as they had four balls that hit defenders in the hands or on their body in a place where they should’ve made a play on the ball and picked it off. Terrell Edmunds was one of those players, as he had an overthrow from Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa bounce off his facemask and drop to the ground. Edmunds said the team has to do a better job of taking advantage of turnover opportunities.
“We definitely got to take advantage of them, because it could have been a turning point in the game and it could have helped us out in the long run,” Edmunds said in the locker room after the game, per Steelers Live on Twitter.
Mike Tomlin said yesterday that one of the keys to the game for the Steelers would be to limit turnovers. Instead, Pittsburgh had three, the only three that the Dolphins have forced in their last four games. Two of those came when the Steelers had a chance to score, and I think it’s fair to say that Jevon Holland’s interception on Kenny Pickett on 3rd and 16 was a turning point in the game in Miami’s favor. Pittsburgh wasn’t able to take advantage and force a turnover of their own, and coupled with the offense’s inability to score, it ultimately hurt them.
The defense doesn’t deserve much blame for this loss. They buckled down, and after a horrible first quarter, held Miami to three points over the final 45 minutes. But it really would’ve been nice if one of those dropped interceptions turned into something.
At the end of the half, Cameron Sutton had an opportunity to kill Miami’s scoring opportunity, but he dropped a pick and the Dolphins hit a field goal to go up 16-10. If he picks that ball off, it’s a 13-10 game at the half, and assuming the defense played the same way, Pittsburgh is more comfortable settling for a field goal at the end of the game instead of forcing it downfield, which is what led to two Pickett interceptions. The “what-if” game is a dangerous one to play and it obviously doesn’t make any difference in the outcome, but even just one takeaway for the Steelers’ defense could’ve been paramount in getting the win.
The main story from the game should be the offense’s lack of explosive plays (just two the whole game) and inability to do much of anything when they only trailed by one score for the entire second half. You hate to say that the defense could’ve done more in a game where they did a great job limiting an explosive Miami offense, but they had the opportunities for interceptions. To not even get one when they had four catchable picks is pretty insane, and it does make you wish that the defense was able to just do a little bit more.
Ultimately, they couldn’t force a turnover, and they’re sitting at 2-5 with a trip to Philadelphia against the Eagles on Sunday. The undefeated Philadelphia Eagles, by the way. Let’s hope that their fanbase is too hungover from watching the Phillies in the World Series on Saturday and doesn’t make things too raucous at Lincoln Financial Field, and maybe the Steelers will have a chance to upset their in-state rivals and hand them their first loss of the season.
