Immediately following the frustrating 30-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Acrisure Stadium, much of the focus from the offensive side of the football had to do with the inability to execute against a tough 49ers defense.
Speaking to reporters following the loss, second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett was rather frustrated, citing the lack of execution from the Steelers’ offense in big spot. He knows he was a big culprit with some of those struggles in the execution discussion from an accuracy standpoint, missing a number of throws on the day.
But one passing comment Pickett made that was certainly interesting was him citing the need for more balance offensively while discussing the lone touchdown drive of the day. That came in the two-minute drill late in the first half.
“Good to go down there and get points, but we needed to have more balance and felt like just we were kind of one-sided today,” Pickett said, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “Couldn’t get anything going really on the ground. Wish we had more balance, but you know, we need to improve in a lot of areas.”
In the loss, the Steelers attempted 46 total passes to just 10 rushing attempts. Talk about being one-sided.
Granted, those splits offensively are due to the lopsided margin on the scoreboard, which caused the Steelers to play from behind for much of the game.
However, when the game was close — up until 20-0 — there was no balance from the Steelers offensively. In the first 12 plays of the game offensively, the Steelers ran the ball just twice. Running back Najee Harris was hit in the backfield on his first carry and dropped for a 2-yard loss by standout San Francisco linebacker Fred Warner on the play. The only other carry the Steelers had in the first 12 plays was a Harris run for no gain.
The other 10 plays were obviously passing attempts. Pickett was intercepted on one attempt by San Francisco cornerback Charvarius Ward, and was sacked on two others.
There was no balance whatsoever. The Steelers abandoned the run game rather quickly behind a rebuilt offensive line and never quite got a chance to get in rhythm on the ground. That put Pickett in tough situations, passing against a star-studded defense that knew he needed to throw. The 49ers were able to clog up throwing windows and were able to pin their ears back from a pass-rush perspective and get after him on the day, finishing with five total sacks and another nine quarterback hits.
Balance might not have helped the Steelers win the game that they found themselves in a hole in early, but it was very clearly lacking for Pittsburgh early on and never got better as the hole grew deeper.
