For an offense that struggles to do much of anything right consistently throughout games, missed opportunities on that side of the football — especially early in games — can be killer.
Unfortunately for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense Sunday at Acrisure Stadium against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a trio of first-half missed opportunities ultimately doomed the Steelers in a 20-10 loss in the rain.
While head coach Mike Tomlin might have brushed off the missed opportunities following the loss in his session with the media, there is no denying that the inability to come through with big plays in those key moments helped play an integral part in the Steelers’ struggles offensively. That led to a rather frustrating loss at home to an AFC foe that has owned them on the North Shore for the better part of the last 15 years or so.
Those missed opportunities early in the game are quite obvious.
The first one was the drop from veteran wide receiver Diontae Johnson to open the game on a deep ball from quarterback Kenny Pickett. It took away not only an opportunity for a splash play but one that could have wound up in the end zone.
As you can see pre-snap, Johnson is lined up in the slot, just outside of right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor.
Afforded a lean release at the snap, Johnson is able to run right through the heart of the Jaguars’ defense, splitting the two-high safety look. He’s as wide open as he’s ever going to be.
Quarterback Kenny Pickett does a nice job of seeing this quickly and cuts it loose. It’s a tick high for a smaller receiver in Johnson, but that’s a ball he must catch, period. It bounces right off his hands between the hashmarks. He hauls that pass in, it’s not only an explosive play through the air to start the game, but it might wind up in the end zone based on Johnson’s speed and open-field ability.
That’s exactly the type of play you want to dial up to start a game, so kudos to Matt Canada for getting that look out of that alignment with Johnson. Players simply have to execute.
Sure, it was raining pretty hard to open the game, making that a difficult catch, but that’s one a No. 1 receiver like Johnson has to make.
After the drop, Pickett was sacked on second down, and then a holding call on Okorafor caused the Steelers’ offense to go three-and-out to open the game.
What could have been.
That same thought came up on the third drive of the game, this time with Pickett targeting second-year wide receiver George Pickens.
Pickens was aligned in a bunch formation with tight end Connor Heyward and wide receiver Allen Robinson II. He gets a free release off the line of scrimmage, running a corner route that he wins quickly on.
Problem is, Pickett sees it late and underthrows it. That allows Jacksonville cornerback Darius Williams to get back into the play and break up the pass.
That’s a really tough miss from Pickett, especially on a route that very clearly appears to be the primary option on the play. That’s a throw that Pickett has to be cutting loose as Pickens is making his cut to the corner at the top of his stem. Pickett’s timing is way off on the play and then he makes it all the worse by underthrowing the football.
That pass isn’t going to wind up in the end zone, but that should have been another explosive play through the air for the Steelers. Instead, it summed up Pickett’s struggles on the day.
In the second quarter, the Steelers found themselves opening up a drive at their own 2-yard line after safety Damontae Kazee inexplicably stepped out of bounds after picking off Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence in the end zone to keep the Jaguars from scoring points.
It was a tough spot, but the Steelers mounted a drive as Pickett and Johnson really started to connect. On the drive, the duo hooked up four times for 43 years, and Pickett helped draw a 32-yard pass interference penalty on the Jaguars by taking a deep shot down the middle of the field to Calvin Austin III, putting the Steelers in Jacksonville territory.
The Steelers had a great drive going, but once they got into the red zone they stalled out. And it was all summed up by Pickett’s woeful miss to a wide-open Johnson in the end zone on third and goal.
That’s a man-beater concept that the Steelers had called for the perfect situation in the red zone. Johnson runs a perfect route and Heyward does a fantastic job on the pick play to help Johnson get open.
Pickett just doesn’t work back to his left fast enough after trying to move safety Rayshawn Jenkins with his eyes. Once he moves back to his left, his feet become a complete mess and he throws late and behind Johnson, missing a layup touchdown that should have made it a 7-6 game in favor of the Steelers.
Johnson hasn’t found the end zone since Week 16 of the 2021 season against the Cleveland Browns at home in a 26-14 win. This should have been the one where he broke that annoying streak and found pay dirt again.
There’s no need to truly “sit” here from Johnson as it’s a man-beater and he’s not against zone coverage. Pickett has to see this much faster, especially on a route that is the designed option on the play. This is schemed up for Johnson, and yet Pickett is slow to see it and makes it all the worse with a very poor throw.
Instead, the Steelers settled for a field goal to make it a 6-3 game. Even the end of the second quarter shenanigans from the officials on the 55-yard Chris Boswell field goal wiped out leading to a 61-yard miss for a bogus offsides penalty, a 9-7 deficit at the half is much easier to deal with than a 9-3 deficit.
The Steelers have to score touchdowns in the red zone. They were three-for-three in Week Seven on the road against the Los Angeles Rams, but then couldn’t figure it out in Week Eight at home.
