Well, that was ugly.
Poor weather, poor football and key injuries — not to mention some woeful officiating — led to an unseemly 20-10 loss by the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at a rain-soaked Acrisure Stadium.
Star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was lost early in the game with a hamstring injury and quarterback Kenny Pickett left late in the first half with a rib injury, causing the Steelers to miss two key pieces on both sides of the football.
Once again though, the offense couldn’t do much of anything in key spots, and the defense — despite generating tree turnovers — allowed too many big plays in the second half. It added up to a frustrating loss, dropping the Steelers to 4-3 on the season.
Let’s get to some grades.
QB — D
I get it: The weather wasn’t the greatest, and there were some ugly drops — especially on the first play of the game from Diontae Johnson — but overall the quarterback play simply wasn’t good enough on Sunday. The Steelers played far too safe at times, rarely got anything going and when throws were there the quarterbacks in Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky were late, misfired or didn’t see them at all, really.
Pickett threw a good ball on the first play of the game that Johnson absolutely should have had, and likely scores on. After that though, Pickett was late and underthrew a corner route to George Pickens that went incomplete, and then didn’t really push the ball down the field before exiting with an injury.
He had a woeful miss in the second quarter on what should have been a layup touchdown to Johnson in the red zone.
Trubisky came in and played well on the Steelers’ lone touchdown drive, hooking up with Johnson a couple of time and then finding Pickens on a slant route for a 22-yard touchdown.
But he forced the ball in the fourth quarter on a bad interception with the game in reach and then threw a late interception with the game all but over. He showed good pocket awareness at times and used his legs well to make plays out of the pocket, but the fast and loose stuff with the football coming off the bench is a real problem.
RB — D-
They didn’t get many opportunities, but when they did Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren didn’t do much with the touches. Not like there was much running room, either.
Warren led the Steelers with five carries for 19 yards, while Harris had just seven carries in poor conditions for 13 yards. Out of the backfield as receivers, Warren had four catches for 19 yards, while Harris added five catches for 42 yards, many of which came in garbage time.
On a day the weather made for what should have been an ugly, physical game that the Steelers should have had play right into their hands, they simply never established a run game, making the offense entirely one-dimensional. There was no rhyme or reason to the offense at times, and Pittsburgh never even gave guys like Harris or Warren an opportunity to get into a rhythm.
Very disappointing performance overall. Hopefully they can turn things around on a short week against the Titans.
WR — C+
The Johnson drop to open the game was excruciatingly painful. He catches that opening toss from Pickett and it’s likely an explosive-play touchdown that stuns the Jaguars. Instead, it bounced off his hands and the Steelers ultimately went three-and-out. Johnson bounced back after that though, finishing with eight receptions for 85 yards, taking advantage of single coverage throughout the game.
He made some key catches on the Steelers’ two scoring drives and was wide open on a misfire from Pickett in the end zone that should have been a layup touchdown.
George Pickens was targeted just five times in the loss, hauling in just one pass but taking it in 22 yards for a touchdown, leaping over a defender to get into the end zone. Pickett was late firing to him on a corner route early in the game in which he was open quickly for what should have been a big play.
Calvin Austin III had a big 32-yard pass interference penalty drawn in the second quarter that gave the Steelers’ offense life, but he finished with just two catches for 19 yards. Both came in garbage time, though he did have a nice 10-yard jet sweep on the Steelers’ first scoring drive of the game.
TE — C-
Getting some extended run on offense for the first time all season, Rodney Williams failed to deliver, finishing with two drops on his only two targets of the game. He’s a great athlete that the Steelers very clearly like, but he didn’t take advantage of the opportunity today.
Connor Heyward had a fine game, finishing with five receptions for 24 yards. He was sure-handed in the poor conditions, but the Steelers didn’t exactly let him stretch the field as a receiver. Everything was short and near the line of scrimmage. He also didn’t do much as a blocker, either. Neither did Darnell Washington, who was surprisingly off the field in some 12 personnel situations.
Something to monitor moving forward.
OL — F
One week after playing rather well in Los Angeles, the Steelers’ offensive line came crashing back to Earth. The Steelers’ offensive line allowed nine quarterback hits and three sacks in the loss while the offense generated only 70 total rushing yards and just 3.9 yards per carry on the day.
Too often on Sunday the quarterbacks were under pressure. Trubisky had to scramble a few times and Pickett did too before being injured when Adam Gotsis came in free on a play, slamming Pickett to the turf.
Kudos for Mason Cole going after the Jaguars’ sideline after a Pickett’s scramble late in the first half. Showed some fight.
But this group needs to find consistency — and fast.
DL — B-
This group had a sound day overall.
Larry Ogunjobi played a strong game, finishing with five tackles to lead the Steelers’ defensive linemen. He was tough to block for the Jaguars and really controlled the point of attack throughout the game.
Montravius Adams had another solid game as a run defender, recording an early tackle for loss after blowing up a run play. He finished with four tackles in the game and is starting to carve out a role. Isaiahh Loudermik stepped up to the plate on Sunday, too. He had some nice reps, getting off blocks against the run and making two run stops.
Keeanu Benton had just one tackle but really held down the fort at the point of attack and wasn’t moved easily.
DeMarvin Leal and Armon Watts were hit or miss. Watts combined with T.J. Watt for half a sack, but he couldn’t get off blocks against the run and had the Jaguars running at him consistently. Leal was far too quiet on the day and didn’t have much of an impact at all.
LB — B+
Heck of a day for Cole Holcomb. The veteran free agent addition continues to fly around, making plays for the Steelers. He has been quite the find. Holcomb led the Steelers with 11 tackles Sunday, recovered an early fumble and was constantly around the football. He’s a very solid player.
Elandon Roberts came up big for the Steelers, too, providing a physical presence in the middle. He finished with seven tackles and had 1.5 sacks in the loss. He was an effective blitzer and put a ton of pressure on Trevor Lawrence throughout the game.
Kwon Alexander was quiet with just two tackles and really seemed to struggle with his footing at times in the poor conditions.
Outside, T.J. Watt was, well, T.J. Watt. He had a big pass breakup to blow up a screen play early in the game, had a key sack with Watts in the third quarter and finished with two tackles. Alex Highsmith added half a sack in the win, recorded four tackles and one tackle for loss and played the run well, controlling the edge for the most part.
Nick Herbig made a key play in the second half, stripping the ball from Jacksonville’s Tank Bigsby to force a turnover. That’s the second straight week he’s made a big play. He’s pushing for more playing time. So, too, is Markus Golden. The veteran had three tackles and played well against the run, setting the edge when he was on the field.
DB — C-
There was some good, some bad on Sunday from the group, especially after Minkah Fitzpatrick went down with a hamstring injury early in the game and did not return. Without Fitzpatrick, Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal took on larger roles.
Kazee had a great interception in the end zone but made a real bone-headed play stepping out at the 2-yard line on his return instead of taking the touchback. He also had some blown coverages, including on the Travis Etienne Jr. 56-yard touchdown catch, with a couple of missed tackles in space. The classic Kazee game, if we’re being honest.
Neal had a nice game but was called for a bogus roughing the passer on Lawrence that really sparked a Jacksonville scoring drive. Late in the game he was beat by tight end Evan Engram for a big 34-yard catch-and-run, too, but he was sound in the box and had seven tackles on the day.
With no Levi Wallace, Patrick Peterson and Joey Porter Jr. had to do some significant heavy lifting. Porter had a fine game going until he had eyes in the backfield and got burned by Etienne for the 56-yard touchdown. It didn’t help that Kazee was supposed to be over the top and had a miscommunication, leading to the easy throw and touchdown.
Peterson wasn’t targeted much, but when the Jags started going at him in the second half, he didn’t have many answers. James Pierre saw some defensive snaps too and played well, but even he had a bogus penalty on him early in the game, too, getting called for pass interference on a poorly thrown ball that he made a play on.
Special Teams — B
The offsides call on the field goal try late in the first half is one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen. Truly.
I’m not even putting the 61-yard miss on Chris Boswell after that. He shouldn’t have been re-kicking, and at that distance.
Pressley Harvin III was really inconsistent on the day. He had some great punts and then some woeful shanks in the bad conditions. He averaged just 42.8 yards per punt on the day with a long of 52 yards and didn’t exactly flip the field as the Jaguars’ starting field position was around the 35-yard line.
Punt coverage wasn’t all that great, either. Jamal Agnew averaged 11.3 yards per return on the afternoon with a long of 34 yards.
Godwin Igwebuike had a nice 36-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late for the Steelers, and they didn’t do anything with it.
