Winners and losers from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 20-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday afternoon.
WINNERS
Defensive Takeaways – Yet again, the thing that kept the Pittsburgh Steelers hanging around in this one. As the offense continued to make mistakes, the Steelers’ defense bent but didn’t break. The Steelers forced two turnovers deep in their own territory, including a Damontae Kazee interception in the red zone. Pittsburgh finished the day with three takeaways, rookie Nick Herbig forcing a fumble in the second half. The Steelers made timely stops on their side of the field, and the defense seems to step up when it knows the offense is struggling as much as Pittsburgh’s did today.
Inside Linebackers – Special shout out to the inside linebacker play today. Cole Holcomb was excellent and a sideline-to-sideline player who seemed to always be around the football. He recovered the ball that Kwon Alexander popped out, a great technical play to put his head on the football and knock it out of Jaguars TE Evan Engram’s hands. LB Elandon Roberts finished with 1.5 sacks as there was consistent pressure on QB Trevor Lawrence.
Joey Porter Jr. – On first watch, a nice game for Porter, who had a couple of strong second-half reps. He pinned the receiver to the sideline to force one incompletion and then made a key third-down open-grass tackle to force a punt. Tackling had been one of his biggest criticisms on the season. He played well in his first start and should give the coaching staff confidence to start him going forward.
LOSERS
Damontae Kazee – To his credit, Kazee had an interception off Lawrence that was key to keeping the score down early in Sunday’s game. But that was a jump ball that Lawrence shouldn’t have thrown, and Kazee made things worse by stepping out of bounds at the Steelers’ 2-yard line instead of either taking a knee in the end zone or staying inbounds on the return. At least the Steelers got points despite being so backed up.
But he’s on this list for being too aggressive. On a day where the Steelers’ defense kept a lid on things, Kazee allowed an opening on RB Travis Etienne’s 56-yard touchdown. He tried to jump the route instead of providing help to CB Joey Porter Jr. in the Steelers’ Cover 2 scheme and allowed the ball to whizz past him. Can’t have that as a safety. A similar moment happened on a catch by WR Calvin Ridley earlier in the game, though the consequences weren’t as severe there. Just can’t have a coverage bust in that moment and it greatly outweighs the interception.
Keanu Neal wasn’t much better, and the team obviously missed having Minkah Fitzpatrick out there after the three-time Pro Bowler left early in the game due to a hamstring injury. It also forced S Miles Killebrew into a larger role he’s not suited for.
Mitch Trubisky – While Trubisky was put in a tough spot and he did lead the only touchdown drive of the day, he also showed why he’s never been a consistently solid starter in the NFL. Too aggressive, too many bad decisions downfield trying to play hero ball. He’s not talented enough to get away with it as often as he tries it. He was officially picked twice (one on a Hail Mary) but could’ve been intercepted once or twice more.
That’s not to say QB Kenny Pickett was much better, he had his struggles too, but he took care of the football. For the Steelers, ball security is the number one way they stay in and win games.
Refs – Don’t try to put the refs on too many of these but they were a mess today, even if they can’t be the excuse for the outcome. The last two minutes of the first half were a disaster and even had former officials disagreeing with the penalty of OG Isaac Seumalo for being “offsides” on K Chris Boswell’s 56-yard field goal, leading to his first miss of the season on the 61-yard re-kick. There’s also the debate over Pickett not getting a roughing the passer call on the play he was injured, even if I can accept S Keanu Neal’s “body weight” call on Lawrence, as disappointing as it was.
First-Quarter Execution – While OC Matt Canada receives plenty of heat for his play calling, the Steelers’ slow start today largely wasn’t a play-calling problem. Pittsburgh had chances, especially early, but had poor execution. WR Diontae Johnson dropped a pass down the seam on the first offensive play of the game. Receivers slipped and the team had chances to get something going early. Pittsburgh went three-and-out on each of its first four drives. On the season, the offense has just seven first quarter points across seven games.
Third-Down Offense – Again, terrible. Entering the final two minutes, the team was 3-for-11 on third down, following up a pretty dismal situational performance against the Los Angeles Rams. This team can’t sustain drives and can’t move the sticks. The Steelers are one of the NFL’s worst third-down offenses.
Lack Of George Pickens Involvement – We’ll have to check the tape but for Pickens to only have one reception, which became the Steelers’ only touchdown of the day, poetically sums up this offense. With WR Diontae Johnson back (even if he briefly missed time), the Steelers can’t use the excuse of him seeing constant double-teams either. The All-22 will tell us more but Pickens needed to get the ball more today. He’s a guy who can jump-start an offense, especially with the running game doing little Sunday versus a tough Jags front.
