If your defense forces three turnovers in a game, you’d think that would put you in prime position to win the game, right?
Well, it appears as if the Pittsburgh Steelers said “hold my beer” to that assumption on Sunday.
The Steelers recovered two fumbles forced by LBs Kwon Alexander and Nick Herbig as well as nabbed an interception by S Damontae Kazee to get the ball back to the offense on Sunday, doing their best to keep the Jacksonville Jaguars out of the end zone for nearly the first three quarters of play. Still, it proved to not be enough as Pittsburgh couldn’t get its offense going and the defense eventually surrendered a 56-yard touchdown pass from QB Trevor Lawrence to RB Travis Etienne on a coverage bust, breaking the game open for the Jags.
Speaking with the media on Monday, Mike Tomlin made note of the turnovers his defense forced against Jacksonville but stated that they weren’t the caliber of turnovers the offense needed to capitalize on.
“We were able to get some turnovers, but they weren’t the type of turnovers that that tee up the offense in terms of being on the short field,” Tomlin said during his weekly press conference via video from the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “Although I do appreciate them, they kept the score down, they weren’t the type of ones that teed up the offense. And so obviously we’ve got a desire to dominate the turnover component of play. We got some, but not the type that’s really advantageous.”
To the Jaguars’ credit, Pittsburgh did get backed up inside its own territory on all three turnovers, having the drives following the two fumble recoveries start on Pittsburgh’s 18- and 35-yard line. The interception by Kazee proved to be a big blunder on his part as he decided to run out of the end zone, passing up on the touchback and ultimately running out of bounds at the 2-yard line.
Still, that’s three extra possessions that the defense created for Pittsburgh’s offense, keeping Jacksonville from blowing the game wide open early as the offense continued to sputter at the start of the game. Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin podcast during the game that it’s hard to believe that the Steelers could lose a game where they won the turnover battle and kept giving the offense chances with things still close.
Of course you want your defense to set your offense up with good field position, but Tomlin needs to have realistic expectations for his defense and how well it was playing, despite being down both DL Cameron Heyward and S Minkah Fitzpatrick. It’s unrealistic to expect the defense to continually come up with splash plays like it did against the Browns earlier in the year, scoring two touchdowns to basically will Pittsburgh to victory. They may be the strength of the team, but they can only do so much when the offense continues to go three-and-out, keeping them on the field for long periods of time throughout the game, causing the unit to wear down over time.
It’s good to expect your defense to generate turnovers, but it can be hard to do that consistently when the offense isn’t providing any help on the other side. OLB T.J. Watt managed to turn the game around the previous week with a big interception against the Rams to kick off the second half, turning the tide of that game. CB Joey Porter Jr. saved the day against the Ravens, intercepting QB Lamar Jackson in the end zone to give Pittsburgh a chance to come back late. It’s time that the offense started complementing the valiant play the defense has been providing, making the most of the field position given to them and sustaining drives that finish in the end zone for scores.
