In the first seven games of the season, it’s been quite clear that the driver of the Pittsburgh Steelers is the defense.
They’ve won at least two games for the Steelers and have created a bunch of turnovers, getting after opposing quarterbacks and forcing them into mistakes.
Yet, when the defense takes the football away, the offense just isn’t doing enough with the new-found possessions, not to mention doing a good enough job of keeping the defense off the field with sustained drives in general.
That has veteran center Mason Cole rather frustrated and feeling for the Steelers’ defense.
Speaking with reporters Monday inside the locker room at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side, Cole stated that the offense isn’t helping the defense out, letting that group down so far this season.
“Obviously execution will be big for us. We have to stay on the field. I can’t speak highly enough about our defense. They’re playing phenomenal and we’re just not helping ’em out,” Cole said, according to video via Steelers.com. “We’ve seen times where we’re executing well. We just have to do it consistently to help our defense. Our defense is playing so well and we go out there and go three and out the first however many drives.
“It stinks, man. Everyone knows what the issues are. We just have to play better.”
Same message, different week.
That’s not to say Cole is wrong or anything, but the offensive players have been harping on execution since the season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers at home. Since there’s been some ups, but a lot of downs offensively. That included Sunday’s performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Acrisure Stadium.
The Steelers’ defense forced three turnovers in the game, thanks to a big hit from linebacker Kwon Alexander on tight end Evan Engram, leading to a Cole Holcomb recovery, an interception in the end zone by safety Damontae Kazee, and a forced fumble by outside linebacker Nick Herbig. That doesn’t even include the number of sacks and pressures that the defensive front generated against Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
T.J. Watt’s big sack in the fourth quarter forced a punt and gave the Steelers a chance to go down and tie the game, trailing 17-10, But two plays later backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky — in the game due to Kenny Pickett’s rib injury — threw an ill-advised interception on a bad ball up the seam, taking the air out of the stadium and ending any real chances for the Steelers to mount a comeback.
Execution is a real mess for the Steelers’ offense. It started right away Sunday with wide receiver Diontae Johnson’s drop on the first play of the game and culminated in Pickett missing Johnson wide open in the end zone in the second quarter, forcing the Steelers to settle for a short field goal from Chris Boswell.
Cole tends to be the voice of reason for the Steelers offense, and he’ll also tell it like it is, rather than sugarcoating things or keeping things rather bland to avoid controversy. He let it rip on Monday, and he’s spot on. The offense is letting the defense down, wasting a strong season overall from a unit that is loaded with high-level talent.
Offensively, the Steelers are averaging just 26 minutes, 54 seconds time of possession in games, too, which means the defense is on the field for just over 33 minutes a game. That’s not a winning recipe.
Clean up the execution and start helping out the defense. That might make things go a long way for the Black and Gold the rest of the way in 2023.
