The Steelers’ offense looked lost for yet another game against the Houston Texans on Sunday, putting together an embarrassing performance on the road in a 30-6 loss.
Pittsburgh totaled just 225 total yards of offense as QB Kenny Pickett struggled mightily again from the start, throwing for just 114 yards and an interception before getting ruled out for the game in the second half with a knee injury. The offensive line looked outmatched by Houston’s defensive front all game, giving up three sacks while hardly creating any holes in the running game despite RB Najee Harris’ valiant efforts on several runs to attempt to spark a stagnant offense.
C Mason Cole spoke to the media following the blowout loss and was asked what the conversations have been like on the sidelines as the offense attempts to make the necessary adjustments after multiple bad starts this season. Cole responded that they are having the conversations and are attempting to make necessary changes, but nothing thus far has been able to stick.
“I mean, we’re always trying to figure it out, right?” Cole said to the media via video from the Steeler’s YouTube channel. “There hasn’t been panic. We know how good we can be, but it’s just, for whatever reason, we’re starting slow. We’re not functioning efficiently. We’re not doing it consistently well enough, and then we have spurts in the second half where we’re running the ball really well. We’re moving the ball down the field, and we stall in the red zone. So again, just not good enough. The conversations or are what they are on the sideline, but clearly, they didn’t help that much.”
Head coach Mike Tomlin had a conversation with the entire offensive line on the sidelines during the game, apparently moving a film crew out of the way to have a candid conversation about how the unit needed to step up and play better given how bad the running game and protection around Pickett had been to that point.
The offensive line was supposed to be one of the team’s strengths going into the season, returning four starters from 2022 while adding LG Isaac Seumalo in free agency and OT Broderick Jones in the first round of the NFL draft. However, the unit has looked lost through the first four games of the season, ranking near the bottom of the league in most metrics. Adding injury to insult RG James Daniels missed the game with a groin injury and Dan Moore Jr. left the game early with a knee injury that is being evaluated.
All teams can expect to be faced with adverse circumstances in-game that need to be addressed with the right adjustments. Pittsburgh has gotten into a bad habit of starting slow on offense, needing to take a few drives to get into a groove before we start to see ball movement and points go up on the board. However, we didn’t see that progression today as the offense never capitalized on the adjustments the Steelers attempted to make on the sideline, continually missing blocking assignments while missing plays in the passing game. Those led to three-and-outs and stalled drives, giving the ball back to a Houston offense that dominated on the afternoon.
Tomlin mentioned after the game that changes need to be made as Pittsburgh can’t get away with doing the same things repeatedly and expect better results. That’s the definition of insanity. Therefore, the offense must do a better job being prepared to come into games prepared to start fast and have a game plan of how to make the necessary adjustments in-game to spark the offense if met with adversity right out the gate. What Pittsburgh has been trying hasn’t been working, and it’s time that measures be taken by the coaches and players together to elicit a positive change moving forward.
