The Pittsburgh Steelers came out of this past Sunday’s game with 421 yards of offense. They came out of it with just 16 points, however. They also came out of it with a win. I can tell you which of those three I believe to be most important, but they all matter. They’re all related.
Despite the lack of production in the red zone, this last win over the Cincinnati Bengals is the most fluid the offense has looked arguably in years. We’ve talked about the streak of games they just broke without going over 400 yards. It was great to get the win. But yet the scoreboard feels inadequate.
“Yeah, that’s a big deal. But is that the end goal? Is 400 yards our goal?”, former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger questioned during the latest episode of his Footbahlin podcast, before answering himself. “No, it’s not our goal. Our goal is to win the game. Because we scored 16 points still. That’s not good enough”.
Of course, it was good enough to win on Sunday. But it wouldn’t be in most weeks, even with as good of a defense as the Steelers have. They have only held three opponents to under 16 points this year. If the Steelers scored 16 points in every game this season, they would be 3-7-1. So what does it say when an offense only puts up 16 points with over 400 yards?
“It tells me that we’re great between the 20s and we couldn’t find a way to score”, Roethlisberger said. “We moved the ball backed up. We were good on possession downs. We converted third downs. We stayed on the field a lot, which we gave our defensive rest, which lets them play, which I’m sure they loved”.
The Steelers began six of their nine competitive possessions at or inside their own 25-yard line, so they didn’t have many opportunities to work with plus field position. But they moved the ball on every series, picking up at least one first down, and only twice driving for fewer than 30 yards.
Yet they only accumulated 16 points despite reaching the red zone four times. Execution has to improve there. Of course, it’s fair to question how different this conversation would sound if WR Diontae Johnson’s catch had been ruled complete in the first quarter. If the rest of the game were to unfold the same way, they would have had 23 points with a 2-for-4 conversion rate in the red zone.
But it didn’t count, and so we can’t count it. Even in that scenario, if we accept that it should have been a touchdown, it’s incumbent upon the receiver to remove as much room for doubt as possible. Make it as clear as you can that you just scored so that it doesn’t become a matter of interpretation for the officials.
Despite the 421 yards of offense, though, Roethlisberger was right that it’s still not good enough. But it was a pretty fine start. The question is how quickly they can take the next step in converting these opportunities into more points.
