The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their Thursday Night Football game to the New England Patriots. That makes back-to-back weeks that the Steelers lost to two-win teams at home, which puts their season firmly at risk. They controlled their own playoff fate, but are now on the outside looking in.
The Steelers continue to have slow starts on offense that they struggle to overcome throughout each game. In this game, it proved to be too much. The Patriots scored on their opening drive and the Steelers answered with a field goal. They scored just three points in the first quarter and 10 in the first half while the Patriots put up 21. The total offensive output for the Steelers in the first quarter was 47 yards and three points. To make matters worse, the first play of the second quarter was an interception by QB Mitch Trubisky.
Tight end Connor Heyward was interviewed in the locker room after the game and discussed these slow starts and why they might be happening.
“I feel like we’re still searching for what that is,” Heyward said in a clip posted by Amanda Godsey on X. “We don’t know what it is in particular but obviously it’s not right. We’re not driving the ball, we’re not scoring…we’re professionals. We’re Pittsburgh Steelers. We’re capable, we have guys and everything but it’s Week 14 and we’re still trying to put it together.”
The first-quarter problems have been persistent this season. In 13 games, the Steelers have just 34 points in the first quarter. That is an average of 2.62 points, or less than a field goal. In seven of those games, they were held without any score in the first quarter. That is not a winning formula and is a big reason why people were hesitant to believe this Steelers team was 7-4 heading into last Sunday’s game. Now, they are 7-6 and lost the two most winnable games that were remaining on their schedule.
It’s not like the Steelers have sat idly by without making changes. Last night featured a different quarterback in Mitch Trubisky. They also no longer have Matt Canada at offensive coordinator. The more things change though the more they stay the same. The players give the same answers each week about the need to execute. The feeling among the players, or at least the message they portray to the media, is that the talent level is sufficient, but the execution is not. Cameron Heyward, however, said after the loss that personnel changes may be needed to fix the Steelers.
