The Pittsburgh Steelers lost 21-18 against the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football. One key factor that can be pointed to as a reason for the loss was the Steelers’ play in situational football. In particular, when the Patriots forced a turnover, they scored a touchdown. When the Steelers forced a turnover, they turned the ball over on downs and came away empty-handed.
Cameron Heyward posted his weekly ESPN podcast Not Just Football on YouTube Tuesday afternoon and talked about LB Mykal Walker’s interception.
“I still think Mykal Walker should have scored instead of cutting back,” Heyward said with a grin. “And we talked about that. I think we were all just like, keep running straight. Don’t try to make a cut back unless you can beat the tackle, which you didn’t.”
Walker intercepted a pass intended for Juju Smith-Schuster via an Elandon Roberts deflection and ran it back 30 yards to the Patriots’ 16-yard line. The Steelers’ offense attempted four plays but came up empty-handed after a turnover on downs at the 8-yard line. The Patriots had a similar situation in the second quarter with an interception returned to the 11-yard line, but they were able to score a touchdown a couple plays later. Needless to say, it would have been a massive swing in this game had Walker scored.
Walker was initially trying to run up the sideline but sensed Patriots RB Ezekial Elliott gaining on him. He attempted to cut back inside before being tackled. Elliott is 28 years old and has had a number of knee issues over the last three seasons, but he was clocked at a 4.47-second 40-yard dash time coming out of college. Walker ran a 4.65 for comparison. Elliott took a nice angle and appeared to be gaining on him quickly, so it was far from a guarantee that he would have scored without cutting back inside.
Still, the point remains that the Steelers did not play good enough situational football. When the defense was scored on, the offense didn’t do a great job responding. Along those same lines, when the defense did set up the offense well—like on this interception—the Steelers came up empty-handed.
