A lot of things went wrong Saturday for the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Steelers blew a 13-0 lead, allowing 30 unanswered points to fall to 7-7 on the season. After quick two touchdowns late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter, the Steelers’ offense did nothing of substance.
The defense then lost safety Damontae Kazee to ejection and Minkah Fitzpatrick to injury on back-to-back plays, and then had no answers for the Colts on the ground in the second half.
Three turnovers by the offense didn’t help matters, either.
For Diontae Johnson, it was quite clear what went wrong Saturday. And it wasn’t entirely on the offense.
“Defense is leaking; they’ve got some players down, and it showed on the defense. Offense, we’ve just got to capitalize on third downs and just make plays,” Johnson said to reporters, according to a broadcast via the Extra Point postgame show on KDKA TV.
Sure, the Steelers’ defense has some players down and then lost a few more on Saturday, but the defense “leaking” isn’t the biggest problem from Saturday night in the loss.
Once again, it comes back to the Steelers’ inability to execute offensively on a consistent basis. The Steelers did a nice job on the second drive of the game, marching 54 yards in 12 plays leading to Mitch Trubisky’s 1-yard rushing touchdown.
Then, the Steelers stretched the lead to 13-0 thanks to a blocked punt from Connor Heyward, setting up a 3-yard touchdown from Trubisky to Johnson.
But then, the production from the offense stopped.
After the touchdown following the blocked punt, here’s how the Steelers’ offensive drives went the rest of the way: interception, punt, end of half, fumble, punt, punt, interception, turnover on downs, end of game.
That has nothing to do with the defense “leaking.” It’s all about the offense not being able to sustain drives and do its job.
It’s not just third downs, either. The Steelers were 4-for-12 on third downs in the game, but 2-for-3 on fourth downs. The offense had a plenty of opportunities to help the short-handed defense out by sustaining drives but couldn’t do it.
That’s not excusing the Steelers’ defense, either. It was bad on Saturday and had no answers for the Colts’ run game. But for a guy who wants to be a leader in the locker room like Johnson, pointing out the defense “leaking” first and foremost as to what went wrong on the day is rather tone deaf, especially coming off another inept offensive performance.
