It wasn’t so long ago that the Pittsburgh Steelers were sitting at 6-3, winners of four out of their last five games. Since then, they have dropped three out of four, now toying with a .500 record and possibly their first losing season since before many students at the University of Pittsburgh were even born.
While the defense did not do its part the last time out, allowing three first-half touchdowns, it’s no secret that the offense has been the bigger problem all along. Everyone seems to have different ideas as to what is going wrong in a situation in which any number of suggestions is likely to be valid—including WR Diontae Johnson’s.
“It is clear as day as what we have to do”, the veteran wide receiver reportedly said after Thursday’s loss to the New England Patriots, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. “We have to get the key guys the ball in those tough situations”.
It’s not an entirely unexpected point of view from a wide receiver. If you don’t have it in your mind while playing that position that you can be the one to make the key play, then you’re going to have more than a bit of a hard time succeeding.
Of course, it was Johnson who was targeted on the pivotal play, a deep pass on 4th and 2. To his credit, he had actually beaten his man, and perhaps a better ball from QB Mitch Trubisky might have actually resulted in a huge connection.
“I am not saying they aren’t trying to, but on those weighty downs”, he said, “you have to try to figure something out”.
The Steelers are, to borrow a term from Jim Rome, “triple ass” on weighty downs this year, and have only gotten worse over time. They are just 62-for-178 converting on third down this year, which is somewhat surprisingly 25th in the league. They also rank 31st now on fourth down, converting just five of 13 opportunities.
Add on top of that the fourth-worst red-zone offense in the NFL, and it’s easy to see why you’re looking at a bottom-five scoring offense. The Steelers are averaging only 16.2 points per game through 13 games. They have gone four weeks without hitting 20, and the only time they hit 25 or more was a game in which they had two defensive touchdowns.
Let’s just put it out there. We got all excited about a 16-point game a couple weeks ago because the offense finally managed to put up some yards. The Steelers were still susceptible to all of their other fatal shortcomings, yet because for once it looked as though they could occasionally move the ball like a functional offense, we were sure change was coming.
Yet they are 3-for-10 in the red zone in recent weeks. Cracking the 20 with regularity in no way ensures a respectable final score for this Steelers team. And that goes beyond an inability to get its key players the ball in the weighty moments.
