At 7-7 and 11th in the AFC playoff field, the Pittsburgh Steelers have very little hope of making the playoffs. And it’s due to the team’s inability to stop guys that the casual fan probably hasn’t even heard of. In the last three weeks, the Steelers have been beaten by the likes of Bailey Zappe and D.J. Montgomery. We take a look at the list of players who came up big against Pittsburgh and helped contribute to its late-season collapse.
Trey McBride
The Arizona Cardinals tight end is probably the biggest name on this list, as the second-year pro was a second-round pick out of Colorado State in 2022. Against the Steelers, he caught eight of Kyler Murray’s 13 completions for 89 yards and a touchdown. He torched LB Mykal Walker in coverage, and the Steelers were too late to adjust as McBride helped start Pittsburgh’s downfall with a big performance in Arizona’s 24-10 win in Week 13.
Bailey Zappe
Zappe, New England’s backup quarterback who took over for a struggling Mac Jones full-time in Week 12, threw three first-half touchdowns as the Patriots took a 21-3 lead over the Steelers in the first half of their Week 14 matchup. Two of those were to tight end Hunter Henry, as Pittsburgh’s problems containing tight ends continued a week after it let McBride dominate. Zappe ended up throwing for 240 yards and three scores in the win, and the loss against New England put the Steelers in a perilous position at 7-6.
D.J. Montgomery
One of a few guys from today’s loss to Indianapolis who came out of nowhere to hurt the Steelers, Montgomery had just two catches for 48 yards and a touchdown, but the catches were big ones. With Indianapolis having the ball with 44 seconds at the end of the first half and trailing 13-7, head coach Shane Steichen got aggressive with multiple timeouts and on first down, QB Gardner Minshew II hit Montgomery for a 34-yard gain. That set up a deep shot to WR Alec Pierce, which CB Joey Porter Jr. was flagged for defensive pass interference on, and then Montgomery capped the drive with a 14-yard touchdown reception.
He had his first reception today since the 2021 season, and he drew praise from head coach Shane Steichen, who said he “works his tail off.” Steichen said Montgomery’s first reception on Indianapolis’ final first-half drive allowed the Colts to continue being aggressive.
“I think when you have that much time and that many timeouts, depending on where the ball is you can be a little aggressive there and see how it plays out. Obviously, if it’s incomplete, than you think a little bit on what you want to do, because you don’t want to give it back to them, obviously,” Steichen said postgame via the Colts’ YouTube channel.
Trey Sermon/Tyler Goodson
The Colts were without their starting running back in Jonathan Taylor, and then RB Zack Moss went down with an injury in the first half. That left Sermon and Goodson, who was just elevated off the practice squad, to lead the backfield for the Colts. And lead they did. Sermon finished with 17 carries for 88 yards, while Goodson chipped in 11 carries for 69 yards. From 3:14 left in the third quarter to 9:23 left in the fourth quarter, Indianapolis rattled off 13 straight runs between the two and picked up 70 yards, with the drive ending in a field goal to give the Colts a 27-13 lead.
Neither of them looked like third-stringers against Pittsburgh, and the Steelers’ inability to stop the Colts rushing attack despite them being down their top two backs for the majority of the game was a key factor in the loss. Both Sermon and Goodson ran hard and tough and the Colts just dominated Pittsburgh on the ground between two guys who had 11 carries and 37 yards coming in (all from Sermon, as Goodson received his first NFL carries in the game today).
It’s always frustrating to see a team with the talent Pittsburgh has collapse late in the season the way it has. It’s even more frustrating when a lot of the players who are responsible for the collapse were guys who spent time on practice squads during the season. McBride is a little bit of an exception here, but Zappe, Sermon and Goodson all were cut in the preseason before latching with someone else or re-signing with their team’s practice squad.
It’s been a complete an utter failure by the Steelers over the past three weeks, and they have no one to blame but themselves. We’ll see if they can manage to pull things together and play with some pride next week against the Cincinnati Bengals.
