The Pittsburgh Steelers played poorly against the Indianapolis Colts. There’s no denying that. Their offense started slow and got in its own way too many times. Their defense got beat up and pushed around. Against a team missing multiple starters on offense, the Steelers’ defense should have had a much better day. Instead, they put together a junior-varsity effort with Joe Flacco carving them up. DeShon Elliott believes the Steelers beat themselves this week by not working hard enough.
According to Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Elliott said after the game that the Steelers need to work harder going forward. Batko made it clear that Elliott wasn’t saying that the Steelers had gotten full of themselves because they were undefeated but that he feels like they didn’t pay enough attention to details.
That could clearly be seen during the game too. The Steelers lost the turnover battle and made countless mental errors. They beat themselves just as much as the Colts beat them. They had blown opportunities throughout the game. Whether it was dropping interceptions, not falling on fumbles, fumbling themselves, or not executing correctly, the Steelers were their own worst enemy.
You could say that every game the Steelers have played in this year has looked ugly, but it seemed to be a brand of ugliness that the Steelers were controlling. They didn’t seem to panic. Against the Colts, they seemed to panic often. Justin Fields bounced back nicely after a brutal fumble, but the game essentially ended because of a mistake he can share the blame for.
The Steelers seemed to settle in more during the second half, but they shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place. Playing against a 39-year-old backup quarterback should’ve made this game much easier for the Steelers’ defense. They had been terrorizing opposing teams this season, but they let Flacco lead the Colts to 27 points.
We’ll see if the Steelers come out next week with a fire lit under them. This might have been a wake-up call they needed based on what Elliott said. Mike Tomlin doesn’t want his players to get comfortable, and it sounds like they’re going to have an uncomfortable week ahead. It’s still early in the year, so there’s plenty of time for them to get back on track. They were always going to lose eventually. It’s just unfortunate that it had to be in this fashion.
