Perspective Of An Average Steelers Fan: Pittsburgh Talks Tough, Dallas Plays Tough

Both Pittsburgh and Dallas went into this game missing significant players. But the mood of fans was the Steelers were due to rebound from a disappointing loss to the Colts last week. RB Najee Harris was set up to feast on a weak Dallas rush defense missing key components.

Gameday Experience

I drove up to Pittsburgh for the game. The Renegade tailgate was in full gear. Lots of fans from both teams. It was a very friendly and welcoming event. Lenny and Cindie raffled off Steelers jerseys signed by Alex Highsmith and Terry Bradshaw. And for the Dallas fans jerseys signed by Dak Prescott and Tony Dorsett. They had separate bowls so fans from each team wouldn’t win a jersey they disliked.

Inside the stadium, I got to meet Jason Gildon in the Champions Club. He signed my 2011 Terrible Towel that I’ll keep active until the Steelers reach another Super Bowl.

We did have the very long weather delay. I sheltered in the club overlooking the tunnel. Got to see Snoop Dog hanging out there. Then Pat Freiermuth came out in uniform but just wearing socks to check out the weather.

Steelers’ Offense and Defense

I’ll just give you my overall perspective of the game instead of describing it blow by blow. Fans were very pumped despite the long weather delay. There were a lot of Cowboys fans. But they were not very loud until the second half.

Various Steelers players and coaches have talked about the need for a fast start. They have also talked about being more physical than other teams, wearing them out. But what I saw for much of this game was Dallas playing more physical than Pittsburgh. The Cowboys also came out fast, scoring on the opening drive.

The fans were excited by a couple deep passes. They exploded when T.J. Watt and Nick Herbig forced a turnover. We were desperately urging the team to hold Dallas near the end of the half. The stadium was a mixture of relief and excitement when Donte Jackson intercepted Dak Prescott at the goal line.

We thought the Steelers would dominate the second half. But Dallas continued with physical play. Fields took a cheap shot, and we screamed for the officials to eject Tyrus Wheat. Kyle Allen came in for a couple snaps. The offense seemed to find its rhythm after he completed his first pass. The Steelers completed a couple more passes before we realized Fields was back in the game. I don’t know what the Steelers did, but the offense seemed to click on that opening drive of the second half.

Joey Porter Jr.’s interception rocked. And the Steelers’ offense scored to take the lead. But our crowd noise became more strained as the Cowboys marched down the field. The Steelers invested in a shutdown defense, but it sagged with no pass rush after Nick Herbig left with a hamstring injury. Most fans stayed put until the final score.

So close, a little longer bounce and Elandon Roberts’ forced fumble could have been a game winner. Miles Killebrew was right there to recover.

Special Teams

Special teams are an underappreciated facet of the game where one big play can shift momentum or even decide the game winner. The new kickoff rules should test the special team coordinator’s ability to adapt to the changes.

Here is an overview of the special teams play during the game:

KICKOFFS

KaVontae Turpin returned the opening kickoff 38 yards, leading to a field goal on the Cowboys’ opening drive. Chris Boswell made sure to kick touchbacks on his remaining three kickoffs.

Pittsburgh deployed Aaron Shampklin and Jonathan Ward as returners. In the absence of Cordarrelle Patterson, Dallas tested the practice-squad players with shorter kickoffs. Shampklin returned four, including one for 32 yards to the 34-yard line. But the Steelers could not exploit the field position for points. Shampklin averaged 25.3 yards a return giving the Cowboys a five-yard edge in starting position. And the final return ate up precious seconds at the end of the game.

THE STATS

Advantage Cowboys.

PUNTING

Corliss Waitman punted five times. The coverage team was able to cover his punts and just missed one that resulted in a touchback. It forced two fair catches negating Turpin as a punt return weapon. Waitman produced three punts that gave Dallas starting positions behind the 20-yard line.

Bryan Anger only punted one time. A 45 yarder that Calvin Austin III fair caught at the 26-yard line.

THE STATS

Advantage Steelers.

FIELD GOALS AND EXTRA POINTS

Chris Boswell was limited to one field goal and two extra points.

Brandon Aubrey opened the game with a 55-yard field goal. Plus, he added two extra points. Isaiahh Loudermilk blocked a 38-yard attempt, but the Steelers were unable to parlay the change of possession into points. At the end of the game the Steelers committed two penalties on the extra point. The officials warned the Steelers the next penalty would result in an unsportsmanlike penalty.

THE STATS

Advantage Cowboys

YOUR HOT TAKES DURING THE GAME

Thank you, Ross McCorkle, for keeping us up to date on the game’s Live Update and Discussion Threads. Steelers Depot respondents contributed 1,457 first-half comments. Respondents added 1,588 more second-half comments.  Here are the top three comments from each half. I don’t know the algorithm used by Disqus but here is how they stacked it up:

The top first-half comments focused on the Steelers inferior performance:

1. First, DLeds assigned primary blame on the offense: “it’s a typical Steeler game… the offense is incompetent with a bevy of penalties and the defense is hanging in there as best as they can considering they’re on the field way too much.” But Jones replied, “To be fair, last week the D sucked before they had any chance to get tired.”
2. Jack Brown followed the theme. “I’m bored to death with this team. Dallas defense stinks and we can’t move the ball. Then you think your main weapons are a small tight end and the quarterback sweep”
3. And Nelsonator762 identified who caused a sack-fumble: “I can’t pin this one on fields. Seumalo just crapped the bed really bad there.”

The top second-half comments included one positive observation earlier in the second half:

1. TheBus36 gushed about the edges before Nick Herbig got injured: “Thinking back on that last drive, 90 and 51 are starting to remind me of those 3 glorious years when 91(Kevin Greene) and 95 (Greg Lloyd) constantly met at the quarterback like that. You old guys know who I mean!”
2. Ddrews 1914 pined for the coordinator who got away: “I gotta agree with a commenter we should’ve kept Flores as our D coordinator.”
3. Chris92021 summed up a woeful return on investment in the defense: “Cowboys are now 6 for 7 on 3rd downs in the 2nd half. This team is TJ Watt and not much else. Definitely not good coaching on defense.”

We met the 1,000-comment standard in both halves. But another substandard Steelers performance frustrated all of us.

CONCLUSION

On the ride home, I stopped in Cumberland, Maryland, for lunch. And the one bright spot of a gloomy days was that it turned out to be a Steelers Bar.

As for the cause of this loss, pick your poison. Blame the lack of offense. Or blame the defense for not making the stop when the Steelers took a fourth-quarter lead. Yes, the defense created three takeaways, but two were deep in Pittsburgh territory after drives. The defense bent all game and finally broke at the end. The offense did score the go-ahead touchdown with less than five minutes to play. But it left so many opportunities on the field.

It looked to me like T.J. Watt came off the field in discomfort in the second half. But he did return. DeMarvin Leal and Nick Herbig got injured. We’ll have to monitor the practice reports this week. This team needs a wake-up call. Here we go.

Your Song Selection

I always like to include a bit of music. We thought we had a top-tier defense. We thought that Justin Fields and the offense were steadily improving. Not much evidence of either in this game. There is no sunshine when those thoughts go away. Here is Ain’t No Sunshine performed by Bill Withers (RIP).