Just when things looked like they were rolling for the Pittsburgh Steelers, having put together five straight wins and sitting in great shape at 8-2 on the season, things took a bit of a tough turn on Thursday night in Cleveland.
Taking on the Browns during a short week on Thursday Night Football, and doing so in a blizzard just a few days after a difficult battle with the Baltimore Ravens, the Steelers came up short in the matchup against the Browns. Pittsburgh struggled out of the gates, failing in situational football and ultimately dropping the game, 24-19, to fall to 8-3 on the season.
It’s a frustrating loss, one that is eating at the players. But it’s a loss that the team needs to learn from, team captain Cameron Heyward said after the game.
Speaking with reporters Thursday night, Heyward stated that the loss to Cleveland is one that the Steelers have to eat. He added that the game can humble you quickly, which it did on Thursday night in Cleveland in a blizzard.
“Missed opportunities. We have to eat it. They made more plays at the end,” Heyward said, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “Some of that stuff we can have some head scratching about what was displayed. But man, just take it, move on. Everybody’s pretty pissed off about the loss, but, you know, we gotta learn from it. Be better next time.”
The Steelers missed quite a few opportunities in all three phases of the game.
There were failed 4th-and-short situations offensively that the Steelers messed up on. There was a missed field goal and a shanked punt on special teams. And the Steelers’ defense couldn’t get off the field as the Browns went 4-for-4 on fourth downs, even though they were just 1-for-10 on third down.
Missed opportunities and failures in situational football crushed the Steelers. Coaching decisions didn’t help, either. They just have to eat it like Heyward said, flush it and move on.
But they have to learn from it, too. Heyward made that clear.
“Doesn’t change the way we prepare. If you’re not learning from your wins, you’re only from learning from your losses, shame on you. I think you can be humbled in every game, but you try to learn something from every game,” Heyward added.
They’ll have to learn a great deal from this one, particularly the coaching staff. Decisions in short-yardage offensively, and on the 2-point conversion try were head-scratching. So, too, was the decision to take an illegal touching penalty on 3rd and 2 and turn it into a 3rd and 7 rather than a 4th and 2.
There were also baffling timeout decisions made, though that’s nothing new.
After grinding out a tough win at home on Sunday over the Baltimore Ravens in a statement game, football humbled the Black and Gold on Thursday with the weather playing the great equalizer. It happens. Learn from it, move on.
Right now, though, time to eat the loss and let it fester.
