Well, that sucked.
Without three key starters against one of the best teams in the league, the Pittsburgh Steelers looked overmatched from the opening kickoff and had no real answers schematically or physically against the Philadelphia Eagles. That resulted in a frustrating 27-13 loss that dropped the Steelers to 10-4 on the season in a game that was marred by a number of questionable officiating calls that played a factor in the outcome.
The Eagles nearly doubled the Steelers’ time of possession Sunday and held the Steelers to just 11 plays in the second half, resulting in a thorough beatdown in the Pennsylvania state championship game.
Fortunately for the Steelers, it’s a short week. Let’s get to some grades and then we’re onto Baltimore.
QB — C
It was always going to be very tough against a great Eagles secondary without George Pickens, but it was even harder than anticipated on Sunday. Russell Wilson couldn’t do much of anything in the passing game and was under duress quite a bit.
Wilson completed 14-of-22 passes for just 128 yards, though he did throw a touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth that dragged the Steelers back into the game in the first half.
It was a good ball to Freiermuth as Wilson threw with anticipation and fit it into a tight window. He also had a big 31-yard throw to Calvin Austin III on a flea-flicker that sparked the Steelers in the second half before a killer turnover.
But for some of the good throws Wilson made, he took a bad sack late in the first half on a play in which he should have had an internal clock.
Fortunately, Wilson did show off his wheels at times in the game, which was a positive sign. He scrambled for a big first down on a 3rd and 2 in the first half and later added an 8-yard run to help set up Freiermuth’s TD.
Justin Fields played just one snap and gained 8 yards on a run, drawing a 15-yard penalty on Eagles S Reed Blankenship in the process for an unnecessary roughness. He exited the game after that with an abdominal injury, which is worth monitoring moving forward.
RB — D
The rushing numbers were rather ugly as the Eagles played a five-man front consistently and won the one-on-one matchups time and time again.
It didn’t help matters at all that Najee Harris fumbled on a toss play, changing the game in the blink of an eye. Prior to the fumble, it looked like the Steelers were finding their footing offensively and were driving for a chance to tie the game.
Along with the fumble, Harris had just six carries for 14 yards. He had just one reception for 7 yards, too, which came on the play in which Darnell Washington’s block on Darius Slay started a melee in the back of the end zone.
Jaylen Warren didn’t do anything, either, finishing with four carries for 12 yards and one reception for four yards. The Steelers tried to get Cordarrelle Patterson involved, too, but he finished with just nine yards on two carries and one reception for -1 yards.
Bad night. Time to regroup.
WR — D+
It was nice to see Calvin Austin III take on a larger role and make some plays, but it’s never comforting when your No. 1 receiver in a game is Austin. No disrespect to him, either. He finished with five receptions for 65 yards, including a huge 31-yard gain on the flea-flicker from Wilson. It gave the Steelers a spark, but that spark died out quickly.
Ben Skowronek made a big play in the second quarter, hauling in a 17-yard catch-and-run to give the Steelers their initial first down of the game, and Mike Williams had a 15-yard catch on one of just two targets. Puzzling usage for the de facto WR1 with Pickens out.
Scotty Miller and Van Jefferson, after productive games in Week 14 against the Browns, had just three targets combined.
TE — C+
A nice night in an awful game overall for Pat Freiermuth. He made a strong catch on his 9-yard touchdown from Wilson in the second quarter. Showing off his route-running chops and his strong hands after getting open, he wrestled the ball away from a defensive back for the score.
He finished with three receptions for 22 yards on six targets. He did have a key drop on the final drive of the first half that threw the Steelers a bit out of whack.
Darnell Washington had a great block on the Harris catch that resulted in the scuffle. He blocked through the whistle and dominated the matchup. He did what you’re taught to do. He threw Slay out of the club. But after that flag, Washington wasn’t himself as a blocker and didn’t have much of an impact.
OL – C-
Coming into the matchup, it was expected to be tough sledding in the run game due to the Eagles’ stout defensive front. But it wasn’t expected to be as bad as what the Steelers put on display in the run game.
Pittsburgh managed just 3.3 yards per carry, gaining 56 yards on 17 carries. Harris and Warren were bottled up, and the most success the Steelers had on the ground was due to a Wilson scramble and a Fields designed run.
The offensive line got whooped in the run game.
Pass protection was slightly better, though Broderick Jones gave up an ugly sack late in the first half, and Dan Moore Jr. was called for holding in the first half as the Steelers couldn’t stay out of their own way. There was an awful tripping call made on rookie center Zach Frazier, too, which was a continuation of poor officiating all game.
DL — C
The goal was to stop the run first and foremost. Compared to what the Eagles have done throughout the season, the Steelers did pretty well bottling up Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts on the ground.
Barkley rushed for just 65 yards on 19 carries, and Hurts had just 45 yards on 15 carries, though he did score a touchdown. Hurts had a big 27-yard run on a QB draw and Barkley had a 22-yard run, but outside of that the Steelers’ defensive line played strong against the run.
Cameron Heyward had a solid game recording five tackles. He also drew an Eagles holding call in the red zone after landing his trademark long-arm bull rush.
Dean Lowry flashed quite a few times in place of Larry Ogunjobi, creating some pressure when the Eagles were passing. He wasn’t all that noticeable against the run though.
Montravius Adams returned from IR and had two tackles and a tackle for loss,while Keeanu Benton had four tackles and played well at times. Isaiahh Loudermilk seemingly played quite a few snaps, too. He finished with two tackles, though he didn’t generate much pass rush, which was disappointing.
LB — C-
I liked what I saw from the outside linebackers in this one as T.J. Watt had two sacks and forced an early fumble on Hurts on a run, giving the Steelers the football. He played pretty well in the matchup with Lane Johnson, finishing with seven tackles, two sacks, one tackle for loss and two quarterback hits.
Hopefully his ankle injury is none too serious and he’s back on Saturday.
Alex Highsmith was pretty solid, too, finishing with eight tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss and one quarterback hit. They were both very noticeable. So was Nick Herbig, who drew a holding penalty on Johnson in the loss.
But inside, the linebackers were quite a mess. Patrick Queen had 11 tackles and had some good run fills, but he missed a handful of tackles, and in big spots, too. The missed tackles have been an issue all season, and on Sunday they were very apparent.
Payton Wilson had six tackles and a pass breakup in the end zone that he nearly pulled down for an interception, which would have been a spectacular play. Elandon Roberts had four tackles. Those numbers look solid, but the Eagles went right after the inside linebackers in the passing game, taking advantage of some deficiencies there and doing so with great success.
It started on the first play of the game as Roberts was beat in coverage for a 22-yard gain by TE Grant Calcaterra, and it never really slowed down.
DB — D
Missed tackles were a major concern, as were communication and simple coverage abilities. Leading up to the game there was plenty of talk about the Eagles’ struggles throwing the football. Then, Hurts proceeded to dice up the Steelers, throwing for 271 yards on 24-of-31 passing with two touchdowns.
Minkah Fitzpatrick had a missed tackle in space on a big gain as did Donte Jackson on a highlight-reel play by RB Kenneth Gainwell. Communication was poor as DeVonta Smith was left wide open a couple of times on crossing routes, leading to big gains.
Without DeShon Elliott at strong safety, the Steelers just felt sloppy defensively and had no answers for the Eagles’ passing game. Joey Porter Jr. had a decent bounce-back game as he was allowed to be more physical and held his own at times against A.J. Brown. But Brown still put up an 8/112/1 line, albeit not all on Porter.
James Pierre replaced an injured Jackson and played well, making a huge open-field tackle to force a fourth down. He’s stepped up in moments for the Steelers.
Special Teams — B+
It was nice to see Chris Boswell break his own record for made field goals in a season. He’s been Mr. Automatic all season, and that continued Sunday as he connected on FGs from 37 and 49 yards.
Punter Corliss Waitman did a great job on the 49-yard field goal, catching a bad snap from Christian Kuntz and getting the ball down perfectly for Boswell to blast through the uprights. Underrated play by Waitman in the game. Waitman averaged 43.0 yards on five punts, with two of them downed inside the 20-yard line.
Mark Robinson had a big hit on Cooper DeJean to force a fumble on Waitman’s second punt of the game, which was a great splash play for the Steelers. It looked like Connor Heyward drew a great penalty on Jalen Carter, too, who slapped Heyward in the head on a punt in the fourth quarter. But surprisingly officials deemed it after the punt, which replay showed clearly wasn’t the case.
I thought Cordarrelle Patterson looked strong in kick returns, averaging 32.5 yards on two returns, including a 33-yarder. He looked more explosive than he has in recent weeks, which is a positive sign.
Punt coverage outside of the forced fumble was a mess, though, as DeJean ripped off a 23-yard return.
There was also a questionable personal-foul penalty on Montravius Adams on a Jake Elliott field goal. Adams was called for roughing the long snapper, though replay showed he might have been blocked into the long snapper after attacking the A-gap, which is legal.
