All offseason, the emphasis for the Pittsburgh Steelers was on reshaping the secondary, bringing experienced veterans to help clean up some of the struggles in coverage from previous seasons, while allowing them to match up better with the likes of Cincinnati Bengals standouts Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
Thursday night in primetime provided that opportunity to showcase new talent like Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey, Brandin Echols and Juan Thornhill against the Bengals’ standouts.
It went about as poorly as anyone could have imagined.
Chase went off for 16 receptions for 161 yards and a touchdown, and Higgins hauled in six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown, including a 28-yarder down the left sideline, sliding down to set up the game-winning field goal in the Bengals’ 33-31 win over the Steelers.
After the game, head coach Mike Tomlin called it a disappointing performance from the secondary as the Bengals just made more plays than they did.
“We played these guys a bunch. We double-teamed him [Ja’Marr Chase] some, we double-teamed five [Tee Higgins] some. It’s a mix. A mix is required,” Tomlin said of the Steelers’ coverage plan against the Bengals, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “They got depth and talent, just like the one play 80 [Andrei Iosivas] made down the middle. We were doubling them both and they were one-on-one in that circumstance.
“And so, there’s many ways you can analyze it. But the bottom line is they made more plays than we did.”
That’s putting it mildly. The Steelers allowed Joe Flacco, who was traded to the Bengals just last week, to throw for 342 yards and three touchdowns on the night, carving up the Steelers drive after drive.
At one point, the Bengals had points on six straight drives. It makes sense why Tomlin was so irritated with the Browns trading Flacco within the division. He knows the Steelers well, and even on a short week and with limited time with Cincinnati, Flacco did what he does best against the Steelers — get the ball out quickly and pick apart the soft zone coverages.
Throughout the night, the big-name secondary for the Steelers just looked lost time after time. The Bengals were running a lot of quick slants and creating big plays after the catch as Flacco got the ball out quickly. It looked like the Steelers never really adjusted, even with all of the focus on Chase and Higgins.Â
There’s no denying that the Bengals made more plays than the Steelers did. Their stars on offense showed up time and time again and won the individual matchups. Pittsburgh felt like it had a good game plan coming in, but under the bright lights and in the moment, the plan backfired and the Bengals had a huge night, remaining alive in the division.
