The Pittsburgh Steelers expected to be historic on defense, but through seven games they look more historically bad than anything else. They’ve allowed more than 30 points and over 400 total yards in back-to-back games, and the Steelers are just not going to contend for anything other than a higher draft slot next April until that is fixed. In doing so, Mike Tomlin isn’t expecting to make any major changes.
“You don’t want those plays to happen, but they happen,” Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly press conference while referring to broken plays the Steelers allowed Sunday to Tucker Kraft and Christian Watson. “I didn’t think we did a good enough job recovering from that and finding our footing as a collective football group. Regarding those plays, we certainly need to be better in third down than we’ve been. But it doesn’t necessarily mean dramatic changes in terms of that nature.”
Really, the Steelers just seem to be cursed on third downs. They can’t get off the field at a high enough rate, even when teams are backed into third and long against them. They allowed the Packers to convert on five of their 12 third downs, and some of those conversions were extremely frustrating.
This play was one of the first moments in which the game’s momentum really started to shift. A stop here preserves a nine-point lead, but the Steelers give up an inexplicable conversion. They just can’t get to QB Jordan Love in time, and although there was some pushing and shoving, you can’t allow Tucker Kraft to box you out like this. Once he does make the catch, poor tackling allows him to flip the field position.
And that wasn’t the only maddening third-down conversion the Steelers allowed.
This is another play you just can’t give up. It’s just a third-down heave from Love, but the Steelers have somebody in man coverage as well as a safety playing center field. And yet this ball just drops right in between them. Neither defender is in the right place and neither makes a play on the ball.
Tomlin isn’t wrong that these are some bad breaks. And if these were the only issues he’d be right that the scheme doesn’t need dramatic changes. But these certainly are not the Steelers’ only issues.
The secondary is playing poorly. The linebackers aren’t filling gaps against the run and can’t get to the flat in cover 3. The defensive line has shown some improvement against the run at times, but now the pass rush feels nonexistent. At all three levels you could argue for some sort of dramatic change.
Yet that change doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon. Tomlin also expressed come confidence in DC Teryl Austin Tuesday while shutting down any notion of him taking over defensive play calling. Major changes don’t seem to be on the horizon. But if the losses continue, it’s going to be harder and harder to keep defending the scheme.
