Just when you think we’re out…they pull us back in again.
Following the Cleveland Browns game last Sunday, you wouldn’t be faulted if you felt that this year’s Pittsburgh Steelers’ aspirations were out of the mud, finally, and tracking forward on solid ground.
Yet, after the Cincinnati Bengals debacle…we’re all pulled back into the mire, wondering if we’re heading towards yet another tantalizingly disappointing season under Coach Mike Tomlin.
It’s a tale of two cities.
Beating Cleveland 23-9 at home was as enjoyable a win as the Steelers have experienced for quite some time. Not because the Browns were a formidable foe. They weren’t. It’s just that Tomlin was able to get his team to win a winnable game, and with a proper level of dominance considering the disparity of talent.
Losing 31-33 to the “against the ropes” Cincinnati Bengals just a few days later on Thursday was as miserable a follow-up game as could have transpired.
In the Browns’ game, it was the best of times. Against Cincy, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, and then the age of foolishness. There was a spring of hope, only to be dashed by a winter of despair.
How both versions of Pittsburgh could be so day and night different from one another…at least defensively…is inexplicable.
Yet, this Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde pattern has been repeated so often in the Tomlin era that it’s become predictably boring. It’s no longer a captivating read. The thrill is gone.
Just when you think you’ve got a thoroughbred running the race, you blink your eyes and there it is…Doug the Donkey, braying and winking at you as it limps behind the true racehorses speeding ahead.
Are there any solutions to this quandary? Probably not here…but let’s give it a Spin anyway.
No Country For Old Men
Coach Tomlin has always been a man who loves and respects his veteran players. Based on the team’s free acquisitions this year, he demonstrated that he not only favors tenured players…but he has no aversion to really old ones.
While many of these former stallions would normally be heading their careers off to the glue factory, Tomlin and the Steelers organization mortgaged the future to go all-in on this roster full of once-greats.
Building a defense on a foundation of heavily compensated and well-seasoned players like Darius Slay (age 34) and Jaley Ramsey (age 30) and then quadrupling down on Steelers legends like Cam Heyward (36) and T.J. Watt (31) with monster binding contracts was no small wager.
This is a high-priced, and by NFL standards, elderly defense. And it’s locked in that way for years to come.
Even for a riverboat gambler like Tomlin, who has been playing virtually risk-free with house money for years, this was an audacious move.
After watching the Cleveland game, even the Debbie Downers among us would have to grudgingly admit this Old Man Gambit was paying off. Maybe these old-timers could “Cocoon” their way into a few more seasons of glory.
Then again, that movie didn’t end well.
Against Cleveland, this radical gamble with the Rooney bankroll looked wise. Against Cincinnati? Tomlin and the personnel decision makers in the Steelers organization appear to be holding tightly to Blockbuster Video stock. Be sure to be kind and rewind, coaches.
Not only was the defense old against the Bengals, but they were toothless. Make sure to put the dentures in the cup to soak before you go to sleep.
If Cleveland is the reality, this season has glimmers of hope. If Cincinnati represents the bitter truth, this team is ruined for years on the defensive side of the ball.
Titanic Failure
If engineering lore is to be believed, there is a clear reason why the RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. It’s because the rudder for a ship so large was too small to make it able to shift away from glaciers in time.
This Steelers defense has always suffered from an undersized rudder under Tomlin’s leadership. Regardless of how clear the glaciers are to see when facing offenses, there are never any proper mid-game adjustments to get the defense out of danger. They just keep smashing against the ice.
The turnovers have been the caked-on make-up of what has been an ongoing weakness with this squad. They seem helpless in making the necessary changes to shift the game’s unpleasant momentum.
Everyone on the planet knew that Ja’Marr Chase was the one player for the Bengals that the Steelers couldn’t afford to allow to hurt them. To underscore the obvious even further, Chase was gentleman enough to run around with the #1 embroidered on his jersey.
Yet, for all the world to see, the Bengals just kept Energizer Bunnying the same slants and outs to Chase over…over…over…and over again.
How can “experts in their field of study” not have a single answer?
FlaccoGate
During his first five games playing for the Cleveland Browns, Flacco had thrown only two touchdown passes while giving up six interceptions.
Even after padding his statistics after trouncing the Steelers, he is averaging a QBR of only 41.8 this year.
In other words, he entered the game not anywhere near the level of play of Joe Namath, Joe Montana…or even Joe Burrow, for that matter.
So why in the world did Tomlin choose to make it out like the Browns had traded away the greatest quarterback of all time mid-season? What could possibly be accomplished by artificially inflating Flacco’s confidence prior to the game?
It’s true. Joe Flacco is a grown man who doesn’t need Tomlin to be his Tony Robbins life success coach. But still…why not hold your complaints about the trade until after the match?
Perhaps it’s all pure happenstance, but despite a tumultuous year where stadiums were booing him off the field, Flacco’s confidence sprung him to a performance level against the Steelers that even had Burrow wondering from the sideline, “Will I have a job at the end of the season?”
Way to pump up the jam there, Coach.
Built To Spec
When Arthur Smith was brought in to be the Steelers’ new offensive coordinator in 2024, the expectations were clear. He wasn’t asked to build out the “Greatest Show On Turf” or “Air Coryell” of the ’80s…or even Aaron Rodgers’ great Green Bay Packers passing offenses of the past.
No. He was expected to mirror much of what he had done for the Tennessee Titans as their former offensive coordinator in designing a team from the offensive line out. The blueprint called for hard-nosed running back play, and tight ends who are capable of blocking for runners and catching short passes to convert third downs.
If you’re wondering why Pat Freiermuth’s opportunities have been scant this season, it’s because there are much better blocking tight ends and swing tackles ahead of him on this team.
In looking at sparks of optimism in the Steelers’ game against the Bengals, the most glaring of all was the amount of time that this offensive line was providing for Rodgers. It was forever, on many occasions.
Equally encouraging was the play of Jaylen Warren, who is easily one of the most likable and inspiring players on the team. He ended the night with 127 yards rushing, averaging nearly 8 yards a carry. Many of these runs were done the old-fashioned way, knocking down bowling pins left and right.
Smith should be applauded for constructing this NFL offense to proper specifications. It took a few games for the young linemen to gel together, but now the Steelers have an offense that can leverage the physics of overloading massive human beings on the line.
This offense isn’t built for speed, but it is designed to confidently and consistently produce around 20 points weekly.
Unfortunately, a winning formula required them to be paired with a Top-5 defense. The Steelers were supposed to be a team that only needed 20 points to win.
The Steelers’ offense was able to bravely and admirably squeeze out 31 points against the Bengals, but it’s out of their design, and that level of production can’t be expected week in and week out. This week might be the last time they score more than 30 this year.
Rodgers’ surprising ability to out-scramble Father Time thus far this year, and the week-by-week improvements in Smith’s offense, won’t make the math work on its own. If the Steelers’ defense can’t start earning its sizable paychecks, this team might have already reached its ceiling.
Mini-Bye Week
Few coaches in the NFL are better at utilizing Bye Weeks than Coach Tomlin. His record following these breaks in the schedule is virtually unparalleled.
This is also what makes the Bengalian collapse so much more troubling. Was Tomlin and his team of coaches able to use the Bye Week prior to the Browns game to forge meaningful and lasting improvements to the team? Were they able to firmly patch up holes and parts of the team that needed desperate repair?
Or were they only able to use the extra time offered by the Bye Week to merely prepare the team for a single impressive game against the Browns?
The evidence…sadly…points to the latter. Everything that could be celebrated as improvement after the Cleveland match collapsed almost entirely during the Bengals game. At least on the defensive side of the ball.
The Steelers will have a “Mini-Bye” to explore this quandary further. One of the few benefits of playing a Thursday Night game is that they now have nearly a week and a half before their next game.
The challenge is that this next game is against the Green Bay Packers, who are a Top 5-ranked team on many pundit lists.
Right after that game, the Indianapolis Colts come stampeding into Pittsburgh. For the Steelers, who struggled mightily defending the run with an underachieving Chase Brown toting the ball, wait until they get introduced to Jonathan Taylor.
It’s a tale of two cities. A split personality. Is the Steelers’ defense the one that played against the Cleveland Browns? Or are they the ones that played against the Bengals?
Both can’t be true. The truth is out there. Hopefully, Steelers Nation will be able to handle the truth.
