The Pittsburgh Steelers made plenty of mistakes against the Green Bay Packers, which is why they lost 35-25. However, one of their most egregious mistakes came on the Packers’ two-point conversion attempt. The Steelers’ defense only had 10 players on the field, allowing the Packers’ attempt to easily succeed. That mistake baffled former Steelers corner Joe Haden.
“That’s just blasphemy,” Haden said Tuesday on his Deebo and Joe podcast. “That’s crazy… That’s little league football, when you have 10 players on the field.”
Mike Tomlin explained the mistake in his weekly press conference. He said Brandin Echols was supposed to be in for Darius Slay, and he thought the Packers were kicking a field goal. Echols isn’t on field goal block, so he stayed off the field.
That doesn’t excuse the mistake, though. If that was the Steelers’ only defensive issue that night, it wouldn’t matter as much. However, communication has consistently been a huge problem for that unit for a while.
During that same podcast, James Harrison also expressed frustration with the error.
“What’s going on?” Harrison asked. “Who’s responsible for making sure everybody’s on the field? I know guys are getting hurt and going back and forth, but nobody on the field [can call a timeout?]”
Harrison makes a good point. The Steelers had two timeouts at that moment. Why didn’t someone burn one to fix the defense? At that point, the game wasn’t out of hand. Before the two-point conversion, the Packers were only up 20-19. The Steelers had a chance to retake the lead.
Tomlin downplayed the mistake, but it’s just another example of the Steelers’ defense not being good enough. That group has a ton of talent and plenty of veterans. Yes, it has many rotating pieces, but that shouldn’t be an excuse.
This year, the Steelers’ defense was supposed to be one of the league’s best. Instead, it has continued to disappoint. That play represents much of what’s wrong with it. This week, the Steelers face the Indianapolis Colts, who have the best offense in the league. We’ll see if their defense can bounce back. It could be a long day.
