In the 50’s and 60’s there was a label that was attached to the Pittsburgh Steelers, which wasn’t a complimentary one: Same Old Steelers, which meant that it was expected that they would lack the hunger and effort that it would take to win a game, and that phrase would stick with the team until they finally won their first playoff game in 1972.
Based on how they played in their 26-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in a nationally-televised game on Sunday Night Football, they Steelers may have adopted that label again, as they lost their 2nd consecutive game at home to fall to 1-2-1.
“Not enough play making in the second half of the football game for us to secure victory and really is as simple as that.”-Said Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin, who saw his team score 0 points in the second half, after trying the game after falling 14-0 in the first half “They made the plays when they had the ball to maintain possession of it and move. We didn’t make enough plays quickly enough to get off the field and on offense we didn’t make enough plays to possess the ball, so they dominated time of possession and were able to control the game in the second half. We got to own that.”
The Steelers also must own the fact that there are major communication issues with QB Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the offense as they went an abysmal 2-12 on 3rd downs, mostly because of Big Ben’s passes that weren’t around his receivers “I don’t think I’m on the same page as anybody right now.” Said Big Ben “I’m not playing well enough. I need to play better. Today was just a bad day at the office, we all have them. I had one today and I promise I’ll be back to play better.”
The Steelers QB Passed for 274 yards, a TD to WR Antonio Brown and an interception. The running game struggled badly as RB James Conner rushed 9 times for 19 yards. The more he struggles, the more fans and media will say the Steelers miss All-Pro RB Le’Veon Bell, who has been sitting out the season due to a contract dispute. Brown and WR Vance McDonald each lead the Steelers with 62 yards, but it was WR Ryan Switzer who led with 7 receptions.
After giving up 14 1st quarter points, the Steelers defense managed to keep the Ravens out of the end zone the rest of the game, but they didn’t keep the Ravens from scoring as they drove the ball down the Steelers throats into the Red Zone throughout the game. But what the Ravens offense couldn’t do, K Justin Tucker did do as he kicked 4 field goals in the second half to secure the win.
Flacco passes for 363 yards and 2 TDs and WR John Brown had 116 yards, a TD on only 3 catches.
As the 1-3 Atlanta Falcons visit Pittsburgh next weekend, they need to regroup and figure out what was wrong and why they lacked heart, passion, discipline and courage as they deal with their struggle.
We don’t like where we are, but we accept it.” Said Tomlin “We understand that this our doing. We just got to keep working. We will do that, we won’t make excuses. Disappointed tonight but the sun will come up tomorrow.”
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