PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers looked like they had the Buffalo Bills all bottled up in the first half of their 26-7 loss on Sunday. They allowed just three points, and while the Bills ran for over 100 yards on the ground, the Steelers limited those explosives into being 15 yarders rather than 30 or more yarders.
On top of that, they staved out the Bills attack with two turnovers, including a Brandin Echols pick and then a Nick Herbig forced fumble.
The offense was not playing well. Until the fourth quarter, Aaron Rodgers had just one pass completed passed the lone of scrimmage. That is not all that surprising considering how the team operated in this game.
They wanted to lean on the run game. Yet, that run game never got fully going, and the Steelers did not lean on it enough. To open the second half, they called a play action pass where Rodgers held onto the ball too long and navigated the pocket poorly. He was strip sacked by Joey Bosa and it was taken for a Bills touchdown.
After that, Mason Rudolph came into the game for a banged-up Rodgers. On his second play, he airmailed a pass to Darnell Washington for an interception to Benford.
That is on the quarterbacks in many respect, not the coaches. Yet, the quarterbacks were the guys the regime wanted to bring in, and they have played losing football for much of the past month.
Even against a team like the Bills, who ran for over 250 yards, marking the most rushing yards in a game in Pittsburgh since 1975, the defense without Derrick Harmon fell flat. In just three games without Harmon, the Steelers are allowing well over 180 rushing yards per game.
Yet, the coaching decisions led it to all be much worse. For example, the Steelers called a running play to Kenneth Gainwell on 3rd and 9, and while Gainwell did get eight yards, the Steelers opted to punt the ball from their own 34 down nine instead of going for it.
Then, when the Steelers had another must have down on 4th and 2 inside the Bills red zone, they called a run to Gainwell. The key block on the play? Tight end Jonnu Smith, the team’s least effective blocking tight end.
There were ‘fire Tomlin’ chants that rang out at this game and a booing of ‘Renegade.’ Those are Steelers traditions, born out of elite teams that made them heartfelt.
This Steelers team has yet to play a truly complete game all season. On top of that, the defense has faltered against good offenses, some of it coaching related and on other points, personnel related.
The offense has struggled to get anything going in the passing game knowing they had quarterback questions and a poor receiving corps after moving on from George Pickens. They still do not have a second wide receiver, and have failed to maximize what they do have.
Many of those signs might be ominous, but what it really spells out is just how far the Steelers’ standards have fallen.