Quick Yinzing: Ben historically bad in Steelers loss to the Jaguars
Full disclosure, I do not want to be writing this article right now.
The Steelers played an embarassing game today and lost to the Jaguars 30-9. The bizarre thing? Their quarterback only threw for 95 yards.
95 YARDS!
How does that happen? I’ll tell you.
It all started at the top. Ben Roethlisberger and Todd Haley. The Jaguars have the best defense the Steelers have played this season, so you would expect these two to bring their A-game…
Not so much.
The Steelers offense flashed early on before completely sputtering. They would look good driving down the field, but on three separate occasions the offense had to kick field goals from within the redzone. Get those touchdowns and this ballgame could’ve been entirely different.
Let’s move past those field goals though. For awhile the Steelers were up 9-7 and things looked promising. The defense was balling – doing well pressuring quarterback Blake Bortles and containing running back Leonard Fournette. One event changed the entire course of the game though… Ben Roethlisberger threw his first pick-six.
On a slant route, a defensive lineman puts his hands up and deflected the ball perfectly into the hands of linebacker Telvin Smith. Part bad throw, part bad luck, all detrimental to the team. Smith walked the ball into the end zone.
From there everything went downhill. The defense played like they were asleep and Ben threw another pick… and another… and one more after that.
While another pick came off a deflected ball and another because JuJu Smith-Schuster tripped running his route, when you throw a career high five interceptions the circumstances don’t matter. Ben had a bad day, there is no way around that.
Let’s look at some positive things…
Le’Veon Bell had a great day running the ball and seemed to be a threat anytime he touched the ball. It was unfortunate to only see him get fifteen carries.
Ryan Shazier played really well. He continued to show everyone he is one of the best playmakers in the league when he got his interception that he pried out of the hands of the receivers He flew around the field all afternoon and was one of the few bright spots.
TJ Watt and Vince Williams also got big sacks that helped the defense.
Besides those guys, and Antonio Brown of course, it’s hard to point to any positives about this performance. Not everyone played necessarily bad but in the latter portion of this game the team was playing asleep. Fournette’s 90 yard touchdown run to cap off the game summarized things perfectly.
I consider myself an optimist, I’m not one of the many people on Twitter calling for Ben’s retirement and saying the season is over. However, it’s hard remaining optimistic after today. Yes the Jaguars aren’t a bad team like many assume they are, but the Steelers are a better team. Or at least they should be.
It almost feels like beating a dead horse saying the Steelers should have one of the best offenses in the league.
To recap…
- Ben threw a career high five picks – two pick sixes
- Blake Bortles only threw for 95 yards
- Leonard Fournette carried the ball for 181 and two touchdowns
Combine all that and you get a sh*t sandwich of a game.
Next week the Steelers play the Kansas City Chiefs, arguably the best team in the league. If the Steelers plan on turning this season around and being a truly competitive team, thats the game to do it.
