Several reasons Steelers fans shouldn’t panic… just yet
I could probably sum this idea of why no one should panic about the Pittsburgh Steelers 33-3 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football with one word: it’s early.
However, that would be lazy, as there are some specific reasons to believe the ship will be turned around.
It’s Week 1
Chief among those reasons, it’s only Week 1 of the NFL regular season, where plenty of bizarre and baffling play is commonplace around the league as teams finally put their full complement of players on the field after sitting them out most of, if not the entire preseason.
It was evident last night with the Steelers, as it was with other teams throughout Sunday (and including the horrible punt-fest that was Thursday Night Football between the Packers and Bears.)
In other words, September is the new preseason. Like it or not, it takes time for times to adjust.
The Steelers are always slow starters
I really hate this comment, because I truly believed they would not be slow starters this time around.
As they say… fool me once…
The Steelers struggled against the Cleveland Browns in Week 1 of the 2018 season, only to turn around and get wiped off the floor by the explosive Kansas City Chiefs offense in Week 2, then lay an egg at home against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 4.
The 1-2-1 Steelers then won six games in a row.
The 2017 Steelers fell to 3-2, with losses to the Bears and Jaguars early on, before ripping off eight straight victories in route to a second seed berth in the postseason.
I’ll say it again: it’s way too early to tell what’s going to happen with a lot of football left to be played.
The offense can easily be fixed
Notice anything missing on Sunday?
I wanted to put out an APB on TE Vance McDonald, who went missing until garbage time while still playing 71% of the game.
James Conner only carried the ball a total of ten times, with most of those snaps coming in the first quarter as the Steelers fell behind and abandoned the run.
Fullback Roosevelt Nix was completely absent from the game, with reserve tight end Xavier Grimble playing only two snaps and backup tackle Zach Banner never leaving the bench either: in other words, the Steelers never went “big” as a result of tossing their running game on the backburner.
Any other miscues between Ben Roethlisberger and his receivers can also be corrected as they get more time together, and play calling can (and should) get more creative when the team doesn’t fall behind in games as well.
On a positive note, Big Ben was upright for most of the game, with only one sack given up by the offensive line.
The defense isn’t broken
I saw more positives from the Steelers defense on Sunday.
I know someone’s asking, “how can that be?” as the Patriots put up 33 points.
Well, if you’ve watched other games in years past, the Steelers defense fared worse against Tom Brady and company.
I didn’t have grand illusions of the Steelers sacking Brady all night long, but they’ll get to other teams who don’t have Brady’s quick release or the same personnel to create mismatches. Yet, the Steelers defense was able to fare alright, forcing some 3-and-out’s and also holding New England to field goals instead of touchdowns.
A key component, starting free safety Sean Davis, was out: replaced by Kameron Kelly who was playing in his first game ever. (And a few of the big plays by the Patriots exploited that.)
Rookie Devin Bush got caught up in some newbie mistakes too, but led the team in tackles and will build upon this big game going forward.
In all, the defense gave up seven scoring drives, but that was just as much a product of the offense being able to only muster a single drive over 30 yards before their garbage time series with 2:05 remaining in the game.
Special Teams was alright too
Jordan Berry averaged 45.6 yards per punt with a 58-yard long.
Chris Boswell made his only field goal attempt, a 19-yard chip shot.
I’ll take it… for now.
Conclusion
There’s fifteen more games to be played this season, which means there’s a lot of time to learn and grow from this game. Most of the Steelers opponents are not the defending Super Bowl Champions and obviously not as talented of a team.
Every team in the league will have an “off game” as well, which means if this was the Steelers turn, it’s best they got it out of their systems early!
