Quick Yinzing: Injuries, Mistakes too much for Steelers as they fall, 16-10, to Jets
“Quick Yinzing” is Steel City Underground’s post-game feature where there is no research, no extensive stats, all “Renegade” and reactions in recapping the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game performance.
Week 16. After a season full of adversity, the Pittsburgh Steelers could have used a Christmas miracle. They didn’t get either from “Duck” or “Rudolph”. While Watt made what could arguably be called the play of the game, the Steelers struggled as player after player went down and had to be helped to the sidelines. Although the New York Jets didn’t do anything particularly spectacular, they did take advantage of mistakes the Steelers made – especially poorly snapped balls and bad throws – to grab a 16-10 win that now takes a playoff berth out of the Steelers’ full control. Pittsburgh will need some magic… but that sparkle may have finally worn off.
Pittsburgh only dressed two quarterbacks: Devlin Hodges, who started the game, and Mason Rudolph, who entered after Hodges didn’t take care of the ball. During a bad exchange at the snap when Rudolph took over, B.J. Finney – playing for Maurkice Pouncey (who had left the game and was carted to the locker room from the sideline) – stepped on Rudolph’s foot. The result was that Rudolph couldn’t make the handoff exchange and the Jets defenders piled on. Rudolph, who reportedly injured his shoulder, was then forced to the bench and Hodges was asked – again – to come in and find a way to grab a win.
That didn’t happen. This has been one of “those” seasons. You know, the ones where all season long there is always a tiny bit of hope and you get excited about big plays only to see everything fall apart?
James Conner left the game due to a leg/thigh injury before the half and never returned to the game, leaving the running backs corps consisting of Kerrith Whyte, Jaylen Samuels, and Benny Snell. The Jets simply stacked the box and begged the Steelers to run it.
It wasn’t like there were a ton of better options, though. Receiver James Washington, who’d suffered a horse-collar tackle early in the game that caused him to roll awkwardly on his own legs and ankle, was able to get taped up and come back into the game but didn’t truly look 100 percent. JuJu Smith-Schuster‘s return from injury was not spectacular due to the pressure the Jets defense put on Rudolph and Hodges, keeping both quarterbacks unable to truly get their feet set for big passing plays or many yards. And on a play that might have set up the win, the ball sailed through Smith-Schuster’s hands due to Hodges being unable to get the ball placed in a spot where the receiver could make the contested catch due to upfront pressure from the Jets.
Diontae Johnson did grab a touchdown pass in the game that seemed to give the team a morale boost and momentum shift thanks to the heads-up trifecta of a strip-sack (sack, forced fumble) and subsequent recovery of the ball by T.J. Watt.
The big story in this game is that the Steelers did not look like a team that had faced these type of issues all season; they looked completely perplexed as to what should be done on offense. Defensively, the shift of personnel due to injuries sustained by Cam Heyward and Bud Dupree had Keith Butler making substitutions and trying different personnel packages. Heyward and Dupree did return to the game but time was flying off the game clock.
The Steelers didn’t earn the win. They made mistakes (mainly in how they took care of the football) that hobbled them as badly as injuries did. Pittsburgh entered the game flat and outside of the Watt play and subsequent Johnson touchdown, the only other real highlight was that Chris Boswell was perfect on the day.
