5 Steelers surprises in Sunday’s loss against the Jaguars
Each week our SCU staff and contributors picks the “surprises” from the Pittsburgh Steelers latest matchup. Check out more below to see which plays and situations surprised us the most!
On Sunday the Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars for their Week 8 matchup at Acrisure Stadium.
The Steelers dropped to a 4-3 record by virtue of a 20-10 defeat. Here are some of the surprises from that game.
Officiating
This has to be the top of the list and I can sense how some fans don’t want to throw the referees under the bus.
Look, I’m the last one to blame bad calls on losing a game, but the truth is this is one of the worst officiated Steelers games in recent memory, right up there with the 2018 game in New Orleans (Joe Haden pass interference call) and the 2017 “Jesse Caught It” matchup against the New England Patriots.
The momentum in this game shifted on a poor defensive pass interference call, which like in last week’s Rams game, extended an opponent’s scoring drive for something that wasn’t a penalty. Along with the next item, these two plays alone accounted for a ten-point swing on the scoreboard, something a putrid Pittsburgh offense can ill afford to have happen.
Then there’s the roughing the passer calls, of which the Steelers were on the short end of both decisions.
https://twitter.com/Benstonium/status/1718698498269307244
Botched Field Goal Flag
The field goal play gets its own section. Even Mike Tomlin mentioned that he hadn’t seen this happen in 18 years of coaching!
The #Steelers got penalized for the Jaguars being offsides. Worse than when TJ Watt was called offsides last week when he wasn’t and it saved the Rams’ only scoring drive of the second half. https://t.co/vL0ftNfz3R
— Christopher Carter (@CarterCritiques) October 29, 2023
First Half Offense
What a display of utter rubbish by the Steelers offense overall, but the first half saw the team only score three total points. The team mustered a combined seven yards of offense over their first four possessions, each resulting in a three-and-out, with a punt.
Kenny Pickett would finally orchestrate a 12-play, 61-yard drive that ended in a field goal when the Steelers couldn’t punch the ball into the endzone from the Jaguars 5-yard-line.
A 6-play, 30-yard drive ended the half with the aforementioned missed field goal.
In total, Jaylen Warren ran five times for 19 yards (3.8 YPC) and Najee Harris carried seven times for 14 yards (1.9 YPC). Those are terrible statistics for Pittsburgh’s run game.
Solid Defense
The Steelers defense was able to rattle Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence throughout the game, forcing a key interception in the end zone while also adding two more turnovers.
They were able to get to Lawrence for six QB Hits, half of which accounted for sacks.
But the defense would eventually crumble when, without star S Minkah Fitzpatrick, a miscommunication between the backup safeties and rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. led to the Travis Etienne‘s 56-yard touchdown reception as he found space in the secondary and took it to the house.
Mitchell Trubisky
I’ve never had these same bad thoughts about Steelers backups in the past as I do now with Trubisky.
Whether it was Charlie Batch, Byron Leftwich, and yes, even Landry Jones or Mason Rudolph, I always felt at least comfortable with the backup position being mediocre to average with the rest of the team being able to make up for it.
With this offensive scheme and playcalling, you can’t only feel uncomfortable, but downright sick when Trubisky comes in. Usually able to protect the football, Trubisky threw two interceptions, completing only 55.6% of his passes on Sunday for 138 yards.
Trubisky was also sacked twice, both of which I felt were on him (with one specific play where Mitch had “happy feet” and left a clean pocket).
It’s these habits I feel that are a bad example for Kenny Pickett when it comes to learning and being mentored by a veteran quarterback. Again, Matt Canada and the entire offensive line could do a better job, but I’ve lost any confidence I could possibly have for Trubisky and would hope the Steelers start to look elsewhere for a backup, even if its Rudolph, for the foreseeable future.
