Takeaways: Steelers streak iced, lose to Browns
Steel City Underground offers post-game takeaways for every 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers NFL regular season game, focusing on the black and gold, just for members of Steelers Nation.
Four games. That’s how many wins the Pittsburgh Steelers had stacked sequentially since Russell Wilson became their starting quarterback. On Thursday night, in a primetime showdown on the road against the Cleveland Browns, the Steelers saw that streak iced in the midst of near-whiteout conditions. It wasn’t that Pittsburgh didn’t have opportunities to succeed; they squandered them. Here are our biggest takeaways from the 24-19 loss.
What’s up, Coach(es)?
Fingers will be pointing and tongues wagging after another loss by the Steelers to an “inferior” team during head coach Mike Tomlin’s tenure. In fact, the final score had barely become official before fans took to social media to put the Steelers coaching staff on blast. After this game, it was admittedly difficult to be completely impartial. There were several questions about decisions made in this game that can freely be scrutinized.
Without diving into the pile-up, from an analytical perspective the play-calling on offense was vanilla. The offense wasn’t nearly as prepared for the pressure the Browns threw at them, and it showed. Wilson took shots here and there, sometimes a chunk was earned in the ground game, but overall the offense resembled a sandlot squad for the majority of the first 90 minutes of play.
Why, if the offense was underperforming, would Arthur Smith or any member of the staff decide it was a good idea – when weather conditions were more ideal – to not utilize Chris Boswell in the first quarter for two field goals and, instead, choose to go for it on 4th & 2 at the Cleveland 38? Because it was early? Maybe. Instead, they trotted Justin Fields out and he lost two yards and the ball was turned over on downs. And it wasn’t the only time they had Fields come in, with mixed results.
Early in the second quarter, DeShon Elliott forced a fumble that the Steelers recovered. Six plays later, on 4th & 1, Jaylen Warren was smothered and another turnover on downs occurred.
Some will argue that Tomlin and company wanted to be the aggressors, that those plays were aggressive calls. They are when things are working correctly. On Thursday night, things weren’t. Not in the first half.
Things got marginally better once Nick Herbig got a strip-sack on Jameis Winston (recovery Steelers) and Donte Jackson intercepted a pass. The offense capitalized by scoring two touchdowns. Marginally better is not the play the Steelers need this deep into the season, especially after beating the Baltimore Ravens with field goals.
Disappearing act
The Steelers did not look like they’d recovered from the physical pounding they took in the win over the Ravens because there were times, against the Browns, where it was as if a player here or there simply disappeared amidst the snow squall.
Routes were wide open, or completely left uncovered. Guys weren’t getting off of blocks to stop runs. It was a hodgepodge of good mixed with bad that took away from spectacular moments.
Steelers players making snow angels in celebration would have made every fan of the team feel a lot more joy… if they hadn’t been made in the midst of an AFC North divisional loss.
https://twitter.com/SteelersLive/status/1859838493909807128?
There were two penalties in this game that should disappear, if we all had the power to make it so.
Following the 2-minute warning, the Browns down by a single point in the fourth quarter, Patrick Queen got a free ticket through the line with a bead on Winston. Winston, as he was being sacked inside the pocket, threw the ball into the hands of one of his offensive linemen, who dropped it. The officials flagged the play for “illegal touching” instead of intentional grounding. Deliberation and changed minds made the next play 4th & 1, but then the Steelers sideline opted to accept the five-yard penalty.
On 3rd & 6, Winston threw a pass to Jerry Jeudy who went down but did not looked to have been “downed,” which lead to Beanie Bishop touching Jeudy who was on his way back to the huddle. Bishop was flagged for delay of game, giving Cleveland an extra five yards on the gain. The Browns then found the end zone with Nick Chubb finding a hole in the Steelers defense to sneak through two plays later for the win.
Time to regroup
The loss is what it is. As Cameron Heyward mentioned in his post-game press conference, moments like Thursday night humble people.
Pittsburgh needs to get right back to work a fix their inability to convert fourth downs and trips in the red zone. Those components are absolutely taking them out of serious contention if they’re not remedied offensively. They also need to address sloppiness in areas across the defense; clean things up and get back to better communication.
The Steelers will be on the road Sunday, December 1, at Paycor Stadium to face the Cincinnati Bengals in the first divisional meeting between the two teams this season.
