To be honest, I’m not sure I’m in the right frame of mind to write this yet, but sometimes you just have to put on your big boy pants and get down to it.

To say this was one of the uglier contests we’ve had to witness is fairly accurate, if not an understatement. Yes, it brings to mind the debacle in the City of Brotherly Love last year, but that was more a failure in all aspects of the game. Sunday’s nightmare was mostly a one-sided nightmare, but we’ll get to that. I’ll try and find something, anything good to pull out of this mess (but it’s not going to be easy).

Let’s break this game down in this week’s edition of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

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Good

The Wizard of Boz

Boswell was what he always seems to be – dependable and on the money. He made all 3 of his field goal attempts. Hard to imagine him missing any because all 3 came from inside the red-zone. (29, 34 and 20-yard attempts).

Boswell also planted 3 out of 4 kickoffs in the end zone for touchbacks. He didn’t really do anything extraordinary, but he was solid and efficient in what opportunities he had.

Jordan Berry

It’s hard when the top two good spots both go to kickers. Look, I’m trying not to be a total downer here!

Berry had 3 punts. Think of that, in a game where the Steelers had the ball for 12 separate drives (Yes, 12 drives), Berry punted 3 times. Boswell kicked 3 field goals.

One drive ended because the game (mercifully) came to an end.

That’s 5 drives that ended in something other than a punt or a score for the Steelers. (I know, it all adds up). But I digress…Jordan Berry.

Berry averaged 44.7 yards per punt, and dropped 2 of them inside the 20. That’s a solid day’s work. His average would have been better if the one punt he didn’t put inside the 20 hadn’t taken a bad bounce and rolled back towards the Steelers end of the field.

But hell, that’s kind of the way the game went.

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Bad

The Defense?

For 3 quarters and a bit more, the Steelers defense actually played very well. Mostly. They only gave up 7 points through 3 quarters before giving up 10 more in the fourth. (You really can’t tag the defense for the 13 points that the offense gifted the Jaguars). They held Black Bortles to under 100 yards passing. He only threw one pass the entire second half. Through three quarters, Leonard Fournette was under 100 yards rushing, and while he was getting yards, he wasn’t completely dominating and the defense was keeping things close.

You might question me putting them in the Bad grouping, but hear me out. The reason the defense is here is not because of the 90-yard run at the end of the game. That was visually ugly, but ultimately predictable when you saw how everyone was bunched in the box. All any runner would have needed to do was get past the first line of defense and no one was there to stop them. It was ugly, but that’s not why they are here.

What lands the defense here is that both times the punter pinned the Jaguars deep inside their own end, the Steelers defense could not contain them. They let them flip the field, and on at least one of those occasions, flip it so effectively that the Steelers found themselves buried in their end of the field. During those two drives, the Jaguars only managed a field goal, but it’s not always about points. Sometimes it’s about putting the opposing team in a bad position. That’s what they did.

In the second quarter, the Jags had first and ten on their own 8, and then moved back to the 4 with a penalty. They managed to get all the way to the Steelers 43 before punting and leaving the Steelers sitting on their own 5. Make a stop there, and give the offense decent field position and maybe things turn out differently. Maybe.

In the fourth quarter, the Jags start on their own 4 again, and provide yet another chance for the defense to make a stop and possibly spark the offense. Instead, the defense allowed Fournette romp for gains of 11, 13 and 12-yard gains. Chris Ivory was even more effective running for 39, and 19. The Jags eventually kick a 47-yard field goal to stretch their lead.

So, while you can say that the defense really didn’t lose the game, they didn’t do much to help the Steelers win either. These two drives were major failures from a defensive standpoint, and are why they end up on the bad side of things.

Anyone not named Antonio

Any receiver not wearing 84 is not doing enough. Martavis Bryant, JuJu Smith-Schuster, anyone playing the tight end position.

They all are essentially ineffective. Zach Metkler made some good points about Martavis in our post-game autopsy of this disaster. He may have breakaway speed, and he may be able to be a big target, but he’s not suited for the types of routes that Antonio Brown runs. His change of direction speed is nowhere near what it needs to be, and he simply isn’t being put in a position to make plays. During the first half, Bryant had one catch for 2 yards.

JuJu is actually a potential bright spot, but right now he’s still not seeing enough targets to make a big impact. Brown was targeted 19 times yesterday, catching 10 balls. Le’Veon Bell was targeted 10 times, catching all 10, but for nothing more than 46 yards.

That’s not indicative of being a number two receiver. That’s being a safety valve and one that isn’t getting jack for YAC. Somebody other than AB needs to step up and start making plays. It’s really that simple.

And for those of you that think that person is Eli Rogers – I have some swamp land in Florida I’d like to sell you.

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Ugly

Ben makes history, unfortunately

Worst. Game. Ever.

That’s what this was for Ben. I can’t sugar coat it, and I you can’t get away from it. The first time he’s thrown 5 INTs in his career. The first time in 30 years ANY Steelers QB has thrown 5 INTs.

33 of 55 for 312 yards, 0 TDs and 5 INTs with a passer rating of 37.8.

That was just plain ugly. Ben has said he has to play better, and he does. But he needs some help as well. He was back to forcing the ball to AB yesterday, and that in large part was because NOBODY else was getting open.

I don’t believe Ben “doesn’t have it anymore”. Not at all. He had a bad game. But the QB still needs receivers to get open, and when they don’t, it is limiting. He also needs his “best running back in the league who wants to be paid like a RB and number two WR” to do more than be a dump off pass catcher.

Ben was bad. No doubt. But he had help in being bad.

Conclusion

There is one set of stats that sums up this game to me. During the third quarter of the game, the Steelers time of possession was 13:28. The Jaguars time of possession was 1:32. That means our defense was on the field for one minute and 32 seconds during the third quarter.

During that 1:32 seconds, our defense performed as follows:

• Allowed Fournette to gain 3 yards on first down.
• Forced an incomplete pass by Bortles on second down.
• Sacked Bortles for a loss of -3 yards on third down.
• Jaguars Punt.

During that span, our defense gave up 0 yards, allowed 0 completions and 0 points. At the beginning of the third quarter, the score was 7 – 6 Jaguars. At the end of the third quarter, the score was 20 – 9 Jaguars.

Yes – the Jaguars scored 13 points without gaining a single yard of total offense or completing a single pass. When a stat line reads that way, it’s hard to imagine an outcome that would lead to victory.

I’m not ready to write off the season, or any member of the Steelers team. It is, after all, still only week 5, and there is a long way to go before the story of this season is fully written. Losses like this one can sometimes act as a lightning rod for a team, and they have for the Steelers in the past. This team needs to determine their identity, and they need to figure it out fast. A trip to 5-0 Kansas City looms and while they have had success against the Chiefs in the past, it’s really hard to imagine coming back from KC with a victory at this point.

But that’s why they play the games.