The Good, Bad and Ugly from Week 4 Steelers – Ravens
The day started out so well.
Joe Kuzma and I hung out at the Pepsi Tailgate Tour before the game. We got to talk with and meet Hall of Famer’s Rod Woodson and Dermontti Dawson. It felt like a great start to the day.
Then the game started.
I’ve been thinking about this ever since, and I’m just not sure it’s fair to call this the Good, Bad and the Ugly. It is probably more accurate to call it the “Not really good, but not that bad, Bad and the Ugly”. Because I just can’t find anything I can honestly call “good” to take away from that game.
So, let’s get to it.
The “Not really good, but not that bad”
Chris Boswell
Boswell has been struggling, so it’s somewhat encouraging that he made both his field goals and his extra point try. I hesitate to say it’s “good” because a 34- and 39-yard field goal should be money in the bank for Boz, as should the extra point. It was definitely not bad – it was just what is expected.
But many I am reaching for something good.
Bad
Bend But Don’t Break
I almost put this in the “not really good, but not that bad” category. I want to stress that the defense is not to blame for this loss. They gave the team a chance to win, and maybe in this era of “offense is king” NFL football, that’s all that you can ask of your defense. However, we’re spoiled. We expect more out of our defense than we have been getting.
The first half, at least the first quarter, was definitely bad. The first drive, almost certainly scripted plays from the Ravens, was still far too easy. The second, set up by an unfortunate turnover, was also too easy. Down 14-0 before the half of the first quarter had gone by.
It looked like it was going to get even worse after a 71-yard pass from Flacco to John Brown, but the Steelers managed to force a fumble which they recovered at their own 1.
On the next 3 Ravens series, the defense managed to force punts, but the next 4 all yielded points in the form of Justin Tucker field goals. They only gave up 12 points in the second half, and that’s better than it has been. If they had gotten support from the offense, maybe it would have been enough.
Still, it wasn’t good.
The Refs
You know they are going to be in here. They stink. They didn’t cause the Steelers to lose this game, but man they sure didn’t help. They all stink.
Ugly
The Offense
This one is on the offense. Squarely on the shoulders of every member of that offensive unit, and specifically on the play of Ben Roethlisberger. After the game, Ben was asked about being on different pages from Antonio Brown, and he responded by saying “at this point, I’m not on the same page with anybody”.
That was how it looked, especially in the second half.
Ben had one great moment, the throw to Brown which resulted in the Steelers only touchdown. That occurred in the second quarter, which apparently is the only quarter the Steelers feel comfortable scoring (they have outscored opponents 80-3 in the second quarter, 14-0 in the Ravens game. Conversely, they’ve been outscored 42-6 in the first quarter, and haven’t scored a second-half point in the last two games).
The running game was non-existent and appeared from the outset to be a second thought. The first series was 3 passes before Vance McDonald had a pass stripped and recovered by Baltimore. The second was 2 passes and 2 runs and the third, a 13-play drive had 3 runs interspersed with 10 passes.
5 run plays in their first 21 plays. They ran it 5 more times the rest of the game.
This team needs some balance and maybe somebody needs to tell Ben to “Shut the <bleep> up and run the play”. I don’t know, but instead of getting better, the offense appears to be falling more and more out of sync.
Conclusion
The outlook for the Steelers right now is pretty bleak. I’m a “glass half full” kind of guy normally, and I’m not ready to give up on the season after only 4 games. Still, the schedule is not going to be forgiving over the next quarter of the season. A matchup with the Falcons, followed by three critical AFC North matchups (Bengals, Browns and then the Ravens) will be telling.
The season may be defined by the next four games. Even a loss to the Falcons won’t sink their ship, but they will need to sweep those three AFC North matchups to re-assert themselves into contention for the division. It’s time for this team to decide who they are and who they plan to be.
