Takeaways: Disaster strikes as Steelers lose to Texans
Steel City Underground presents post-game takeaways from every Pittsburgh Steelers game of the 2023 NFL regular season.
The first day of October was supposed to feature a Pittsburgh Steelers team primed to battle a wounded Houston Texans offensive line on its way to shutting down their hosts with overwhelming defense and improved offense of their own. That was the script. Unfortunately, the actors lost a page as the lack of production brought the curtains down.
The Steelers weren’t a precisely choreographed troupe; they were more like a theater fire in Houston on Sunday afternoon… and Steelers Nation is angry enough to let it all burn.
The finger-pointing after the 30-6 thrashing comes as no surprise. There’s a lot of blame in the heavy load the Steelers organization is carrying after such an abysmal performance.
Ignoring the injuries that changed personnel, the offense still couldn’t click, until it did – just in time for Kenny Pickett and Pat Freiermuth to join James Daniels in injury protocol and out of action.
After Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren both found some success with the run, a negative play would result in a third down that couldn’t be converted. A pass to George Pickens that might have been a first down wasn’t because he hesitated for a split second and the Texans defenders surrounded him before he could run the extra yard or so.
“We’re behind the chains and we’re playing catch up, and we’re in bad situations. We just have to be more consistent across the board. We’re not being good enough consistently. It’s killing us right now.” – Mason Cole
Despite efforts from guys that fans see as the key pieces to the Steelers’ success on the defensive side of the ball, there was just no stopping the Houston rushing game. And due to that, the passing game opened up so wide it just chewed up any chance Pittsburgh had at getting back into the game.
“We were on our heels a lot. (Houston) had a really, really good game plan to get us on our heels.” – Patrick Peterson
After the game, head coach Mike Tomlin told the media, “Hell yeah we’ve got to make some changes.. that was an ugly product we put out there today. We’re not going to do the same things and hope for a different outcome. What those changes are, we’ll put together a plan in preparation.”
There is a long laundry list of changes fans want to see. If you check social media threads, the calls go all the way to the top, including ownership. Extreme? Yes. Frustration? Absolutely. Sunday afternoon simply placed a bigger spotlight on the cracks in the dam that is ready to burst.
This game may very well be the pivot point the Steelers were hoping the bye week would be. Now, they’re in a disastrous position ahead of an AFC North showdown with the Baltimore Ravens.
