2023 Steelers Season Recall: Downward slide continues with loss to another two-win team
Steel City Underground presents our 2023 Steelers Recall: A Look Back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers entered Week 13 of the 2023 NFL regular season with a record of 7-4. They would exit Week 14, a shortened period due to a Sunday game followed by Thursday Night Football, with a record of 7-6.
In back-to-back games, the Steelers struggled against a pair of 2-10 teams in the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots. With the losses to two-win teams within back-to-back games, the Steelers became the only team in NFL history to have lost to two-win teams in such a manner this late in the season.
After another less-than-pleasing performance in front of their home fans, questions turned as to whether or not the Steelers were in a free fall.
What transpired in the primetime contest, with the Steelers wearing their unbeatable Color Rush uniforms, was unthinkable heading into the game. Some of the best online betting sites had the Steelers as a big enough favorite at -6 going into Thursday night, but the over/under set at 30.0 indicated that no one thought much of either team’s ability to score. Sadly, the script would be flipped, with Pittsburgh ending up with egg on their face at the conclusion.
The Steelers offense had successfully run the football up until this point, running for an average of 165.5 yards per game over their previous five games. However, against the Patriots, Bill Belichick took away this strength as Pittsburgh was held to 82 yards total on the ground.
30 of those yards came from QB Mitchell Trubisky scrambles, leaving RB Najee Harris with 29 yards (2.4 YPC) and RB Jaylen Warren with 11 (1.6 YPC). Trubisky received the start in place of an injured Kenny Pickett and appeared to be unprepared with a short week of practice.
Trubisky was unable to read the Patriots defense often in the first half, resulting in one interception and two near-interceptions as he progressed poorly through his reads. New England often showed a scheme only to back out as the ball was snapped, resulting in off-target throws that then continued throughout the game.
The fact that running back Jaylen Warren was the top receiver for a large portion of the game speaks to how ineffective the Steelers offense was. There were moments, plays that sparked some level of hope. And then, there were plays that completely overshadowed all the good that was accomplished.
Trubisky was able to redeem himself a bit after converting three different quarterback keepers; two of those plays resulted in first downs and one capped off a drive for a touchdown. He also threw a nice touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson and another to Pat Freiermuth for the two-point conversion play.
This was a hot shot https://t.co/IClgw9j5AV
— Christina Rivers (@3Rivers_Writer) December 8, 2023
The Steelers defense tried to hold down the fort, but was unable to sustain much due to the offense. The Steelers offense had drives of 7, 3, 5, 3, 3, 8, and 1 plays in the first half, including a turnover. This led to the Patriots, who scored 13 points combined in their previous three games, scored 21 in the first two quarters. To everyone’s surprise, Patriots QB Bailey Zappe, who hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass all season (five prior games), lit up the Steelers defense for three passing touchdowns. All in the first half.
Zappe finished the game 19-of-28 for 240 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception: a 115.2 QB rating, which was nearly 50 points more than his season-best.
To make matters worse, a Steelers team already hobbled by injuries felt the brunt some more during this game. LB Alex Highsmith only played 17 snaps following a neck injury. Rookie LB Nick Herbig would take his spot and play a career-high 45 snaps. LB Blake Martinez, a veteran but recent addition to the team, logged 21 snaps for the first time wearing a Steelers uniform. Other recent/new additions logged significant time, including S Trenton Thompson (30 snaps) and Mycal Walker (25 snaps).
To make matters worse, the Steelers identified concussion-like symptoms in star LB T.J. Watt the following morning, placing him into concussion protocol. This, after Markus Golden was already ruled inactive for the game too.
The situation at inside linebacker was also dire, being exploited early on in the game. Newly added LB Mykal Walker got a gift of an interception thanks to a hit by Elandon Roberts on JuJu Smith-Schuster that popped the ball into the air. That play seemed to give the defense a bit of a lift.
The team really looked primed for a comeback when special teams ace Miles Killebrew blocked a Patriots punt attempt. It also got the crowd refocused on the potential for the Steelers to rebound. Unfortunately, the closest Pittsburgh was able to get was within three points of tying New England as time ran out on the game clock.
And of course, officiating once again negatively affected one particular drive – or its potential – in this game. A false start was erroneously called on the Steelers’ long-snapper when it was clear that the Patriots were offsides. It was one of those judgment calls that has plagued the NFL this season.
Two bad passes officially sealed the Steelers fate late in the game, as they faced 3rd-and-2 and 4th-and-2 situations before the two minute warning. Snapping the ball from midfield, the offense only needed to move the chains – and collect a few more yards after – to get K Chris Boswell into a game-tying field goal situation.
Instead, Trubisky missed his intended targets on both attempts and the Steelers turned the ball over on downs. They would get the ball back with 15 seconds remaining, but at this point, the damage was already done.
.@steelers final 2 plays. If you wanna throw it on 3-2/4-2. OK. Let the defense dictate where to throw it. They got exactly what they wanted. Good plays v Man 2Man defense. Gotta execute to sustain the drive. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/rIRF4Q9ZhF
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) December 8, 2023
The Steelers dropped to a 7-6 record with the 21-18 loss and were dangerously close to being out of the postseason picture after looking like a threat to the AFC North’s leading Baltimore Ravens days earlier. With four weeks remaining in the season, there was nothing positive from this set of games to believe the Steelers would get things corrected and back on track.
Unfortunately, this trend would continue after the mini-bye when the Steelers traveled to Indianapolis to face the Colts. We will pick up there in next week’s Recall. We hope you join us and please let us know what your thoughts were of this two-game skid in the comments below.
