2016 Recall: Steelers downward spiral begins

Looking back on the Steelers Week 6 matchup with the Miami Dolphins, I wish I could take back one thing I said about this game: that it wasn’t a “trap game”.

Of course, a “trap” meaning that the Steelers would completely overlook a slumping Dolphins team following two strong wins over the Chiefs and Jets. However, the sloppiness from those earlier games in the season finally caught up to the Steelers down in South Beach. There were fumbles, misthrows, penalties and a host of other inconsistencies that hadn’t derailed the football team in wins over the Redskins and Bengals, including slow starts in the opening quarters leading up to the Dolphins game.

All of those things would come to a head, along with the injury bug biting away at the roster, in another bad road loss for the Steelers.

To be honest, this game wasn’t always out of hand, but for the Steelers, it was mostly ugly. At times, it was ugly for the Dolphins too. They had a field goal blocked, missed another, had a penalty which took away a touchdown (they would settle for a field goal instead). Miami QB Ryan Tannehill is also lucky William Gay dropped a sure interception.

Besides those two teams, a third team, the officiating team, also had an ugly game. Miami attempted an onside kick following their first score, which would’ve given the Steelers great starting field position… only to have it yanked away by Ed Hocculi saying the process of the kick started before the whistle was blown! (Which was also debatable from any replays.)

Holding calls were missed, others which were ticky-tack calls were made, Le’Veon Bell was horse-collar tackled with no flag, and of course, Ben Roethlisberger was injured by a dirty, late, and low hit after an interception.

That hit really put the Steelers out of the game. Landry Jones entered in the second quarter, but Ben would return after halftime. He wasn’t himself, overthrowing, underthrowing and mistiming his passes. Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell made some acrobatic saves, but the Steelers otherwise struggled to move the ball and put points on the board.

The defense was just as bad. With Cam Heyward out of the game, they couldn’t stop the run. This would be the game where the world found out who Jay Ajayi was, as he ran for 204 yards and two touchdowns. Lawrence Timmons and Vince Williams left the game for spells, which, with Ryan Shazier already out, left rookie seventh round pick Tyler Matakevich in a precarious position. Stephon Tuitt and Mike Mitchell would also come off of the field during the game.

This setup an inconsistent defense which allowed freak extended plays to be executed by the Dolphins offense. Still, at times, the Steelers could’ve knotted the score due to Miami’s own incompetence. Pittsburgh’s failure to do so speaks volumes on how poorly they played in this game. There was no pass rush, there was no blocking, there was no, nothing.

Except a last-ditch touchdown effort by newly called up receiver Cobi Hamilton, and this “play of the game” (the only one we could honestly choose, for lack of splash plays that day).

Play of the Game

Down only 3-0, there was still a lot of hope for the Steelers midway through the first quarter. Following a ten-yard holding penalty, the Steelers faced a 2nd-and-14 from their own 32-yard line. Darrius Heyward-Bey goes in motion and receives the ball for an end-around run. DHB shows his speed, and then his strength, as he hits the second level of the Dolphins defense, before hitting another gear on his way to a 60-yard rushing touchdown.