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Foxborough, Mass., — The Steelers finally found another win but it wasn’t pretty by any means.
Offensive Woes Continue
To simply put it, the offense looked atrocious and has definitely seen better days.
Aaron Rodgers seemed to show his age as the 41-year-old threw for 139 yards with 16 completions on 23 attempts. While his two passing touchdowns to Calvin Austin III and DK Metcalf helped the Steelers pull ahead in the game, his inefficiency and lack of composure in the pocket were on full display.
Rodgers threw a costly interception to open the second half to former Steeler Robert Spillane, who took the return back for 37 yards. This was the only throwing error Rodgers made but it capitalized on a lackluster offense that continued to struggle.
The offensive line looked even worse than Rodgers, as the rushing game was never really able to get going. Jaylen Warren led the team with 47 yards on 18 carries.
In addition, the line gave up 6 TFLs and allowed three quarterback hits. The six TFLs are the second most given up by the line only behind the 8 from last week’s showing against the Seahawks.
The inconsistency of the offense needs to change desperately.
The offense saw 8 total possessions and three of those possessions they ran 29 plays and scored 21 points. In the other five possessions, they ran 17 plays, punted 4 times, turned the ball over once, and scored nothing.
Needless to say, if the Steelers are hoping to do better and actually past the first round of the playoffs, the offense is going to have to kick it into overdrive and not sputter like a 2008 Honda Civic low on oil.
The Return of the Steel Curtain?
If you’re familiar with the term “Steel Curtain,” we are talking about a dominant Steelers defense that has terrorized opposing offenses for the last five decades,
The original Steel Curtain was led by the likes of Jack Ham, Jack Lambert and Mean Joe Greene in the 1970s. These lineman led one of the most prolific defensive cores in NFL history that won four Super Bowl rings.
The moniker was given to multiple defensive units over the past few decades, including one led by Rod Woodson in the 90s and Troy Polamalu in the early 2000s and might finally be returning to this year’s unit that has been one of the most disruptive in the league so far.
Against Drake Maye’s Patriots offense, the new Steelers racked in five takeaways, turnovers, or whatever you wanna call it.
“We spend a lot of time on our ball search culture,” said Mike Tomlin. “But it’s just words, it’s an agenda. The efforts of the guys make it real, not only on Sunday but during the course of the week. It just felt like we were heading toward a good game in that area, just the way we worked this week in that area.”
This week’s defensive efforts feature six key plays that led to the win for the Steelers:
- Cam Heyward tipped a Drake Maye pass that was intercepted by Brandin Echols in the end zone.
- Cam Heyward peanut punched the ball out of Patriots RB Rhamondre Stevenson’s hands just before he crossed the goal line to cause a fumble that Payton Wilson recovered in the end zone.
- Cole Holcomb causing yet another fumble at the hands of Stevenson that led to a Darius Slay recovery.
- TJ Watt and former Pats safety Jabrill Peppers combined on a tackle of Stevenson that led to Watt stripping the ball from Stevenson and Peppers recovering the fumble.
- In the middle of the fourth quarter with the game tied, Nick Herbig strip-sacked Drake Maye and TJ Watt recovered the ball, leading to a game-deciding Aaron Rodgers touchdown.
- Echols made an open-field tackle on WR DeMario Douglas for a 1-yard loss on the Patriots final play of the game: a fourth-and-1 on the Steelers 28-yard line. This resulted in a turnover on downs.
“I’ve been around some really elite defenses, and I believe we have the makeup to be that. But elite defenses deliver world championships. Elite defenses are on the cover of Sports Illustrated. You know when you’re in those neighborhoods knocking on those doors. I simply was say I think we’ve got enough of the ingredients that we need to make that a goal of our and not a dream… And so, we can’t run away from expectations; we’ve got to run to it. And I thoughtfully put that out there, because that’s how I feel about it,” said Tomlin about the defensive efforts.
Aaron Rodger’s Hall of Fame Resumé Strengthens
The future inductee’s greatness continued in some fashion on Sunday as he passed former Green Bay Packer Brett Favre on the NFL’s all-time touchdown passes list with a score in the first-half.
Rodgers’ tossed his 509th career touchdown pass early in the second quarter on a 12-yard pass to DK Metcalf. That moved him passed Favre to secure fourth-place, only behind Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571), and Peyton Manning (539).
In Other News…
Former Steeler Wide Receiver George Pickens might have become the most toxic player in all of the National Football League.
During the Dallas’ Cowboys Week 3 game against the Chicago Bears, the wideout had an absolute meltdown on the sidelines.
After having an above average game, Pickens made a costly mistake for the ‘Boys.
While down 17 in the fourth quarter, Dak Prescott threw a pass to Pickens that bounced off his hands and was in turn intercepted by the Bears.
After the play, Pickens went to the sidelines and slammed his helmet on the ground as his teammates tried to cool him off.
The Steelers seemingly dodged a huge bullet after dealing Pickens to the Cowboys in the offseason, as his crashouts have increased drastically.
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