Flavell's Five Thoughts: Steelers Offense is Struggling in More Ways Than Kenny Pickett
The chance to win was there until it wasn’t. The Pittsburgh Steelers had a chance to spoil Tua Tagovailoa’s return from a nasty concussion but weren’t quite able to finalize their drives as multiple late interceptions were thrown by Kenny Pickett. Miami pulled out the win 16-10.
All of the game's scoring happened in the first half. It was only the third NFL game this season that saw no points scored in the second half of the game.
Despite playing maybe their best game of the season, the defense dropped four interceptions throughout the game, many in key situations.
Offensively, the Steelers didn’t have much rhythm but found themselves moving the ball batter late in the game until the drives were thwarted by the interceptions.
I wrote a whole column on Kenny Pickett following the game already so my five takeaways won’t talk much specifically about his performance. All of that can be found in the column. Other than that, there is still a handful of topics to discuss so let’s get to it.
No DBs On The Hands Team
Pittsburgh did an awesome job shutting down Tom Brady and the Bucs last weekend. However, the Bucs offense was shut out against the horrid Carolina Panthers Sunday so maybe they just aren’t very good themselves. Regardless, it was a solid performance with a plethora of fill-in defensive backs.
The Steelers got much healthier this week as Minkah Fitzpatrick, Levi Wallace, and Cam Sutton were able to suit up.
Their assignment? Keep Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle at bay. One might say that’s a pretty daunting task even when they’re at full strength.
Hill and Waddle combined to have 11 receptions for 160 yards. That’s much better than the damage that could’ve been done.
Tagovailoa made a few throws Sunday night that he’ll surely want back. The Steelers got their hands on four of Tagovailoa’s incompletions that arguably could’ve been caught for interceptions. They didn’t catch any of them.
They say there is a reason that defensive backs aren’t wide receivers and it’s because they can’t catch well. But when quarterbacks gift wrap opportunities for you to take the ball away, you’ve got to convert at least once. The Steelers didn’t do that.
It’s hard enough on the offense having a rookie quarterback. Giving that guy a shorter field to work with and making his life easier could’ve led to even one more touchdown and the potential for a Steelers win.
I expect that the defensive backs will spend some time working on the JUGS machine this week trying to catch some passes so that they can turn easy pass defenses into sure interceptions.
Harris is No Longer a Three-Down Back
Following the 2020 season, the Steelers wanted to get back to having a solid run game. James Conner had gone to the Cardinals via free agency and the Steelers had a void to fill.
While most of their problems resided with the offensive line’s production, the Steelers opted to use their first-round draft choice on Alabama running back Najee Harris.
I was on record saying that I liked the pick and that I thought they’d hit a home run with that choice. Turns out I might have been well off base.
Harris hasn’t been an absolute disaster but here’s merely been average and that’s not what you want to hear when discussing the impact of a first-round pick. He shows flashes of being able to make people miss but he also puts on tape the fact that his vision might not be worthy of a top-tier NFL running back.
Training camp darling Jaylen Warren, the undrafted rookie out of Oklahoma State, is starting to cut into Harris’ workload, most notably on third downs.
Warren is a very good pass blocker and was able to pick up a third-and-short for the Steelers on Sunday, something Harris failed to do during his opportunity in the same circumstance.
If Harris doesn’t end up being a three-down back, that’s fine. But the problem is that he was a first-round pick and, ideally, those guys are what you build your future foundation on. I’m not quite sure Harris is a foundational piece for the Steelers offense.
Good. But not great.
Pickens Role Continues to Grow
George Pickens is a freak. There’s no other way to describe him.
He finally hauled in his first NFL touchdown on Sunday night when Pickett threw him a contested catch ball that he confronted his body for and landed with both feet in bounds. It was a thing of beauty but it was nothing he hasn’t been doing all season.
Pickens’s ACL injury ended up being a blessing in disguise for the Steelers. They were able to get him in the second round when he likely would’ve been the top receiver off the board without the injury. He’s that good.
Even without the freakishly athletic feats, Pickens is seeing more and more targets on a weekly basis. He finished with six catches on six targets for 61 yards and the touchdown.
Diontae Johnson is the de facto number-one receiver on the team because he’s being paid like one. Before long, however, Pickens could grow into that role for the Steelers.
He wins a lot of his routes against defensive backs. The unbelievable circus catch ability makes him an x-factor versus the top defensive backs on each team. Pickens's overall talent just screams “future no. 1 receiver”.
He’ll have to put in the work but his rapport with Pickett is much higher than what he had with Mitch Trubisky and his talent is shining through much brighter now.
Pickens makes a wide receiver room badly in need of legitimate talent better.
Steelers Offense Still Lacks Any Splash
Following the game, Chase Claypool had a pretty telling quote about the Steelers’ offense and seems to subtly send a message to offensive coordinator Matt Canada that things are very stale with the current offense.
"It's a little harder to score when it's like a 10-15 play drive, because everything has to go right,” Claypool said. “If you're nickel and diming, you get 5 yards per play, which is fine for time of possession, but sometimes we just want to go score now."
Yikes.
The current offensive output is certainly frustrating for all involved. While everyone wants to win, they also have mouths to feed at home and a lack of stats will hinder future paychecks that can be attained when the players have a chance to test free agency. But Claypool hits the nail on the head here.
Every play seems to be three, four, five yards from the line of scrimmage. Even in third-and-long situations, the Steelers often run routes and throw to routes that aren’t even to the line to gain. That makes converting these chances that much harder.
You don’t want your rookie quarterback throwing it around like a backyard football game but allowing him to use the middle of the field and do so more than five yards downfield would help build confidence and possibly yield better results than the Steelers get now.
It’s to the point where expecting a resurgence is insanity. They won’t go from a bottom-of-the-league scoring offense anytime soon because they clearly are what they are.
Mike Tomlin has made it clear that his offensive coordinator's job isn’t in jeopardy. One can only hope maybe he’s lying for the sake of not trying to throw his guy under the bus.
Pass Rush Needs Watt in The Worst Way
I can’t remember if it was Mike Tirico or Cris Collinsworth but one of them made mention of the fact that Alex Highsmith was the NFL’s sack leader entering Sunday’s game.
That number is skewed from Highsmith’s three sacks in week one. Ironically, all three came before Watt exited with his injury. While Highsmith hasn’t been invisible since, he clearly hasn’t gotten to the QB as much.
Highsmith isn’t the whole pass rush and T.J. Watt shouldn’t be either. But the Steelers went without a sack yet again Sunday and only recorded one QB hit.
Tagovailoa was delivering the ball quickly tonight. He mentioned prior to the game that he would start getting rid of the ball quicker and avoid the sack by throwing it away more frequently following the ugly head injury just a few weeks ago.
Pittsburgh isn’t getting the push right now that they do when Watt has to be accounted for coming off the right side. It’s just the truth. They’re also blitzing a lot less without Watt and had their lowest blitz rate of the last decade or so with a paltry 2.4%.
That’ll certainly change when they can finally put Watt back out there and let him rip his way to the quarterback.
The Steelers will face Tagovailoa’s former college teammate Jalen Hurts next weekend. Watt probably won’t be back for that one but will return post-bye.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is a very lethal runner and won’t be contained easily. While they may chase him around a little bit, he’s going to be tough to bring down.
The sad stat lines for the Steelers’ pass rush are piling up and their lack of pressure on the opposing quarterback is a major concern.
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