The Steelers came out of New England with the same problem they’ve had all season, only louder: this offense has nowhere to hide.
Pittsburgh’s 20-3 loss to the Patriots left the team at 1-1, and the numbers attached to the offense are ugly enough on their own. Through eight quarters, the Steelers have scored one touchdown.
The defense has matched that total. That’s the kind of imbalance that starts with the people building the roster, and it’s why the front office is squarely in the spotlight now.
The offensive line was a mess from the start. No one up front had a clean day, and the issues were everywhere you looked. The tackles struggled, Spencer Anderson “whiffed more than Reggie Jackson,” Zach Frazier got driven backward repeatedly, and Mason McCormick - who may have been the best of the group - still wasn’t close to good enough.
The run game never got off the ground because there was no push at all. Steelers backs were being hit almost as soon as they got the ball.
In pass protection, the breakdowns were even more alarming. Free rushers showed up too often, and the communication problems were impossible to miss.
At this point, there’s no reason to keep Max Iheanachor and Gennings Dunker on the bench.
D.K. Metcalf’s start has been just as discouraging.
Right now, he has a better chance of catching a cold than he does a football. And when the ball does get to him, he’s not making enough happen afterward.
Against New England, Christian Gonzalez largely erased him, and most of Metcalf’s 27 receiving yards came after the game had already slipped away. The trade looks worse with every snap, and so far he has been a complete disappointment.
Aaron Rodgers is part of the problem too, even if the bigger failure belongs to the people who put this roster together. Every snap he takes pushes the organization’s future further back, and that’s on the Steelers for giving him the chance. The offense around him has made life miserable: the line can’t hold up, the run game can’t help, and the Patriots were able to tee off.
Rodgers wasn’t sharp even when he had time. The question now is whether that’s just rust from sitting out the preseason or a sign that, at nearly 43, the arm and the game just aren’t there the way they used to be. The defense kept Pittsburgh in it as long as it could, but that can’t carry a team for 15 more games.
So the Steelers are left with the same ugly combination: a front office that built this offense poorly, a quarterback who can’t overcome it, an offensive line that’s getting beaten too often, and a receiver who still looks lost.
In Other News...
Aaron Rodgers Just Created Another Steelers Distraction Off The Field
Aaron Rodgers spent part of a recent podcast revisiting the end of his broken engagement to Shailene Woodley, and the discussion quickly spilled into the kind of off-field conversation that can follow a quarterback anywhere. Rodgers said Woodley asked for permission to be with another man shortly after his proposal, a revelation that immediately pushed the story beyond a private breakup and into the public debate that tends to follow high-profile athletes.
Joy Taylor then took Rodgers to task on her show for choosing to air those details, and the reaction online split just as quickly as the topic itself. Woodley has mostly stayed silent, while Rodgers keeps his attention on football, but the episode still added another layer of noise around a player whose every word tends to travel well beyond the field. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Run Game Concern Just Got Even More Serious
Pittsburghs run game was already under a bright light after a sluggish start through the first two weeks, and Sunday only added to the concern. Late in the first half against the New England Patriots, running back Rico Dowdle exited after suffering a toe injury on a sack-fumble play, leaving the Steelers to sort through another setback in a ground attack that has not provided much help.
Dowdle was listed as questionable to return, and if he cannot, Jaylen Warren is the next man up to handle most of the carries. For a Steelers offense still looking for consistency on the ground, losing another back in the middle of a game only sharpens the focus on how quickly the rushing plan can stabilize. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Drive Turned Into A Bizarre Mess Fans Need To See
The second quarter of the Steelers Week 2 matchup in New England delivered one of those drives that seemed to unravel in real time. On a third-and-seven play, Christian Elliss forced the ball loose, and the fumble took on a life of its own as it bounced behind the line of scrimmage and set off a scramble involving multiple players before Troy Fautanu finally came away with it.
Even after the recovery, Pittsburgh was left staring at a 4th-and-43, a rare and ugly spot that summed up how badly the possession had gone off the rails. For a team trying to settle into the game and protect its rhythm, the sequence was the kind of chaos that fans replay because it is hard to believe on first watch. [Read more 🡒]