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topicnews · October 7, 2024

Airing the Complaints: Another poor offensive start and gaps in defense lead to the Steelers’ loss to the Cowboys

Airing the Complaints: Another poor offensive start and gaps in defense lead to the Steelers’ loss to the Cowboys

During a meeting with the media last week, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith borrowed Napoleon Bonaparte’s “Take Vienna.” Quote illustrating the concept of training beliefs and carrying out marching orders.

When you look at the performance of Smith’s offense in the first half of Sunday night’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys (3-2), Vienna can be forgotten. I would have been happy if Smith had taken North Versailles.

Well, unless Napoleon meant Vienna, Ohio. Then Smith’s unit might have had a chance.

Perhaps.

But based on the distance the defense allowed, Dak Prescott and Dallas’ offense would have rolled right over them, through western Pennsylvania and across the state line into Ohio.

The Steelers’ offense was sporadic. The The defense lost yards. And as usual, there were some coaching decisions to question as the fourth quarter turned into Waterloo for the Steelers (3-2).

Sacrebleu!

We talk about that in this week’s Airing of Grievances following a 20-17 home loss to the Cowboys.

Failure in the first half

The Steelers’ offense in the first half was atrocious. It totaled 89 yards in 30 plays.

The team converted just one third-down snap on seven attempts. Quarterback Justin Fields only managed 35 yards passing. He completed four throws while being sacked three times.

Run back Najee Harris averaged just 3.4 yards per carry on eight attempts, a paltry 27 yards. George Pickens was targeted twice and had just eight yards on one catch. Pat Freiermuth was not targeted at all.

“The result is nothing mystical. We didn’t do enough to position ourselves over 60 minutes,” head coach Mike Tomlin said after the game. “We started slowly on offense. They were self-inflicted wounds, punishments And Things like that to throw us off schedule offensively.”

On the night, the Steelers picked up eight penalties for 50 yards. However, many of them also came on special teams and defense. The biggest concern has to be a running game that failed to produce a single carry longer than eight yards on 26 attempts.

More sports

• Steelers notes: Nick Herbig, DeMarvin Leal injured; TJ Watt surpasses 100 sacks
• George Pickens is still without a touchdown in five games after a meager 26-yard performance against Dallas
• Cowboys 20, Steelers 17: The game summary

Coach misfortune

The most disheartening moment of the first half occurred during the first drive of the night. On 3rd-and-8 from the Dallas 28, Smith decided to make a pitch play to fourth-string running back Aaron Shampklin.

I have no idea why he would do that unless the plan was to go for it on fourth down. But the run gained five runs and Mike Tomlin sent Chris Boswell onto the field to kick a field goal anyway.

If the Steelers don’t trust Justin Fields to put the ball over the uprights in this situation, I don’t know what else to say. It makes no sense. Then they should face Russell Wilson next week in Las Vegas.

Of course, it worked when the Cowboys threw the ball on a 3rd-and-6 from their own 18 in the fourth quarter.

Thanks, but no thanks

Me too didn’t agree with Mike Tomlin’s timeout usage late in the game.

I was hoping he would take a break from his performance The Option to do this if there are 47 seconds left after a check. Prescott was thrown to the ground in front of the Pilon at the one-yard line. The piece has been checked and confirmed. However, because the clock was stopped when it would otherwise have been running, a 10-second runoff must take effect unless one of the teams elects to call a timeout.

None of the coaches decided to take a time out.

I would have done that to save 10 seconds. However, Tomlin opted to keep the timeout, only to burn it on 4th-and-goal after getting a look at the Dallas offense.

On the other hand, Dallas also got to see Pittsburgh’s defense. So what was the point of that?

“We wanted to gather some information and see what structure it came out in And Get us on the right call. It was a fourth down play. NO Hesitation about it. We had a chance to win the game right there. Forget what comes after. So we took some time off. We communicated. We got a call we liked and they won the down,” Tomlin said.

After the timeout, Dallas grabbed the ball, scored, and Pittsburgh only had 20 seconds left to score Somehow Wonder.

Which they failed to do.

How they got there

The Steelers’ red zone defense was pretty good, forcing a short field goal, blocking another and generating two turnovers.

But the defense struggled for a second week one after the other after looking phenomenal in the first three games.

Prescott averaged 8.4 yards per attempt and completed four passes between 27 and 48 yards. The Cowboys finished with 445 yards of offense and picked up nine conversions on third downs.

The real sticking point was Dallas’ game-winning touchdown drive. The defense stayed on the field for 14 plays and more than four and a half minutes as the Cowboys marched 70 yards to end the game with a fourth-down pass into the end zone from Prescott to Jalen Tolbert.

Prescott and Co. also had an initiative that bridged the third and fourth quarters. It lasted eight minutes and 32 seconds. The Cowboys rushed for 90 yards on 16 plays. The highlight was a 22-yard touchdown reception by Rico Dowdle.

“Towards the end of the game they ran the ball well. We gave them a lot of yards after the catch. Misunderstandings. A many things We usually do that at a high level. We didn’t do that tonight,” safety officer Minkah Fitzpatrick said.

Over the course of the evening, the Steelers defense allowed Dallas to gain 87 yards rushing on 11 penalties.

Injuries to outside linebackers are also becoming a big problem. The Steelers were already starting the game when Alex Highsmith was sidelined. Then they lost Nick Herbig to a hamstring injury and DeMarvin Leal to a stinger during the game.

Not a good look

Television cameras caught George Pickens wearing a message on his eyelid that read: “Open (expletive) always.”

Maybe next week his black eye will read: “Captured passes (expletive) rare.”

Because if Pickens Was The ball is still hardly as open as this news suggests came his way. The third-year receiver had just three catches for 26 yards on seven targets.

Him too got into a small crowd with some Dallas players at the end of the game, and it seems they didn’t take it too kindly.

We’re five games into the season and Pickens hasn’t scored a touchdown yet.

Tim Benz is a staff writer at the Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via X. All tweets could be reposted. Unless otherwise stated, all emails are subject to publication.

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