Steelers Week 3 Recap: Eagles Top Steelers

The Steelers lost an incredibly ugly game Sunday evening. They lost by a lot. Let’s bite the bullet and relive that Philadelphia nightmare.

So if you didn’t see the Steelers game and you’re looking for a recap all I’ll say is brace yourself. If you did watch the game and you still want a recap, then far be it from me to questions or prod into any masochistic instincts you may have. To each his own.

1st Quarter

The Steelers received the kick. The first drive was decent. Though it did display the profound lack of a running game they had. Eli Rogers had a nice 32 yard grab. Then a 13 yard pass to Brown. Next, a Roethlisberger scramble lead to another 1st down. Then a field goal was blocked. It was going to be that kind of game. The Steelers first drive set the tone. They’d do ok, no run, but blew it when it mattered.

Then Carson Wentz threw it to Celek for 22 yards. Then Sproles ran for 40 yards. They ended up with a field goal. This also set the tone. The Steelers were completely unable to defend the pass, especially from running backs. This has been apparent all season, for half a decade, but it didn’t cost them any games until today, not that the offense did well.

Once the Steelers received the kick they did what they would so often do. They got nothing on the run. They did get a first down from Brown. But then they punted after a penalty and an incomplete pass. Nice punt though.

The Eagles would finish out the first quarter, following a penalty from Timmons who would not finish the game, with, believe it or not, a series of long passes.

2nd Quarter

Then they started the 2nd quarter with a series of long passes. Even the short passes were long passes. Then Matthews went in the endzone. It was 10-0.

Then sweet, dangerous, hope shined through for a moment. Ben threw a long bomb to Sammie Coates for 41 yards. Right afterward he connected with Brown for 20 yards. After a sack the Steelers kicked a field goal. Oh yeah, the offensive line did poorly as well. 10-3

The Eagles answered with a field goal after, you know, a bunch of pass plays and penalties. 13-3

3rd Quarter

The 2nd half began. The Eagles took the kick. Can you guess what happened next? Well it started off innocent enough. Then Wentz escaped a sack and tossed it to Sproles who danced with members of the Steelers secondary for 73 yards to the endzone. 20-3

The Steelers took the kick. Antonio Brown made a nice grab for 19 yards. Williams had a nice run for 13 yards. Then the Steelers had 3 straight incomplete passes. The Eagles hit the punter and the Steelers took the chance from 5 out. The pass was incomplete. Turnover on downs.

You know what happened next. First a facemask penalty. Then a 24 yard pass to Celek. A pair of runs from Smallwood totaling 26 yards came after. Following a nice goalline stop by Heyward Smallwood put it in to make it 27-3.

Even aided by a penalty on Brown the Steelers still couldn’t put it together. They got a penalty of their own shortly ater. Brown did get an 18 yard pass. Brown was one of the few bright spots today. He was the only one honestly. Then a sack. Then a sack and a fumble.

Tuitt got himself a roughing the passer, one of the rare times Pittsburgh actually touched a quarterback this season. The Barner took some plays and got another touchdown. 34-3.

4th Quarter

The Steelers, blah blah blah, incomplete passes, punt. Start the 4th quarter. At this point in the recap, and also the game, it’s just about getting through it. We know how this is going to end. It wasn’t just that the Steelers were losing, it’s that they were barely playing.

After being aided by a couple penatlies Ben got sacked and then turnover on downs. The Eagles ended up punting after some passes. Yes, the Eagles were still passing and the Steelers were still playing starters. The Steelers got to midfield and then McLeod grabbed an interception. Then the Eagles ran the ball for four minutes and the game was finally over. 34-3

Conclusion

Forgive me for the lack of detail but there’s no fun way to describe an utter beat down. A few takeaways though. Brown was the only part of this game that worked. So that’s good. Literally every other player had a bad game. Ben was off. There were a lot of drops though. Markus Wheaton had an especially bad game. Williams didn’t do well either … or the offensive line.

I know we’ve all been telling ourselves the defense is better. It’s not. For the 3rd week in a row the opposing QB threw for 300 yards. For the 2nd week in a row the Steelers gave up 100 yards and a TD to a running back, receiving. The Steelers have limited big pass plays to WRs but given those to RBs. They’ve also not been getting sacks. It’s highly debatable whether the defense is better or worse.

Yes, Pittsburgh is clearly better than this. They’ll obviously recover. They just failed to come out and play. This is the reason the Patriots always rank ahead of the Steelers in Power Rankings. The Patriots play their best ball every game. The Steelers just don’t, obviously.

As Tomlin said in his post-game press conference, “You guys saw that. We lost just about every element of that matchup. It was a poor performance by us. And when I say us I mean all of us.”

Next: Steelers Draft Watch: RB Christian McCaffrey

We all know what happened. Now it’s up to Tomlin and the gang to fix it. They’ve got players returning and it’s unlikely they would go undefeated. It’s also unlikely they’d get no more than a field goal. They just didn’t seem ready to play. All they can do now is not do that again. Better early in the season than late.

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