Sunday’s epic blunder in Baltimore has pushed the Steelers out of the AFC playoff picture with only one week remaining, and the team’s fatal flaws became terribly apparent in the upset.
Well, here we are again.
As I outlined prior to Sunday, the Steelers entered week 16 against the Ravens facing a glaring trap game. And, as usual, the team fell right in, watching their playoff dreams wither away in the process.
Baltimore won the horribly sloppy game, 20-17, completing the season sweep of Pittsburgh. Here’s a breakdown of the fatal errors that likely will end up costing the Steelers a postseason berth.
Keith Butler‘s misfits strike again
Former Texans castoff Ryan Mallett couldn’t have had a better first start as a Raven. He drove his offense up and down the field at will, especially in the first half, finding an open man constantly.
The Steelers defense wet the bed on every third down. Mallett completed 28/41 passes to seven different receivers, all of whom had at least two catches. The defense’s lone sack was delivered by, of all people, Brandon Boykin.
Pittsburgh was stumped by the run as well. Baltimore’s Javorius Allen posted 79 yards and a touchdown on 18 touches, good for a 4.4 average. There was a lane on seemingly every running play. The Steelers defensive line was punched in the mouth; linebackers over-pursued and defensive backs whiffed tackles.
Terrance West, in relief of Allen, rumbled for 42 yards. The Steelers did not register a single takeaway. Speaking of which…
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Offensive ineptitude
The Steelers offense nose-dived from an unstoppable beast to a helpless kitten. Aside from DeAngelo Williams‘ brilliant performance (100 yards and 2 touchdowns on 17 carries), nobody bothered showing up for Pittsburgh.
The momentum of the game was cemented when the Steelers arrogantly opted to go for it on fourth-and-one deep in Baltimore territory – on the opening drive – and failed. Those three points would’ve come in handy, huh?
Ben Roethlisberger, to put it bluntly, was awful. His accuracy was off all afternoon and he insisted on forcing throws into tight windows, resulting in two (nearly three) interceptions. Ben also burned two second-half timeouts that would’ve helped afford the Steelers plenty of time for a final drive. He looked anxious from start to finish.
Here’s an eye-opening stat: Roethlisberger’s TD:INT ratio on the road this year is 2:7. His 14 total picks are fourth most in the NFL this season. Points off of turnovers will destroy any team, and Ben has given opponents lots of fuel.
Truth be told, the Steelers defense has bailed Roethlisberger out frequently over the past few weeks. The carelessness he’s shown with the ball has recently been saved by defensive turnovers and stops. When the defense reverts back to their Swiss cheese form, the team is rendered powerless.
Martavis Bryant dropped everything thrown his way but a single pass for six yards. Antonio Brown was confined by the Ravens secondary throughout. D-Will finished the game second in receiving yards with 53. Todd Haley’s patented one-dimensional play calling was just the icing on the cake. All in all, Sunday was Pittsburgh’s saddest offensive effort of the year.
Trapped with no escape
Finally, the obvious cannot be overstated enough: Mike Tomlin’s Steelers simply don’t know how to escape trap games.
Steelers have lost 7 of last 11 games against sub-.500 teams
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) December 27, 2015
It borders on mind-blowing. The same Steelers who rallied back in epic fashion against Denver and magically took down Arizona get outclassed, routinely, by teams vying for a top-ten draft pick. No matter how often it happens, Tomlin never has any real answers aside from his usual “standard is the standard” script.
The team collectively played like garbage, yes. But those struggles start with Tomlin’s preparation. What on earth does Tomlin do in the week leading up to games against subpar competition? Does he schedule lighter practices? Do film sessions get shortened? Does the team just call off preparing altogether and go golfing?
It’s remarkable that the Steelers, who managed to claw their way to two wins during Roethlisberger’s absence, couldn’t even muster an ounce of confidence against the Ravens’ JV squad.
The team nobody wants to face in the playoffs can’t even overcome themselves to get there.
Next: Steelers grades in Ravens loss
This isn’t a rant calling for Tomlin’s firing; it’s merely reality. Coach T’s albatross will always be his inability to prepare his team for games that should be out of hand by halftime. Until he can fix this glaring error, the Steelers aren’t going to return to Super Bowl contention.
Stats used via NFL.com.