Pittsburgh Steelers: Coaching accountability a must moving forward
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a 3-2 record heading into week six. This has many factors from the play on the field to the coaches.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have come out of the gates flat this season. There are many factors that play into their poor play but coaching stands out to me.
Now, ask anyone that knows me and they will tell you I am not one to jump the coaches first. Because of this past game however, I can no longer confidently defend them.
Heading into the Jaguars game, Jacksonville held one of the league’s worst rushing defenses. With Bell coming off a strong outing last week, one would think running would be a top priority.
The coaches decided that would not be tops on the list as they ran the ball with Bell only 15 times. This is a decision that will baffle me for some time.
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The game plan was the complete opposite of what most Steeler fans were anticipating. A bottom of the league run defense logically would mean smash mouth running.
The Steeler coaches had other ideas, however. They decided the best course of action would be to throw it, throw it more and throw it again for good measure.
There is one flaw in that line of thinking: the Jaguars defense was number one heading into Sunday. That alone would lead you to believe they would throw less and run more, right?
Once again, the coaching decided that isn’t the way to go. They had a struggling Ben Roethlisberger throw the ball 55 times in the game.
This type of decision-making is absolutely baffling. I have tried to find some reasoning to support their decisions and I simply cannot.
The offense has not even come close to hitting their stride and being the type of offense everyone expected. Ben has struggled, receivers have been sub-par outside of Antonio Brown and the run game has been poor.
With the amount of talented players on this team, the offense should not be playing so below average. This offense has the capability to blow teams out of the water and, for whatever reason, they have not done so.
The defense has been light years better than they have been in the last few seasons so there is less pressure placed on the offense.
The coaches need to trust their players and make better decisions. It is not all on the coaches as players have performed less than stellar on offense.
Ben has to get it together there is no doubt about that. However, the coaching staff as a whole needs to do a better job of preparing for teams each week.
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They face a tough task on the road in Kansas City next week. Now will be as good a time as any to turn things around and prepare properly because they are going to need it facing the best team in the AFC this far in the season.