Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 miscues that led to the loss in Denver
The Pittsburgh Steelers saw their six-game winning streak come to an end in Denver. A lot of things went wrong, but what were the biggest miscues?
The Steelers have had their struggles in the Mile High City. Since the 2005 AFC Championship game, which they won on their way to the Super Bowl XL victory in Detroit, we’ve seen some painful losses there. Tim Tebow ring a bell to anyone?
Sunday afternoon’s loss is also painful. While it was just a regular season loss, it was a loss that the Steelers brought more on themselves rather than being outplayed by their opponent.
It also doesn’t help their running in the AFC playoff picture. While they still maintain a comfortable AFC North lead, they are now the 4th seed in the AFC, depending on what Houston does Monday night.
With five games remaining, the Steelers play three of them against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Patriots, and the 10-1 New Orleans Saints. Losing to a 4-6 Denver team was not ideal for setting up the remaining schedule.
So what exactly happened in this loss?
Turnovers
Yep, turnovers. And lots of them.
The Steelers were a minus-4 in the turnover department. And to make matters worse, they came at really bad times. Not that there is ever a “right” time for a turnover, but the timing of these just put a really bad cloud over this game that just gave the feeling this game wasn’t going to end well.
The first came on a beautifully run play where the Steelers ran a playaction to the right side while tight end Xavier Grimble ran a drag route to the left. Big Ben hit the wide-open Grimble who had only one person standing between him and the end zone. Grimble took the defender head on and fumbled the ball inside the one yard line. The ball subsequently rolled in the end zone and out of bounds, resulting in a touchback which gave Denver the ball on their 20-yard line.
The second turnover came in the third quarter after the Steelers took a 17-10 lead. Ben floated a ball over Antonio Brown and it was picked off by Chris Harris Jr. The Broncos scored a touchdown two plays later to tie the game up. It was arguably the turning point in the game.
After the teams traded possessions ending in punts, the Steelers then drove down the field. In a screen pass to James Conner, it had all the makings for a big play. Conner was hit in the open field and went airborne, which is when the ball flew out from Conner’s possession, which was recovered by Denver. Denver hit pay dirt on the following possession.
Not all hope was lost. Big Ben drove the team down the field in the final minutes of the game down by seven. They got down to the two-pard line. On third-and-goal, on a play that was out of sync from the start, Ben forced a pass in the middle which was intercepted in the end zone.
The Steelers left at least 16 points off the board with these turnovers. They absolutely killed the team. No doubts or questions. They beat themselves.