The Steelers again were terrible on offense vs the Bengals. Here are Pittsburgh’s studs and duds from their Week 3 loss.
Sometimes things just do not seem to go right from the onset of the game. And that is exactly what happened against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Pittsburgh Steelers continue to be plagued by poor offensive line play, and it reared its ugly head again in Week 3.
Though the offensive line may get better over the course of the 2021 NFL season, fans are starting to lose hope that they could become competent this year. In addition, the injury list for the Pittsburgh Steelers was long coming into the game, and over the course of the game, it got a little bit longer. Chukwuma Okorafor left with a possible concussion while JuJu-Smith Schuster left with a rib injury.
However, as soon as this Week 3 matchup began, the offense was out of sorts. Both of the first two drives for the Pittsburgh Steelers ended with punts. The Pittsburgh Steelers were called for a number of penalties – even a ridiculous roughing of the passer penalty on Melvin Ingrahm II where he did everything but read Joe Burrow a story for bedtime.
It is already shaping up as a long season for the proud Pittsburgh Steelers franchise. Prized rookie running back Najee Harris is being held back by inadequate blocking up front. Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger is taking way too many hits when dropping back to pass, and Chase Claypool is not securing deep balls consistently.
It also does not seem as if offensive coordinator Matt Canada has any answers for the team’s stagnant offense. It is honestly painful to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers play offensive football right now. If this keeps up, Pressly Harvin should be considered for offensive rookie of the year. (Obviously, there would be no chance that he would win the league award, but that is just a statement on how bad things look).
There weren’t a lot of positives to note from this dismal performance, but here were my studs and duds for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3: