The Steelers played an abysmal game against the Philadelphia Eagles en route to another loss. Here’s what we learned in Week 8.
Well, another one up and another one down. It seems like the Steelers are just ‘snake bitten’ so far in the 2022 season. The loss against the Philadelphia Eagles was a tough one to watch. Having been born and raised in Philadelphia, it was difficult for me to reconcile that all of my friends and family were elated with the outcome and I was ‘on the outside looking in’.
Not only did we not play well, but we also looked lost at times, particularly on defense. We gave up too many big plays and frankly put the offense in bad situations. The result was yet another loss. The only saving grace is that it was not another AFC conference loss.
Let’s see what we learned on the offensive side of the ball.
The Steelers offensive line could not protect our QB and the results were catastrophic
Look, for as much as I think the O-line has been playing much better of late, against the Eagles, the ‘wheels fell off the wagon’. According to ESPN, we gave up six sacks. That’s not a winning formula. We did run seventy plays; however, we averaged only a little over four yards per play. That’s also not a winning formula. The time of possession was tilted in our favor; however, we only managed to score thirteen points.
The reality is this: The offense lacks that ‘one-play’ touchdown to get you back into a game where you are trailing by multiple scores. As was the case against the Eagles, we were trailing by multiple scores and just could not take advantage of the possessions we had because of the aforementioned lack of explosiveness.
Let’s see what we learned on defense.
The Steelers defense surrendered big play after big play
The defense was frankly atrocious against the Eagles. Surrendering over four hundred yards, almost eight yards per play, allowing one WR to gain over one hundred and fifty yards, and allowing that same WR to score three TDs is borderline laughable.
To me, it seemed like Teryl Austin was either unwilling or incapable of making the necessary adjustments to prevent one player from completely taking over the game. The defense got us into a hole that we just could not dig ourselves out of, thus we lost the game.
I honestly cannot remember a time when the defense looked this ‘out of sorts’. There is no way we will win another game this season if we continue to give up big plays and give up over thirty points. The offense is simply not good enough to overcome that.
Let’s see what else we learned.
The Steelers Head Coach is in a bind and needs to make sweeping changes
Make no mistake, the fact that the Steelers are sitting at two wins and six losses signals that changes are necessary to have any chance of salvaging the 2022 season. Deep down, I believe Mike Tomlin knows he must do something to ‘right the ship’.
What that something is may be easier said than done, but since we are entering the bye week, now is the time to make changes, sweeping or otherwise. Personally, I think it is time to move on from both Austin and Matt Canada.
Enough is enough. The offense is terrible and the defense is falling apart as we speak. I don’t know about you, but since we have not had a losing season since Tomlin has been the Head Coach, I am not okay with making this season the first losing season under Tomlin’s watch.
We can pull this out but it is going to take a lot of courage and conviction to accomplish that goal. One extra week may not make that much of a difference, but I think the bye week is the only opportunity to do something, anything that will put us back on the winning track.
If we don’t do anything, we are going to continue to discuss the same things over and over again. At what point does Tomlin embrace the definition of insanity and do something to get off the merry-go-round of losing?