Germaine Pratt called out the Steelers play calling on Sunday, and his comments are another indictment of the Steelers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers had yet another bitter loss occur on Sunday, as they fell to the Bengals in their rematch. The team looked fine in the first half but absolutely fell apart in the second half. Cincinnati seemed to come out ready to counter what they saw, while Pittsburgh failed to find their footing and came out flat en route to the loss.
The second half was a hard one to watch. While many are lamenting the Steelers defense for struggling more in the second half. While they weren’t as good as they were in the second half, the offense did them no favors. Short drives and mostly three-and-outs forced the defense to be out on the field far too often which aided in their struggles.
The Steelers struggling on offense as they did was no surprise, as it has been a primary weakness of the team to this point this season. While the offense moved the ball well enough in the first half, they fell flat on their face in a similar fashion to how they have played for most of this season. It remains a horrible blemish on this team and a clear answer as to why they have struggled so much.
A Bengals linebacker summed up the Steelers perfectly
After the game, Germaine Pratt summed up these struggles well. He called out the Steelers offense for sticking to the same plays throughout the entire game. He indicated that the similar play calls made it easy for the Bengals to adjust in the second half and win the game.
“We knew what they were going to do. They like to do the same plays over and over." - the #Bengals’ Germaine Pratt, on the #Steelers offense.
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) November 21, 2022
@BryanDeArdo is as positive as one can be about the PIT offense and yet… https://t.co/EqU4WZNOyz
While Steelers fans get upset when players call out their team, Pratt is on point with his assessment of the Steelers offense. They run a very safe, bland, and predictable system that doesn’t do their offense any favors. Do you want a reason for the team’s sudden turnaround and eventual loss to the Bengals? They could not move the ball after the first half.
The fact that a defense could see a trend of this offense and so easily adjust and stifle out the game plan is another nail in the coffin of Matt Canada. Even in the brief moments when the offense played well, Canada follows it up with weird and drive-stalling calls. All you have to do is look at the flea-flicker that was called after the long pass to George Pickens.
I get that you want to keep the playbook simple for your rookie quarterback that is struggling but making it so easy to predict that an opposing defense can figure it out and so quickly counter it isn’t acceptable. This team is struggling, and Pratt’s comments about the offense are further proof of just how bad this team has become this season.