Pittsburgh Steelers Continue Troubling Trends

In two losses, the defending Super Bowl champs have given up a total of a single yard in the first quarter, which, coincidentally, is the same amount of yards they gained in the first quarter of their lone victory.

Contrast this with the number of yards the defense has yielded in the past two fourth quarters (268) and it’s no wonder the 2009 Steelers have the same record as—dare I say it—the 2006 Steelers after three games: 1-2.

On Sunday, the game early on looked like just another day in Cincinnati as the Steelers made the Bengals look like the Bengals for most of the first half.

For my money, Cincinnati made five egregious mistakes that the Steelers turned into a relatively flimsy 13-3 lead that on some days could have been something like 33-0.

The Bengals…

1. Failed to take advantage of a 50-yard opening kickoff return that fired up the crowd and set up a short field, going three-and-out quickly and brutally;

2. Gave up a 41-yard pass play on a second-and-20 on Pittsburgh’s first possession, which led to a touchdown.

3. Didn’t challenge a 51-yard pass play to Mike Wallace, who may or may not have gotten two feet inbounds.

4. Gave up four plays of 20 or more yards and were whistled for two false start penalties in a first quarter in which they gained minus-10 yards of offense, and finally;

5. Botched a two-minute drill at the end of the half in which James Harrison bailed them out by getting a paw on Carson Palmer’s short pass, stopping the clock.

By the way, the Bengals won this game. It was their first win at home against Pittsburgh since 2001, and it was Pittsburgh’s first division loss since 2007.

For all of the Bengals first-half incompetence, there was an acute case of role reversal in the second half, as the Bengals made the Steelers look like, well, the Bengals.

The trouble began when Ben Roethlisberger threw a perfect TD strike to Jeremy Jacobs early in the third. It was the ugliest play of the day on Sunday that didn’t involve the Seahawks teal-green uniforms.

Later in the third, Limas Sweed dropped a sure touchdown on a perfectly thrown deep ball. Sound familiar?

A couple of things may come back to haunt the Steelers.

They elected to kick a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the one-foot line early in the game when Willie Parker was finding huge holes. (Later on, faced with second-and-goal from the one-yard line, Roethlisberger scored easily by falling down forward.)

The decision was likely made to give Jeff Reed some confidence back, and, given the way the game was going at that point, it looked like a good call.

The call on fourth-and-4 late in the second quarter was not a good call, however, as Gene Collier pointed out in the Post-Gazette today. A punt would’ve almost guaranteed a first half shutout. Instead it gave the Bengals new life, and they drove 49 yards for a field goal.

When it was over, it was clear that there are some recurring tribulations that, after three games, need to be addressed. Or there could be trouble in Steel City.

1. Tired Defense

The normally stout defense has given up three long touchdown drives and 268 total yards in the past two fourth quarters. They haven’t forced a fourth quarter punt since Week One, the same week they last forced a turnover.

I know they are missing their best and most important player in Troy Polamalu, but they must perform better.

For a little perspective here, the defense has five sacks this season, the same number Bengals defensive end Antwan Odom had last week against Green Bay. By the end of the day Sunday, an exasperated Dick LeBeau was throwing out Ryan Mundy (who I think should be playing more) and Keiwan Ratliff (who hasn’t played much at all so far).

Could age be playing a role? Many key defenders are now in their early-to-mid 30s, including James Harrison, Deshea Townsend, James Farrior, Tyrone Carter, and the entire defensive line.

Much like in the Chicago game, the front seven had trouble getting pressure on the quarterback as the game wore on. Watch that fourth-and-10 play with under a minute left: Harrison could barely muster anything resembling a pass rush, and Farrior was a step slow in getting to running back Brian Leonard.

2. Lack of Production from Role Players

Tomlin stresses this all the time, how the second-year and third-year guys need to step up and be ready to play. Only Keyaron Fox and Mike Wallace, so far, have excelled in their roles.

William Gay made some good plays on Sunday, but cancelled those out with some equally bad ones. He took an awful inside angle on Cedric Benson’s 23-yard touchdown run, and Palmer was repeatedly throwing to his side in the second half.

Elsewhere on defense, Carter has been exploited at times and doesn’t seem fully healthy. And as much as I like Lamar Woodley, he has no sacks and just three tackles in three games, by far the lowest number of any of the starters. Heath Miller has just as many tackles as Woodley.

On the other side of the ball, it’s the same story. Rashard Mendenhall must have done something last week to disappoint the coaching staff, because he spent most of the afternoon on the sidelines. His biggest play of the day came when he broke up a fight between Jacobs and Hines Ward.

As for Sweed, his drop in the end zone will surely be discussed in the next couple weeks and may quite possibly be a career killer. Wallace is certain to be the No. 3 receiver from here on out, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of Shaun McDonald.

3. No Killer Instinct

Much like in the Chicago game, Pittsburgh dominated for a big stretch but failed to either a) protect the lead, or b) put the game out of reach.

In Chicago, they outgained the Bears 144 to 11 in the first quarter; in Cincy, they outgained the Bengals 143 to minus-10. And they lost both of those games on dramatic final drives.

The cold reality is that this team is a couple of Rod Bironas missed field goals away from being 0-3.

Of course, like in any road loss where the home fans are booing throughout much of the game, there were some positives to take out of it all.

Willie Parker had his best game in awhile, although he wore down and failed to pick up some key yards in the second half. Ike Taylor played a brilliant game, shadowing Chad Johnson-Cinco most of the time and making a couple of sensational pass-breakups on the final drive that nearly saved the day.

Roethlisberger had another sharp game and would have had much better numbers if his receivers didn’t let him down on multiple occasions. (Sweed and Santonio Holmes combined for four drops, Ward had two costly penalties, and Holmes clearly ran the wrong route on the pick-six.)

So a long winning streak in Cincinnati was snapped, and Big Ben lost in Ohio for the first time since college. The Steelers lost back-to-back games for just the second time under Tomlin, and first time since 2007.

Whether this signals a changing of the guard remains to be seen. The Steelers need to play a complete game before we can properly evaluate them. And they better do it soon, because Sunday night’s game in San Diego is about as close to a must-win as you can have in Week Four.

Otherwise, they could be facing the possibility of a 1-3 start.

I think we all remember the last Steelers team to start the season that way.

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