Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots: Steelers Look Lost in Beat Down
It was supposed to be an AFC Championship game preview between the 6-2 Pittsburgh Steelers and 6-2 New England Patriots.
I guess the Steelers decided they would take an extra bye week.
From start to finish the Steelers looked lethargic on both sides of the ball and were clearly not ready for this game.
There were very few bright spots, and it really just looked like the Steelers forgot they actually had to come and play the game.
Here are my reasons for what went wrong for the Steelers against the Patriots and my other thoughts about the game.
The Streak Has Ended
1 of 10
Coming into the game, Hines Ward had caught a pass in 186 straight games which was the longest in Steelers history and third longest in NFL history.
That streak ended on Sunday night against the Patriots.
Ward suffered a concussion in the first quarter due to a helmet-to-helmet hit and never returned.
Hines is one of the toughest receivers in the league and may not be that fast, however he is an integral part to the Steelers offense.
Whenever Ben Roethlisberger is in trouble, he usually looks to Hines Ward, especially in the red zone, and his absence was felt hard by the Steelers.
Even though Hines is having a down year as far as stats go, mainly due to Ben’s suspension, he is still the Steelers No. 1 receiver, and hopefully, he gets healthy quickly.
Non-Existent Pass Rush
2 of 10
The Pittsburgh Steelers feature two of the best pass rushers in the game in James Harrison and Lamar Woodley.
So with Tom Brady nursing a foot injury and not having a full practice all week, you would think that the Steelers would blitz him all day and see if he could move around.
What actually happened was Tom Brady sat back in his comfy chair and the hardest hit he received was from his own teammate when BenJarvus Green-Ellis turned the wrong way on a run play.
The Steelers ended the night with 0 sacks and only three quarterback hits and again looked like they were content to just sit back in coverage rather than rush the quarterback.
Secondary Shredded
3 of 10
The Steelers secondary struggles have been well documented all season, and Tom Brady really took advantage of it.
The Patriots threw the ball up and down the field and seemed to catch Troy Polamalu guessing a few times, resulting in 350 passing yards and three touchdowns to rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski.
William Gay looked like he could not cover anyone and was the one who was beat on Brady’s third touchdown pass which put the final nail in the Steelers coffin in the game.
Gay really can’t be singled out though because everyone in the secondary looked awful, and Brady just picked them apart all game.
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More Injuries
4 of 10
Every team has to deal with injuries during the season, and the Steelers have been hit hard all year.
They are already dealing with their two starting tackles out for the year, both starting defensive ends out, starting guard out and James Harrison having back spasms.
The Steelers could ill afford to have any more injuries, however, they lost two more important pieces to the team against the Patriots.
Hines Ward was lost in the first quarter due to a concussion, and Lawrence Timmons sustained a hip injury in the fourth quarter.
Neither returned to the game, and the Steelers need both of them to heal up in a hurry if this team hopes to be able to rebound against the Raiders next week.
Emmanuel Sanders Gets First Touchdown
5 of 10
There were not many bright spots for the Steelers, however Emmanuel Sanders did manage to score his first NFL touchdown of his career.
Sanders was forced onto the field more because of the injury to Hines Ward, and I think he did a pretty good job with the exception of that one pass in the red zone where he didn’t look for the ball.
That kind of awareness will come with more experience and he finished the day with five receptions for 41 yards.
Sanders was also solid again in the return game and amassed 156 kick return yards with an average of 26 yards per return.
Mike Wallace Continues To Shine
6 of 10
The other only good thing to come out of this game was the continued emergence of Mike Wallace as a No. 1 wide receiver.
Wallace finished the game with eight receptions, 136 yards and two touchdowns and was pretty much the reason the Steelers kept the game as close as it was.
I don’t understand why the Steelers don’t try more ways to get the ball into his hands because he is a threat to score every time he touches the ball.
He has shown the ability to make catches over the middle, and I think we need to try and get him more involved in the offense earlier in the game.
Wallace still ended up with a good game, but where was all that when the Steelers were actually in the game?
Offensive Line Starting To Wear Down
7 of 10
This was bound to happen.
You cannot lose both starting tackles and one starting guard and expect the same production from your offensive line.
As it stands, I think the Steelers offensive line has been doing pretty well all season, however, Jonathan Scott seemed to struggle a bit against the Patriots and Trai Essex was just abused.
I blame some of the five sacks against the Patriots on Ben Roethlisberger because that’s just what Ben does; however, the line really wasn’t doing well in both pass protection or the running game.
Rashard Mendenhall was held to 50 yards rushing, and Ben seemed to be under duress the entire game.
Hopefully, Chris Kemoeatu will be able to return for next week’s game and help this offensive line just do an overall better job.
Total Offensive Ineptitude
8 of 10
The entire offense seemed to be in slow motion for the entire game which was evident by them starting the game with three straight punts.
You can blame Ben Roethlisberger for throwing a pick six and taking a few sacks, however, no one was really helping Ben either.
I saw a lot of dropped passes out there, including two in the end zone, and the Steelers running game went nowhere fast.
I put a lot of fault on Bruce Arians also for calling a horrible game against a defense that was taken advantage of last week against the Browns.
The offense didn’t start to gain some yards until the end of the fourth quarter when they were already down 20 points.
Antwaan Randle El Needs To Go Away
9 of 10
I really think it is time to bench Antwaan Randle El and move Emmanuel Sanders into his spot at receiver and punt returner.
My disdain for Randle El goes back to the Saints game where, instead of trying to get into the end zone, he dove straight down to the ground, and the Steelers were forced to attempt a field goal.
Randle El may have ended up with five receptions for 66 yards in the game, however he also dropped a touchdown pass in the second quarter which would have cut the lead to 10-7.
I also blame Randle El for the interception that was returned for a touchdown because it hit him right in the hands.
Yes, it was behind him, however, it hit him right in the hands and he has to make that catch.
It is just time for Sanders to move up the depth chart and become more a part of the offense with Randle El being phased out.
My Final Thought
10 of 10
Obviously I am disappointed with the outcome of this game and so should every Steelers fan and player for the matter.
Anything can happen in the NFL and sometimes you just get beat, and that’s exactly what happened to the Steelers against the Patriots.
Both the offense and defense were equally bad, and Jeff Reed decided to throw in a missed 26-yard field goal for good measure.
The defense even gave up more than 75 yards rushing for the first time all season by letting the Patriots rush for a total of 103 yards.
This could end up being a good thing for the Steelers if it can wake them up and make them focus for the rest of the season.
Next week, the Steelers take on the Oakland Raiders who were one of the teams who accounted for that five game losing streak last season and lead the AFC West this season.
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