Steelers lose to Cowboys in overtime
The Steelers lost to the Cowboys in overtime, 27-24. Congrats to the Cowboys. They’re now tied with the New York Giants and Washington Redskins for first place in the NFC East.
The Steelers, on the other hand, now find themselves in a much more precarious situation. Their loss, combined with Cincinnati’s win, leaves them in third place in the AFC North with a 7-7 record. More importantly, a .500 record, and 6 losses within their conference, is not the stuff of which playoff teams are made.
Fortunately for the Steelers, they face the Bengals next week, and may be able to climb out of the hole that they’ve dug for themselves. If they beat the Bengals next week, they’ll be tied again, and fighting for the final AFC playoff spot.
So how did the Steelers find themselves in this predicament?
Sure, there was the loss to the Cowboys. And there’s plenty of blame to go around for that. Mike Wallace dropped a few passes. Josh Victorian proved that he doesn’t know how to tackle. Antonio Brown made a critical fumble. Troy Polamalu hobbled around looking like a shadow of him former self. Jonathan Dwyer only ran for 22 yards on 9 rushing attempts. LaMarr Woodley did his best impersonation of the Invisible Man. And Big Ben threw the interception in overtime that ultimately cost the Steelers the game. Like I said, plenty of blame to go around.
As in most of the team’s recent losses, there’s plenty of blame to go around. Fans have even started calling for Mike Tomlin to be fired. But I don’t think that’s the problem at all. Tomlin has done as much as he could with the hand that he’s been dealt.
In my opinion, the Steelers’ decline has been attributable to two key factors; injuries and execution.
The Steelers played today without their starting left guard. Their starting right guard was playing in his first NFL start. They’ve lost their starting right tackle, and his backup.
They’ve also battled injuries at the running back and quarterback positions.
On defense, the Steelers are playing without their best cornerback. And his backup is also injured. So they were forced to start a cornerback who has very little experience. And their star safety is clearly not himself. Their starting nose tackle isn’t outplaying his backup. And their left outside linebacker is missing in action.
To make matters worse, the team has suffered a rash of turnovers lately. They’ve fumbled the ball, bobbled passes that should have been caught, and thrown interceptions.
That combination of injuries and poor execution is too much for any team to overcome.
If not for the injuries, I think the Steelers have the talent to not only be a playoff team, but to also make a deep run in the playoffs. It may be too late for that to happen this year. But I hope that fans won’t call for wholesale changes next year. I think that would be an overreaction.
The Steelers are a good team. And Mike Tomlin is a good coach. But even good teams can’t win if they have to rely too heavily on second and third string players. And once they have a healthy roster, the execution problems will hopefully disappear as well.
The Steelers still have a chance to make the playoffs this year. But if they don’t, I’m still highly optimistic about their chances next year……when they’re healthy. Hopefully, you are too.
Go Steelers!
Tomlin is a good leader and motivator. However, his game management has been suspect for some time, and some of the play-calling has been horrible. While I don’t think he should be fired for the team’s poor performance this season, I think it’s much too easy to just let him off the hook. His clock-management and personnel decisions in key situations has been severely lacking at times, and I think he should shoulder a good deal of the blame when the Steelers fail to execute in key situations late in the game.
1They have all of their starting receivers and their third string right tackle is playing better than the second string did… The execution of the receivers has nothing to do with injuries and everything to do with poor discipline with the football and cockiness… something has to give… and seriously… why only give Dwyer the ball nine times? That is like giving Bettis the ball nine times and excpecting him to have a 100 yard game… gotta give the big guy at least 20 touches… come on now. And Worilids is playing better than Woodley right now… And I have no idea why McLendon is not the starting NT.
2Its called poor coaching, period, You ever notice tomlin looks like a deer caught in the headlights, he doesnt have a clue, and the decisions he makes, sadly their poor, seems the players dont want to play for him, he lost control of the team, they play sloppy, noo discipline, no motivation, sure hes nothing but a silver tongued pretender, nothing more, and Lebeau sorry but his time is past, when you hear players and commentators say they been playing the same defense for years, which never changes, they know how to pick it apart, doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure it out, theres a problem with that team you can tell it and it goes back to the head coach, he needs to be gone, and no this isnt a racist rant, its plain fact, all you have to do is watch to know theres a big problem, why do you think old man rooney is resigning from being ambassador, its because of the problems with the team.
3And Will Allen was playing better than Troy P. Overall, they are 7-7 because Ben, Heath and Pouncey are the only guys playing at a pro bowl level. The defense has played above its ability for several games. Age (Foote, Harrison, Troy, Snack, Keisel) and less than spectacular first round draft picks (Mendy, Ziggy and Heyward) are now catching up with us. Imagine if we had picked another good linebacker instead of Mendy.
4They already have 100 linebackers. What they need is some defensive line help.
5The Steelers are always hurt though. They need to get back to the fundamentals. Now, I didn’t expect much out of a secondary that by the end of the day, lost their 3 top CBs. But some of the older guys are at the end of their careers and the injuries are piling up. mainly Troy, Snack, and Keisel. Foote has played really well, but for how much longer?
Also: I hate to say it, but is Woodley a tad overrated? Even at an older age, Harrison has been outplaying him, and though Woodley is usually consistent, I rarely see him outright take over a game like Harrison used to do, and Porter before that. Worlids has looked pretty good, at least. And the inside guys have been playing really well.
McClendon needs to start ahead of Snack. Also, I can’t seem to figure out Hood. He will occasionally flash, but will also seem to do just okay enough to not get benched. But I still want to see what Heyward can do with more snaps, His time may be coming with Keisel getting older.
We need a starting RB. It’s that simple. We have 2 power compliments (Redman and Dwyer), a kick returner(Rainey), a special teamer (B. Batch), and an underachiever (guess who) at RB. I hate the RB by committee approach. We need someone who can step up and be the guy.
Also: receivers: WHAT ARE YOU DOING????????? This is supposed to be the strength of the team, and yet are the source of multiple turnovers. Wallace missed camp, which almost never goes well, but what’s Brown’s and Sanders’ excuse?
The OL has been solid this year, even with the injuries. I don’t miss Colon and his 17 penalties a game. That bodes well for the future. Ben is Ben. Heath is awesome. That’s the positives for this offense right now.
Give props to the secondary. Losing Troy used to be a death wish, but they have really stepped it up. Lewis and both Allens in particular. Brown still needs work, but is a great special teamer. There is just too many injuries there, as with every year. I seriously wonder if there is a strength and conditioning problem for the black and gold.
I’ve liked the gameplans from the coaches, but the players on the field need disciplined. Tomlin needs to run a harder camp for some of these guys and again, focus of fundamentals. I think that if he “lost” this team, you would hear more bickering from the players. Maybe some of that veteran leadership lost in the offseason was a little too underplayed by us.
It’s not over yet folks, but next week is do or die time. Though if they make the playoffs, I don’t see them getting far.
6Almost forgot: Gotta give props to Suisham for being automatic this year. Who would of thought that he’d be one of the most consistent performers on this team this year?
7There’s no doubt about it there’s is trouble in the house U can see it on the sidelines, too much cockiness under performences & need know its B&G they wear & not there name on there back!!!
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