The Pittsburgh Steelers have missed the start of the season. The fact that one shares the last place of the AFC North with the Browns is not due to chance or bad luck. The Steelers Defense is currently one of the worst units in the league and the Offense plays inconsistently. Now frustration is spreading. And the Le’Veon Bell case only does the rest to the situation.
When the Steelers surprisingly dropped out against the Jaguars in the Divisional Round of the playoffs in the previous season, many were thinking of a slip due to unfortunate playcalling and remedyable mistakes in the defense. The Super Bowl window, which has been open to the team for a long time during the Ben-Roethlisberger era, would continue to be available. Too dominant can be this offense, which doesn’t have a weak spot in any position and also the defense has a talented front with an exciting edge rush.
Now the first quarter of the season is over and Pittsburgh are sharing AFC North’s last place with the Browns, although it hasn’t taken much to lose all four games. The Secondary seemed helpless in too many situations and so the Defense lost at least 440 Yards Total Offense in the last three games. And also on the offensive side the shoe presses. The Roethlisberger-Antonio-Brown-Connection doesn’t really get going and after the last two games the question arises whether the difference between an All-Pro player and a starter in the first year is bigger than some might think.
Due to their constant success and the stability of their organization, the Steelers have always enjoyed a certain amount of trust, which in most cases could be repaid. But now there are as many signs against the team as there haven’t been in a long time. Ryan Shaziers’ team never really recovered last year, while the drama off the field became louder and louder from week to week and seems to have drastic effects on the field as well. At least this is indicated by uncharacteristic mistakes, which reflect the current displeasure of an entire franchise and its fanbase. Is the Roethlisberger era in danger of ending in a huge nuisance?
After the defeat against the Ravens in the Sunday Night Game the alarm bells are ringing in Pittsburgh. The division rival has not only managed to win an enormously important victory from the otherwise so home strong dominator of AFC North, but has also revealed all the sore points that are threatening to make the Steelers miss the playoffs this year for the first time since 2013.
Joe Flacco dominated in the early stages of the game and knew how to attack allocation and communication problems in Pittsburgh’s Secondary. After only seven minutes the Ravens were already twice in the endzone and Speedster video out John Brown had caught two Receptions for over 100 yards at the beginning of the second quarter. In addition, a fumble by Alex Collins prevented an interim 21:3 for Baltimore.
The performance only confirmed the impression Pittsburgh’s Defense had left this season. The opening against the Browns was completely missed and Mike Tomlin’s team could even consider themselves lucky about a draw against Cleveland. In Week 2, 6 Patrick Mahomes touchdown passes were allowed in front of the home crowd, and the only victory of the season was lost by the Steelers in Tampa, despite a 20-point half-time lead, when Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 400 yards.
The Steelers almost gave up a sure victory against the Buccaneers because they didn’t score any points in the second half. The same problem occurred on Monday night, with the problems in Pittsburgh’s Offense taking on a new dimension here. The Steelers never made it into the opposing half in the second run. Big Ben had huge timing problems and couldn’t put Brown in the limelight for everything in the world. And that in turn gave vent to his frustration in the aftermath.
“I can’t throw the ball myself,” Brown told ESPN. “From a statistical point of view, I got it all out. The rest is out of my hands.”
Roethlisberger not only missed the best wide receiver of the league often hair-raisingly, he didn’t make eye contact with him on several occasions when he was defended by the Ravens only in one-on-one coverage. The 36-year-old was also highly dissatisfied after the match.
“I’m not on the same page with anyone right now,” Big Ben told ESPN. “I didn’t play well enough and let the boys down.”
When a team spoiled for success like the Steelers enters a phase of failure, it will inevitably think about the causes of the mess. You can’t get past the Le’Veon Bell personnel here. Especially not when substitute James Conner, after a promising start in the last three games, was only able to run for 3 yards per run and only contributed 44 scrimmage yards against Baltimore.
Bell has been the ubiquitous topic in Pittsburgh since the announcement of its holdout. An issue that the franchise must be as tired of as it inevitably is, as media representatives come back to it at every opportunity and new staff reports are disseminated every day. The fact that it is also being discussed in the changing room seems clear simply because some Offensive Linemen have publicly criticised Bell for his behaviour in Week 1.
According to the latest media reports, Bell seems to want to join the squad again after Bye Week in week 7. Whether the franchise will stick to the 26-year-old at all, however, is unclear. Obviously, they want to put an end to this issue as quickly and as definitively as possible, and so the Steelers are looking for a trade partner who is willing to give Bell the appropriate countervalue despite the return reports.
While the Steelers are certain that the discrepancy between the sporting value and the financial demands of the all-pro-back is too great, the question remains as to how great the sporting value would be in the current situation. Pittsburgh’s Offensive Line has surprisingly big problems in run blocking this season and only ranks 25th in the league after Football Outsiders. Since 2014 Bell always had an O-Line in front of him, which finished in the top ten of the league after the Adjusted Yard Line metric.
On the other hand, another superstar in this offense not only changes the body language and self-confidence of the team, it would probably also give offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner more confidence to put on the running game. In a game that was a one-possession game until 3:37 minutes before the end of the game, the Steelers had a pass to run ratio of almost five to one against Baltimore. Even in a Pass First league this is too gross.
With or without Bell. It is not the personnel that will be crucial to the success of this team. This offense has enough firepower even without him to recover from a game like the one against the Ravens. Currently, Bell is just a staff that causes a lot of unrest in and around the team. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Steelers here made a decision before Week 7.
Much more explosive is the problem mentioned on the defensive side. Coverage breakdowns and bad angles as well as allocation problems were the Steelers in the course of the season again and again expensive. If the talented front and the Edge Rush can’t generate any pressure, this defense seems to have little to no answers to offenses.
And not only that. For Steelers conditions you afford far too many and absolutely uncharacteristic mistakes. Pittsburgh leads the league by a wide margin with 42 Penalties (JAX and PHI on place 2 with 35). Things that Tomlin and Co. need to get under control as soon as possible.
The super bowl window of the Steelers under Ben Roethlisberger is just becoming infinitesimally small and currently there is the danger of losing a season due to unpleasant side effects. And while the Steelers themselves are doing a lot for their regression, the counterparties in AFC North seem to be getting stronger and stronger.
The Bengals and the Ravens convinced on both sides of the ball and get in Vontaze Burfict and Jimmy Smith again enormously important reinforcements for their defense. The Browns are at 1-2-1 instead of 4-0 due to self-inflicted wounds, but Cleveland has a serious defense and a potential franchise quarterback.
Pittsburgh will have to take on the Falcons, Bengals, Browns, Ravens and Panthers with two games behind Cincinnati and Baltimore. An incredibly difficult schedule, of course. A career ending Roethlisberger, who has repeatedly talked about resigning in recent years, is actually on the verge of failure. And the current frustrated climate is of little help here. Perhaps Pittsburgh runs the risk of gambling away far more than a playoff participation.