Pictured: Me, watching the Steelers
I was back in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. One thing I realized is that you get a very different picture of the city’s sports landscape from the local media than you do from the national media, as the former is wholly biased (something I can, in some respects, appreciate).
As such, on my ride to the airport this morning, the coverage of the Steelers’ dismal performance in their 26-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills was nothing short of an evisceration. Even so, the venom and vitriol from the local talking heads paled in comparison to what the on-field performance deserved yesterday evening.
There is not a lot to say about the game itself. The defense was putrid, allowing 249 rushing yards to James Cook, Josh Allen, and company—the highest total by a visitor since 1975. The offense only had the ball for eighteen minutes, a pathetic 30% of the game, and amassed a measly 166 total yards—83 fewer than Buffalo’s rushing total. Rodgers and Rudolph were a combined 10-24 for 117 yards, an interception (thrown by Rudolph), and a fumble returned for a touchdown on the opening play of the second half (committed by Rodgers, a play on which he may have fractured his nose).
One post-game quote really stuck out to me. During T.J. Watt’s press conference, he stated, “I’ve never seen a team run the same play that much and have that kind of success”. Watt was a ghost yesterday, as has become more and more frequent this season, and he was referring to the Bills running the ball up the middle. James Cook carried the ball 32 times for 144 yards. His backup, Ray Davis, toted the ball nine times for 62 yards, too. Those two backs averaged out to 5.33 yards per rush.
No wonder the defense was on the field for 42 minutes—getting gashed for five-plus yards every run makes it nearly impossible to get off the field. Did the defense adjust during the game to prevent the Bills from stampeding through the league’s highest-paid unit? If they did, whatever Teryl Austin—the defensive coordinator—did was futile.
The Steelers have had a lead in every game this season. They were up 7-3 at halftime yesterday and received the kick to begin the second half. In the six games where they got the ball first to start the third quarter, they have not scored one point on that opening drive of the second half. That…is fucking pathetic.
Frustrations boiled over on the North Shore yesterday. Chants of “Fire Tomlin” echoed throughout Heinz Field (yes, I still refuse to call it by its new name). The fans booed the team’s anthem, “Renegade” by Styx, as it was played immediately after a failed fourth-down conversion attempt by Arthur Smith’s archaic offense. Even the drunkest and most ardent fans left early, stunned by what a once-proud organization displayed on the national stage.
It is time. The game has passed Tomlin by. Arthur Smith’s offense has very few differences compared to the much-maligned system that preceded his—Matt Canada’s. Teryl Austin cannot scheme his pass rushers into the backfield, even against backup tackles. At what point does upper management realize that a change of scenery for these gentlemen is best for all parties?
Steelers’ games have become unwatchable over the past half-decade. I expected that in the immediate aftermath of Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement, but I also expected the franchise to know when to rebuild. Instead, Art Rooney II decided that it would be better to permanently reside in mediocrity, eternally damning the Steelers’ organization to a purgatory in which they can never significantly improve with draft capital.
Make some goddamn changes. Serious changes. This cannot continue to be the “standard” about which so many fans have talked for the past eighty-plus years.