DB’s Steelers Dudes & Duds: Defense Whipped, Warren Arrives
Christmas came and went but the best gift that this Pittsburgh Steelers will receive is time to rest and regroup following an ugly three-week stretch where they were thoroughly outclassed by some of the league’s top teams., the latest of which was Wednesday’s 29-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Patrick Mahomes continues to be the new-age version of Tom Brady who seems to play lights out against this defense any time he gets the chance to take the field against them. Offensively, the Steelers shot themselves in the foot on multiple occasions and struggled to sustain drives. It’s obvious that ten points is not enough in today’s NFL.
Let’s talk about some positive and negative performances from the holiday affair.
Dude: RB Jaylen Warren
After receiving the lion share of snaps in the backsides last week, Warren followed it up with another quality performance against the Chiefs. Pittsburgh was able to move the ball pretty efficiently on the ground, especially in the first half and Warren’s urgency through the hole led to some productive gains. Granted a portion of the yards came late in garbage time but as a unit, they went over 200 yards rushing for the first time all season long. He’s been their best back of late and it may be a good idea to ride the hot hand in an effort to get this group back on track.
Dud: QB Russell Wilson
As the Steelers schedule has toughened up, Wilson’s play has continued to decline as he hasn’t topped 7.0 yards per attempt in his last four outings. This offense feels very limited at the moment and part of that falls at the feet of the signal caller. His red zone interception in the first half is a mistake that a veteran quarterback can’t make in that moment. He scrambled for a few first downs which was nice, but he took five sacks and his response to pressure was abysmal. This passing game is built on threes and layups, but if you can take away the deep throws down the sideline, the entire operation seems to completely unravel.
Dude: CB Cory Trice
The defense as a whole offered very little resistance to the Chiefs passing offense but there weren’t many passes completed in Trice’s vicinity. Pending film review, that seems like a good sign. After being thrust into action last week, the second-year pro took his lumps but bouncing back from adversity if a big part of becoming a pro. Cornerbacks have to have a short memory, after all. His best play was a forced incompletion on an in-breaker over the middle. Anytime injuries force you to play a corner without any real experience and he’s hardly noticeable in the game, that’s a win for the teams depth.
Dud: CB Donte Jackson
One thing that the Chiefs have struggled to do this year offensively is throw the ball down the field with Mahomes ranking dead last in completion percentage on throws over 20+ yards down the field. A true sign of the wheels falling off for this defense was Donte Jackson getting burnt deep by Justin Watson in the first half and instead of trying to get back into phase, he appeared to be jogging as if he was surprised the ball was headed in his direction. Kansas City also went after him in the screen game, forcing him to tackle and take on blocks in space. In addition to hopefully getting Joey Porter Jr. back soon, they need Jackson to pick up his play down the stretch.
Dude: ILB Mark Robinson
Once again, Robinson makes the positive side of this list two weeks in a row by forcing a fumble on special teams. It’s been quite strange to see the Steelers be unable to come up with so many loose balls during this losing streak. Had this not been the case, the Ole Miss product would be getting a ton of love for his efforts in causing turnovers.
Dud: Red Zone Defense
Competent offenses have been able to move the football on this Steelers defense this season but until recently, they’ve been able to hang their hat on getting turnovers and stalling teams out inside the 20-yard line. Kansas City went 4-5 on the afternoon and quite frankly, they made it look easy. Pittsburgh is really struggling to sort out stacks/bunches, particularly after motion, and their lack of discipline in the scramble drill phase has been jarring. Typically, things get tighter in the red area but you’d never know it if you just watched this defense perform in recent weeks. Multiple players expressed their frustrations over issues that have been prevalent throughout their three game losing streak but those words ring pretty hallow until the actions start to change.
Dud: Mike Tomlin
We are at the point of the NFL calendar where you are what your record says that you are. After dropping three straight to a few of the best teams in the league, Pittsburgh now finds themselves in the wild card conversation and in all likelihood will be playing a road playoff game to begin the postseason. A 10-6 record certainly isn’t anything to be ashamed off but this is the time of year where you want your club to be playing their best ball.
With average margin of defeat of 16.7 points in their last three, it’s impossible to feel very confident that this is a squad capable of making a serious push in the postseason. These December droughts have been somewhat of a familiar theme of Tomlin’s teams in recent years, too. That’s a trend that is becoming both difficult to ignore and hard to reconcile with if you’re a team with contending aspirations. His fingerprints are all over the defense that is currently performing well below expectations at the moment.
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