Steelers Week 2 Reaction

 The Jays swept the Orioles! Nothing else notable happened this weekend right? I hate hoping on here after a Steelers loss, but it's just the first and not the last of the season. Sucks when they beat themselves but it happens! I do always find it funny how after the first loss of the season the fans immediately go into fire Tomlin and trade the team mode. This was a game that could've been won if a couple key flukey mistakes didn't happen so I'll try to stay level headed here. 

Steelers DBs are Slow AF

I'll get to the key blunders in a minute, I think the real reason they lost this game is they had a complete inability to stop the Seahawks slot receivers. The Steelers defense actually did a pretty good job on first and second down in this one. After being torched in the running game week 1 you could tell it was more of a point of emphasis this week and I think they did a reasonable job. Felt like all game the Seahawks were in second or third and long situations, an area where the Steelers defense should thrive given their pass rush. Unfortunately for us Steelers fans the Seahawks were able to kill them over and over again on slant routes with their slot receivers. This was a perfect strategy, the Steelers are employing old guys at CB, they just had their star receivers plant hard and cut up the middle for a quick pass from Darnold over and over again and there wasn't anything the Steelers could do to stop it. Jalen Ramsey had a pick and that's going to make his day look a lot better than it was. In reality he was the one getting cooked repeatedly by Cooper Kupp or Jackson Smith-Njigba. The fact that these quick routes were working every time really limited the Steelers pass rush and completely took them out of what they do best on third and long. Still though, even with the Steelers defense not playing great they managed to generate 2 turnovers and were doing just enough to keep them in the game until disaster struck. 

The Worst Kickoff Return Play of All Time?

Coming out of the half the Steelers didn't have much going on offense, something I will get to shortly as well. This allowed the Seahawks to crawl back into this game first driving down the field for a TD in the 3rd quarter to tie it. They got another stop, managed to drive down the field again and nail a 54 yard field goal to take the lead. I had hopes that he'd miss this since he missed a 34 yarder earlier, but no luck and no big deal it's just a 3 point game with 12 minutes to go in the 4th with the Steelers getting the ball back. On the ensuing kickoff, the ball bounced right at Kaleb Johnson at the 5 yard line, bounced back into the end zone while Kaleb stood still, the Seahawks hot in pursuit jumped on the ball in the end zone and that's when all the fans at home learned some new kickoff rules. Since the ball landed before the end zone and bounced in, it's considered a live ball until it goes out of bounds. Since the Seahawks recovered it in the end zone in bounds, it's a TD for Seattle and a massive blow to put the Steelers down 10. Kaleb Johnson was a guy a lot of the fanbase was excited for this season, and he's just a rookie so I don't want to be too hard on him here, but that was a game breaking mistake and I would be shocked if we see him returning another kick this season. The Steelers drove again and got another field goal, but the defense couldn't get another stop on 3rd and long, just like they'd been failing to do all game, and the Seahawks put up another TD and by that point the lead was insurmountable. 

Red Zone Turnover 

A lot is going to be put on Kaleb Johnson and that brutal blunder on the kickoff, and that was pretty bad, but people are forgetting another major point swing that happened earlier in this game. After Rodgers completed a short pass to Jaylen Warren, Warren made an awesome play on the run breaking multiple tackles, dodging defenders and rumbling his way all the way to the 5 yard line to set up a juicy first and goal, narrowly missing a TD. A couple of plays later after failing to punch the ball in on the ground Rodgers launched a pass to Calvin Austin III, the ball bounced off his arms right into the arms of a Seahawks DB for an interception in the end zone. It's really hard to win in the NFL if your red zone trips result in 0 points. If they scored here they might've been able to withstand the kickoff return mistake but having both things happen is a recipe for a loss 99% of the time. 

We Underrated Najee Harris 

Maybe only I did? Watching the running game lead by Warren and Gainwell has been disappointing to say the least. In this transitory QB period, the Steelers identity has been controlling the possession by running the football, and playing strong defense. So far through 2 games the Steelers defense has been one of the weakest units in the league and they've managed just 125 total rushing yards through 2 games. For context, the Seahawks had 117 this week. There are currently 14 players in the NFL with more rushing yards this season than the Steelers entire team. 5 players have earned more than 125 yards in a single game this season. Any way you want to put it, the running game has been abysmal for the Steelers and it's forcing them to rely on Aaron Rodgers heroics to save them in these games. I'm not smart enough to figure out what the issue is, I just know that it probably isn't sustainable to have a 42 year old QB be the hero every night, but that's where this team is as of week 2. 

 Sky Isn't Falling

Despite all of this, the sky isn't falling. The Steelers could've won this game had they just taken care of the little things. A turnover in the end zone and a gift wrapped TD in the 4th quarter is a 10-14 point swing in this game that they ended up losing by 14. Contrary to what the fanbase might believe, I don't think these events are going to be happening every game. The bigger concerns for me are the run game struggles and the defense falling off a cliff from last year, but with a young offensive line and a bunch of new pieces on defense I expect it will take a few weeks before we really know what we have with those groups. I am still optimistic about this season. Rodgers didn't have a superstar level game, but he still looked pretty awesome in moments this game. Patriots next, thanks NFL for easing us into this schedule lol. 

And that's that! Quick one because who wants to hear me complain for paragraphs? They'll be better just a flukey loss and those happen! Kaleb Johnson, don't look at social media this week man people suck.