Airing of Grievances: Blame for every aspect of Steelers as they get 'smashed' in Buffalo

So much for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “spark” with Kenny Pickett. That didn’t last very long, did it?

Actually, it didn’t even last through the fourth quarter of the New York Jets game.

But in Sunday’s 38-3 defeat in Buffalo, the Steelers never found a spark at all. Never lit a match. Never found a light switch. Couldn’t figure out how to activate the light on the back of the cell phone.

They just stumbled around in the dark, fumbling chances, tripping on their own feet and falling face-first into a 1-4 record.

“We got smashed. And that’s the only perspective that I have,” coach Mike Tomlin said after the game. “I don’t have a lot of individual analysis.”

Agreed on that, coach. So let us help when it comes to filing individual complaints in this week’s “Airing of Grievances.”

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Dreadful defense: The Steelers continue to prove their defense is woefully subpar when T.J. Watt can’t play.

And based on the latest news surrounding Watt’s knee injury (to go with a pectoral muscle injury), that’s going to be a while longer.

The Steelers yielded 552 total yards in offense. Josh Allen had 14 completions for 348 yards and four touchdowns … in the first half. He ended up with 424 yards and those four scores on 20 of 31 attempts before he was relieved in the fourth quarter by Case Keenum. That’s a 134.1 passer rating.

With Watt on the sideline, Allen was hit one time in the whole game. He also led Buffalo with 42 rushing yards.

The Steelers did a moderate job on Stefon Diggs in the first half (five catches, 44 yards and a touchdown) but no one else. The other Buffalo receivers were torching the Steelers’ injury-depleted secondary instead. Especially Gabe Davis. He had touchdowns of 98 yards and 62 yards.

98 YARDS!

: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/P3rA4gbxYl

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) October 9, 2022

GABE DAVIS ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

: #PITvsBUF on CBS
: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/5bVODjrAl5 pic.twitter.com/UrMJIzvE3V

— NFL (@NFL) October 9, 2022

Then Diggs ended up with eight catches and 102 yards on the day anyway.

“They made the big plays. We didn’t. It was very simple,” safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said on KDKA-TV after the game. “They made way too many big plays downfield. We don’t usually do that as a secondary. A very unusual game for us, and we take responsibility for it. We gave up big plays to a team that relies on big plays, and that’s why the score was what it was.”

The pass rush was non-existent. The secondary was smoked. Some guy wearing No. 16 (Josh Jackson) was playing in the secondary for the Steelers.

I didn’t know Mark Malone played defensive back. And if he actually did, could Malone have been any worse than the rest of that crew?

Related:

• Madden Monday: After Steelers' 'embarrassing' loss in Buffalo, there's no doubt they're 'going to go into the bye 1-7'
• Steelers vs. Bills: What they're saying in Buffalo after rout

Don’t use the defensive back injuries as an excuse, though. The Bills secondary was absent Jordan Poyer, Tre’Davious White and Micah Hyde. Three excellent players. They held up much better.

You also can’t blame Keith Butler anymore. The coaching deficiencies are on Tomlin, Brian Flores and Teryl Austin.

It’s OK. I’m sure those three will figure out everything before Tom Brady comes to town next week. He’s never done much against the Steelers anyway, right?

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Running on empty: The Steelers got nothing from their run game. Again.

Because the Steelers got behind 17-3 early, they didn’t try running much. That’s good because they can’t do it well at all anyway. The team only netted 54 yards on 17 carries (that’s a 3.2 yards-per-play average). Ten of those yards were on a scramble from Pickett.

Harris doesn’t look good. He’s either still gun-shy from getting hit behind the line so much last year or still injured from training camp or both. Or maybe the extra muscle Harris put on during the offseason that he got angry at the media for mentioning is a bigger deal than he was letting on this spring.

And while the offensive line isn’t as much, obviously, to blame as it was to start the year, it’s not like there are gaping holes to be found.

You know, like the ones you see when the Steelers are on defense.

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Sloppy special teams: The Steelers won in Buffalo last year because of a blocked punt. Special teams coordinator Danny Smith’s unit blocked another kick — a field goal — Sunday. Cameron Heyward got credit for that.

NPE

#PITvsBUF on CBS pic.twitter.com/ePjfyljO1O

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 9, 2022

Smith’s crew also covered a botched kick return by Buffalo on the opening play of the game. The Bills had to start inside their own 5-yard line. Unfortunately, that sequence turned into the 98-yard score for Buffalo.

But James Pierre had to return Buffalo’s first kickoff because Steven Sims was dealing with an eye injury, and he fumbled it.

Also, Pressley Harvin and Chris Boswell had trouble dealing with the wind. Harvin had punts of 34, 26 and 34 yards to counter one 69-yard effort. Meanwhile, Boswell missed two field goals. One was only 33 yards, the other was 45.

Here’s something else: Why did the Steelers try those field goals when they did? They were down 24-3 when Boswell missed the first kick. They were trailing 31-3 when Boswell missed his second kick. What was the point?

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A little help?: We already went over the run game woes. Kenny Pickett didn’t get much help from the rest of his offensive teammates either. Well, except for George Pickens. The rookie wideout caught six of eight targets for 83 yards.

Diontae Johnson had a couple more drops. Tony Romo called out Chase Claypool for not running “quarterback friendly” routes. And second-year tight end Pat Freiermuth only had two catches for 8 yards before leaving with another possible concussion. If he is diagnosed as having one, that’d be the third of his career already.

As for Pickett himself, he got sacked three times and threw an interception with no touchdowns. He tried 52 passes, completing 34 of them for 327 yards. A lot of what Pickett did was encouraging and applaudable. The rookie out of Pitt moved well, put passes in good spots, took some risks and found open receivers. Given some of the drops and the vacuum of a five-touchdown loss, it’s tough to cleanly evaluate Pickett.

More on the Steelers loss to the Bills:

• Bills throttle Steelers in Kenny Pickett's 1st start
• Steelers' 38-3 loss to Bills marks most lopsided defeat in Mike Tomlin era, worst since 1989
• Kenny Pickett shows fight in losing 1st start with Steelers
• Steelers lose 4 starters to injury during blowout loss to Bills
• Steelers unhappy no penalty was called on Damar Hamlin hit to QB Kenny Pickett

Yet he failed to lead a touchdown drive, and that might need to be where the evaluation stops. Similar to how we crucified Mitch Trubisky for leading so many drives that didn’t end in scores.

“We didn’t put points up, so that’s the No. 1 thing. We’ve got to be a lot better in the red zone. I felt like we moved the ball, but we just couldn’t finish. That’s something we have to get fixed, definitely quickly,” Pickett said.

To Pickett’s point, the Steelers were 0 of 4 in the red zone. Another stat that must improve for Pickett and the rest of the offense is how they did in conversion opportunities. They were 5 of 18 on third and fourth downs.

Lookin’ at you, too, Matt Canada.

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Even less help: Pickett also wasn’t protected by the officials. Certainly not as much as most quarterbacks are.

Pickett went into a full slide (not a fake one this time) on a scramble in the third quarter, and he got popped by fellow Pitt Panther product Damar Hamlin. “The action on the quarterback was legal,” according to the on-field officials.

Ha! Any veteran QB gets that call for an additional 15 yards. The rookie simply didn’t get the benefit of the doubt.

In the fourth quarter, Shaq Lawson went low on Pickett’s knee, but because it was outside of the pocket, that was deemed legal. If it’s a clear pass, though, I’m not sure why that differentiation in the rules exists. And I’m wondering if Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers get the call anyway.

Kudos to Pickett for sticking up for himself and going after Lawson after the hit. Kudos to James Daniels for blasting Hamlin after the incident in the third quarter.

But aside from those moments, there’s not much credit to go around for anything good in a 35-point defeat that was the franchise’s worst since 1989.