Airing of Grievances: Impotent offense, disappointing defense, scattered coaching as Steelers gag against Patriots

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t bat an eyelash at the Pittsburgh Steelers getting dusted at home by the New England Patriots. During the height of the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick years, that was a common occurrence.

However, Brady is long gone and so is that era of Patriots football. They entered Acrisure Stadium 2-10 with an offense that has been performing at rates that were historically poor.

That didn’t stop history from repeating itself, though, as the Pats humiliated the Steelers once again and became the second two-win team in five days to defeat the Steelers in their home stadium, 21-18.

The loss dropped the Steelers to 7-6 and out of a playoff spot. But after these defeats to New England and the Arizona Cardinals, even mentioning this Steelers team in the same breath as the playoffs seems foolish.

Here is this week’s “Airing of Grievances” to recap what might be the worst five-day stretch of football in Steelers history.

Not as advertised: The Patriots offense had been so bad lately it totaled just 13 points in its last three games. Yet, midway through the second quarter, New England had 21 points on the scoreboard.

The Patriots darted their way through a flat-footed Steelers defense for a 75-yard touchdown drive on the opening possession. They also converted a Mitch Trubisky interception into a touchdown and had a four-play scoring strike after a bad punt from Pressley Harvin.

Two of the scores were to tight end Hunter Henry.

A TD for the birthday boy @Hunter_Henry84 | #ForeverNE

: #NEvsPIT on @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/IyWj4dhZLT

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) December 8, 2023

Zappe to the TE for a second time on TNF!@baileyzappe04 | @Hunter_Henry84

: #NEvsPIT on @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/uRhLWtWcn2

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) December 8, 2023

“They were only giving up 10 points the last four games. So, as a defense, we knew that going in. We didn’t answer the call in that regard. When it came to providing short fields enough, and getting off the field, and surrendering three points instead of seven,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said.

Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe ended the game with a 115.2 passer rating and three touchdowns with one interception on 28 attempts. In 64 attempts over five games this season, Zappe had a 50.2 passer rating and no touchdowns coming into Thursday night.

Just as advertised: Trubisky was pretty much as we remembered as a starting quarterback. Ineffective. Inaccurate. Too risky at the wrong times. Not risky enough at the right times.

He flashes enough to give you hope. He comes up short often enough to break your heart.

In the first half, Trubisky threw one interception, had another that was called back because of pass interference, and had a third that was dropped.

“Missed opportunities. I have to play better. I feel like I let the guys down,” Trubisky said.

Related:

• Steelers suffer 2nd straight embarrassing home loss, falling to last-place Patriots
• ‘I feel like I let the guys down:’ Mitch Trubisky struggles in 1st start in a year for Steelers
• Patriots’ JuJu Smith-Schuster makes big plays, gets win in his 1st game against Steelers

Trubisky averaged just 5.4 yards per attempt. He had 22 completions and 13 incompletions, totaling 190 yards with a touchdown, an interception and a passer rating of 74.7.

The Steelers were particularly bad on leverage downs, going 4 of 17 on third- and fourth-down conversion opportunities.

Looking at the sidelines: The players were blaming themselves for a lack of execution. But let’s not avoid shining a light on Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff.

Many fans are killing Trubisky for throwing deep on the final fourth-and-2 near the end of the game. That pass fell incomplete of Diontae Johnson.

But why not run the ball on the previous snap when it was third-and-2? That snap occurred with two minutes and five seconds left on the clock. If they don’t get the first down, they still have the two-minute warning to set up a pass for fourth-and-2 (or shorter).

If they do get it, you start first-and-10 beyond midfield with two minutes left, needing just a field goal to tie, with one timeout in your pocket.

Oh, and why was there only one timeout?

Because the Steelers were late deciding if they wanted to go for a fourth down with roughly seven minutes left. So they had to call one at that point. They converted. But the sequence resulted in a punt later anyway.

The Steelers had to burn their first timeout of the half on the previous possession after they got a first down in the red zone on a pass to Darnell Washington.

That was excusable, though. The coaches were probably so stunned to see the chains move they didn’t know what to do next.

Just like last week: Thursday’s game felt a lot like Sunday’s loss for other reasons beyond failing to beat an inept opponent.

Henry was used for three catches, 40 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Arizona’s tight end, Trey McBride, had a big day as well — eight catches for 89 yards and a score.

“We’re minus some people in (the middle of the defense) and just trying to find the correct mix. We’ve played some good tight ends, so that’s been a component of it as well,” Tomlin said.

Also, after former Steelers running back James Conner came back to roast his old team for two touchdowns and 106 yards on the ground, ex-teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster pulled the same trick.

The Patriots wide receiver ended up with four catches for 90 yards, including a 37-yarder on the third snap of the game.

Bailey Zappe's 37-yard pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster was the longest completion by air yards by a Patriots QB this season (30 air yards).

Completions of 25+ Air Yards (This Season):
Bailey Zappe: 2
Mac Jones: 0

: https://t.co/1OMRlplD2C pic.twitter.com/6tJcCzBUZV

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 8, 2023

Like Conner before him, Smith-Schuster hadn’t done much in the weeks leading up to his return trip to Acrisure Stadium. He had only totaled 20 yards on four catches in the previous three games.

One fatal flag: The Steelers were only docked one penalty that was accepted by New England. But it was costly and controversial.

Down 21-18, the Steelers were about to punt (shocking, I know) on a fourth-and-3 with just over five minutes remaining.

It appeared that the Patriots jumped offside. A flag was thrown. But the official claimed that long-snapper Christian Kuntz was guilty of inducing the Patriots to move, so he was hit with a false start. Kuntz said he’s been told the rule states that he should have no abrupt movement while being in the snapping position.

Kuntz didn’t think he moved abruptly — or at all — until the Patriots jumped.

Long snapper Christian Kuntz on his controversial false start penalty pic.twitter.com/H1oe5gKkeH

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) December 8, 2023

“I saw clear as day offside,” Harvin said. “I didn’t even see his head move. All I saw was a guy jumping offside. Then they called it on us, and I was confused.”

While that cost the Steelers a first down as a result of the exchange, moving Harvin back a few yards may have ended up helping his punt. He had a bit more room to operate and stuck the Pats at the 14-yard line.

New England then punted right back. But the Steelers turned the ball over on downs just after the two-minute warning, and the Patriots went on to win the game.