Airing of Grievances: Steelers impotent on offense, lack splash on defense in agonizing loss to Browns

The Pittsburgh Steelers lost a football game in Cleveland on Sunday, 13-10. The offense only scored on two possessions and punted nine times.

The Browns were starting a rookie backup quarterback. Star running back Nick Chubb and the starting offensive tackles didn’t play.

Coordinator Matt Canada’s offense essentially had one big play, and that was the entirety of the offense. The defense did little to rattle first-year QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson. There were some poor punts, and, at times, it was a clown-car situation getting players on and off the field.

But I’m sure when we scan the national media Monday morning, we’ll be deluged by analysis telling us Mike Tomlin deserves Coach of the Year votes for keeping the game within a field goal.

Tomlin is not immune from criticism. Kenny Pickett shouldn’t be either. And, of course, Canada certainly is not.

So, let’s get to it in our “Airing of Grievances.”

Back to this again

After touchdowns to open the game on their first drive the last two weeks, the Steelers got back to their old ways of starting slowly on offense.

On their first series, the Steelers almost gave up a safety. Twice. The team totaled just 64 yards before halftime. The Steelers were just 1 for 5 on third downs in the first two quarters.

The passing game was lousy. Pickett averaged just 1.5 yards per pass. He ended the game at 3.8 yards per pass over 28 attempts, and he was sacked three times.

Without Warren

If it wasn’t for Jaylen Warren, the Steelers might have been shut out. He scored the team’s only touchdown on a 74-yard romp in the third quarter.

Jaylen Warren goes 74 yards!

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Warren had 145 yards from scrimmage. They should have given it to him more often. Even subtracting that 74-yard TD, he averaged 6.8 yards per carry on his other eight rushing attempts.

The rest of the team totaled 104. Najee Harris only had 35 yards on 12 carries.

“It (stinks). We wanted a different outcome. Like the rest of us, we’ve got to go back in the lab and figure out what it is we need to fix,” Warren said.

In the receiving department, George Pickens led the team with four catches and 38 yards. In his return game, Pat Freiermuth had one catch for 7 yards on his only target. Pickett was unsuccessful throwing the ball to Diontae Johnson on six of the eight targets for him.

The most sinful offensive series was when the Steelers had the ball with 1 minute, 42 seconds left on the clock, and they went three-and-out on three straight incompletions to Johnson. They punted after burning just 15 seconds off the clock.

#ShortOfTheSticks

The Steelers were tragic on third downs offensively. They were 3 of 14.

Matt Canada needs to start running on third-and-4 or less. At least the plays would have a chance of being successful. Because, just as often as not, whatever passes Canada calls, Pickett ends up tossing them short of the first-down marker anyway.

There was a third-and-4 pass Pickett threw to Harris in the third quarter that only went for 1 yard. On third-and-12 later in the third, Pickett threw a pass that went to Allen Robinson, who got 11 yards, and they needed a QB sneak in their own territory on fourth down.

I counted six completed “short of the sticks” passes (and one batted-down screen that didn’t have a prayer) that weren’t long enough to get the necessary yardage to keep the drive moving.

Related:

• Steelers give up winning drive to Browns rookie QB
• After loss, Najee Harris expresses frustration about lack of production, Steelers offense
• Deja vu as Browns' Myles Garrett ends up with Steelers QB's helmet in his hands

Different story

T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith dictated the outcome of the game the first time these teams met in Week 2. They weren’t close to being as impactful Sunday.

Granted, they each had six tackles (and credit to inside linebacker Elandon Roberts, who had 15). They were also part of a defense that held Cleveland’s attack to 3.3 yards per carry and 4 for 17 on third downs.

But in the passing game, Thompson-Robinson dropped back 45 times and was only sacked once — by Watt in the fourth quarter. Not to mention the Browns were without starting tackles Jed Wills and Jack Conklin. The CBS broadcast had Watt and Highsmith with zero pressures midway through the third quarter.

The Browns got rid of the ball fast — at one point in the second half, averaging just 2.15 seconds before the release.

“We have to stop it. If he is able to just convert five-yard throws all day, that’s an issue as well,” Watt said. “Teams have been doing that this season. It’s just a matter of stopping it so that they’re not able to continue to do it. And that’s the issue right now.”

Also, Highsmith got a roughing the passer penalty, which was a joke. Highsmith pulled off of Thompson-Robinson so as not to fall with his full body weight on him, and he wasn’t late with the hit. But their helmets collided because they are virtually the same height.

But if Highsmith lowers his head, he’ll get penalized or fined anyway. So, what else is he supposed to do?

Two other guys worth mentioning: Joey Porter Jr. drew a few penalties and gave up some catches to Amari Cooper and punter Pressley Harvin only averaged 39.4 yards per punt, including one dreadful 20-yard effort in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Cleveland’s Corey Bojorquez averaged 47.5 yards per punt, including a 65-yarder.

There were 17 total punts in the game. The Steelers were hosting a watch party in Ireland in hopes of generating enthusiasm for the game overseas.

After watching that display of offense, it may have backfired.

Sloppy operation

The Steelers had tons of problems getting guys on and off the field on both sides of the ball.

The Steelers had to burn three timeouts because they couldn’t get players deployed properly. They were flagged for a delay of game on offense. On one play in the second half, guard James Daniels clearly was confused and just stood up wondering what was happening. Then the ball was snapped.

In the fourth quarter, they almost had to take another delay on a punt when they didn’t have enough on the field.

Not to mention that, on a few occasions, it looked like Pickett and Johnson weren’t on the same page as to what route was supposed to be run.

“We had a couple of miscommunications. It’s something that can’t happen. We’ve got to get it ironed out,” Pickett said.

Oh, and they committed six penalties, whereas the Browns were only flagged for one.

The Steelers were awful on offense, weren’t particularly sharp on special teams and were less than dynamic on defense.

But they made up for all that by being sloppy and failing to pay attention to details. So, great job all around!