Airing of Grievances: 3rd quarter catastrophe, run defense debacle lead to humiliating Steelers loss

Watching the Steelers on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills made me wonder if they all ate some Thanksgiving leftovers that had gone bad in the refrigerator.

Because the entire team threw up all over itself during a 26-7 loss to fall to 6-6.

The offense was bad. The defense was worse. The coaching was abysmal.

It got so bad that the fans at Acrisure Stadium were booing “Renegade” and chanting “Fire Tomlin.”

I don’t blame them … on either front.

“It’s disheartening. We aren’t putting a product on the field the fans can be proud of. I get their frustration,” tight end Pat Freiermuth said. “We have to be better on the field for them to buy in. It (stinks).”

Thanksgiving weekend? Pfft! The only thing Steelers fans should be thankful for right now is that there are only five games left.

Here is this week’s “Airing of Grievances.” Buckle up. It’s going to be ugly.

AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

Third quarter crisis: The third quarter couldn’t possibly have been worse

On the first snap of the second half, Joey Bosa blew through Mason McCormick. Aaron Rodgers held onto the ball. He was sacked and fumbled. Christian Benford picked up the loose ball and ran into the end zone for a Buffalo defensive touchdown to make it 10-7.

Joey Bosa forced it. Christian Benford scooped and scored it. Bills lead.

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Rodgers temporarily left the game with an injury.

On the ensuing kick return, the Steelers picked up a holding call. Mason Rudolph came in at quarterback and skipped a pass to a wide-open DK Metcalf on a second-down throw.

Two snaps later, Rudolph overthrew Darnell Washington. Benford intercepted the pass.

Fumble return for a TD on one drive. INT on the next.

Christian Benford is feeling it right now ????

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The Bills took the gift and cashed it in for an eight-play, 56-yard touchdown drive to make it 16-7. After Josh Allen’s touchdown pass to Keon Coleman, Cameron Heyward picked up a taunting penalty.

Then, with Rodgers back in, the Steelers went three-and-out after deciding to run on a third-and-8. Buffalo took over and engineered a 15-play, 83-yard drive that went for a touchdown to make it 23-7. The first 12 of those plays happened in the third quarter.

Pittsburgh ran eight offensive plays for 3 net yards in the quarter. It was honestly the worst 15 minutes of football I can remember the Steelers playing at Acrisure Stadium since the 28-0 first quarter they had in the 2020 playoff loss against Cleveland.

Coming as advertised: The Bills offense came in as pretty much a one-trick pony.

But it’s a good trick. Buffalo can really run.

The Bills totaled 249 rushing yards. James Cook did the most damage with 144. Allen added 38 and a touchdown. Ray Davis put up 62 on just nine carries.

It’s not like the Steelers were surprised by what Buffalo did. They knew what was coming. They just couldn’t stop it.

“The coaches did a great job of preparing us. Some of the big runs they hit on us, we went over it a bunch of times this week. We just have to execute,” linebacker Payton Wilson said.

Repeatedly at the end of the first half, the Bills had a lot of success running off the right edge of their offensive line. If it wasn’t for Joey Porter Jr. making some good tackles toward the end of the first half, the Steelers would’ve given up a touchdown late in the second quarter instead of a field goal.

The Bills maintained possession for almost 42 minutes.

“I’ve never seen a team run the same play that much and have that kind of success as they had,” linebacker T.J. Watt said.

Speaking of Watt and the pass rush, there were no sacks recorded by the Steelers. The Bills gave up eight last week in Houston.

Then again, Buffalo had to throw only 23 times.

How bad was it?: The Steelers couldn’t run, couldn’t throw and couldn’t block.

Aside from that, the offense was great.

Arthur Smith’s unit averaged just 3.2 yards per carry against one of the worst rush defenses in the league. Rodgers was just 10 of 27 for 117 yards, averaging 4.3 yards per pass attempt.

The Steelers were a combined 3 for 10 on third and fourth downs. The team ran only 43 plays for 166 yards. Buffalo ran 74 of them for 372.

Consider this: Here’s all you need to know about the Steelers offense Sunday:

Through the first three quarters. Pittsburgh had only 90 yards of offense. On the first play of the Steelers’ first possession in the fourth quarter, a bad snap cost the Steelers 16 yards.

At that point in the game, the two plays that covered the most yardage while the Steelers had the ball were that debacle and the 17-yard fumble return TD by the Bills.

Not only did the Steelers lose possession on a punt after running Kenneth Gainwell on a third-and-8, they did so again when he got stuffed on a fourth down in the Bills’ red zone.

Offensive lineman Spencer Anderson said that wasn’t an effort to protect against further injury to Rodgers.

“It was just being unconventional,” Anderson said. “When it is third down, teams might expect pass. Just trying to switch it up, I guess.”

The only good thing about the Steelers’ offense is that it was only on the field for 18 minutes.

Just for the sake of variety: I don’t usually throw anything from the opposition in “Airing of Grievances.”

This is usually a reserved space for Steelers venting only. And there’s plenty of room for it.

But what was that mess the Bills made at the end of the second quarter?

After getting to the Steelers’ 11-yard line, Cook gained 2 yards on a first-down handoff. Allen threw an ugly incompletion to Dawson Knox on second down. He then completed a pass to Khalil Shakir, but it was for just 5 yards, leaving Buffalo 3 yards short.

After Mike Tomlin called timeout, Buffalo attempted to draw Pittsburgh offside, making it look like they were bypassing the easy field goal for a risky fourth-down shot at the end zone.

That didn’t work. They came back out again, tried to snap the ball and go for it after all, but Buffalo endured its third false start of the half, so they had to kick anyway.

It’s like Sean McDermott was playing chess, and everyone else was playing checkers.

Except McDermott was playing chess by himself.