Steelers Week 4 film study: Quarterback play was an obvious difference-maker
NFL football analyst Matt Williamson will break down each of the Steelers games this season in the Trib’s Steelers Film Study. Here’s what he saw in the Steelers’ Week 4 loss to the Packers.
In a matchup between iconic franchises at Lambeau Field, the Packers advanced to 3-1 and now sit atop the NFC North. Pittsburgh (1-3) is now at the bottom of the AFC North, two games behind the Bengals, Browns and Ravens with 13 games left to play.
Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger threw the ball 36 and 40 times, respectively. Rodgers finished with 248 passing yards compared to 232 for Roethlisberger. Rodgers was sacked three times. Green Bay sacked Roethlisberger twice.
Roethlisberger threw one touchdown and one interception, which came very late when the game was out of reach. Rodgers didn’t throw an interception and found Randall Cobb for both of his touchdown throws. But the difference between these quarterbacks was night and day on Sunday.
All about possession
Going into halftime, the Packers had a 17-10 lead. They were leading the rushing yardage 68 to 31, but both offenses were averaging 5.6 yards per play at that point. However, the Packers offense possessed the ball for 17:54 of the first half. When the game concluded, Green Bay outrushed the Steelers 131 to 62.
Both teams’ yards per play dropped. The Packers ended the day churning out 5.1 yards per play against 4.9 for Pittsburgh’s offense. When it was all said and done, Green Bay possessed the football for 34:41 of a possible 60 minutes of playing time and that was a major factor in this game.
Strong start for offense
The Steelers offense did come out hot though. Roethlisberger hit receiver Diontae Johnson, who was left alone against Jaire Alexander, on a beautiful 45-yard touchdown throw for Roethlisberger’s 400th career touchdown pass. Only four quarterbacks in history have more, and Roethlisberger was 4 for 4 on that opening drive, playing with timing and rhythm to start this game.
As he usually is, Johnson was Roethlisberger’s featured receiver. Johnson was targeted a dozen times at all levels of the field and played well. Johnson has now gotten double-digit targets in 11 of his last 13 games and he finished this losing effort with 92 receiving yards. Five of his catches went for first downs. JuJu Smith-Schuster was targeted eight times and the ball went Najee Harris’ way on seven occasions in Green Bay.
Offensive struggles
The Steelers’ second offensive drive began on the 4-yard line after Green Bay did a terrific job downing a punt. Pittsburgh gained just 5 yards and punted after three plays. The fast start ended quickly for the Steelers offense and quarterback.
On Pittsburgh’s third drive after Green Bay had scored, the Packers sack and fumble recovery got them the ball back quickly with exceptional starting field position. That led to a Randall Cobb 23-yard touchdown on third and 10. Green Bay scored two touchdowns in just 2:27 of playing time in that stretch, which was one of several crucial stretches of play on Sunday.
After fumbling the ball away on that third drive, Roethlisberger missed Smith-Schuster on a sure touchdown midway through the second quarter on a pass that just didn’t have nearly enough touch on it and was thrown too much on a line. The Steelers then settled for a 52-yard Chris Boswell filed goal on that drive to narrow the score to 14-10.
Roethlisberger’s missed connections
In a comparable manner, Roethlisberger later missed Smith-Schuster in the third quarter on a similar play down the opposite seam that would have gone for a long touchdown. He again missed far too many easy throws in this game and his command of the football is highly questionable.
Roethlisberger missed numerous throws that are just expected to be completed by an NFL starting quarterback, including the two probable touchdowns to Smith-Schuster. Some will label this as “Not being on the same page,” but the reality is they were just missed throws that simply must be completed an extremely high percentage of the time.
His arm strength still shows up at times and frankly, arm strength is the least of Roethlisberger’s problems right now. His reads are questionable and at times he doesn’t diagnose the proper leverage of the cover man, which makes it look like he and his receiver (who usually is right) aren’t in tune together.
And of course, Roethlisberger is no longer a second reaction quarterback or athletic enough to extend plays. Just too many missed layups by the Steelers quarterback once again, and he also now has a disturbing trend of throwing short of the sticks on pivotal downs.
Roethlisberger averaged just 5.9 yards per attempt with a low 7.0 average depth of target. For the season, Pittsburgh only has seven completions of 25 yards or longer. And every defense that Pittsburgh faces or will face, knows the shortcomings of the quarterback and game plans accordingly. Roethlisberger is just too easy to play against right now.
Roethlisberger passed Dan Marino (61,361) to move to sixth on the all-time passing yardage list (61,381) late in the game on a throw to Washington. He deserves great praise for a fantastic career, but Roethlisberger once again couldn’t keep up with the opposing quarterback in Week 4, as has been the case the last three weeks.
Short on 4th down
Down 27-10, on fourth and 4 in an eerily similar manner as the end of the game the week before, Roethlisberger immediately threw the ball to Harris in the flat which was quickly thwarted. But T.J. Watt did fall on an Aaron Jones fumble shortly after, giving the Steelers the ball at midfield still down 17 points. Twice in this game on fourth down, the ball was thrown short of the sticks.
Also, despite constant problems all season, as well as in this game, in pass protection, the Steelers didn’t have their tight ends or running backs chip the edge pass-rushers on the way into their routes. The offensive line is slowly improving, but chipping would sure help.
Line shows improvement
This was probably the best performance by Pittsburgh’s offensive line so far this year. That isn’t massive praise, but it is progress, nonetheless. It was also probably center Kendrick Green’s best showing as a pro, particularly as a run blocker. Joe Haeg filled in well against Cincinnati and had a solid outing vs. the Packers. Maybe he should stay as the starting right tackle.
Zach Banner could soon enter that equation as well. So, there is some hope there for improvement, although Pittsburgh does not have a high end starting offensive linemen in this group for 2021.
Green Bay’s pass-rush became more effective late in the game, but that was when the Steelers were in heavy catch-up mode. There were plenty of clean pockets in this game on the road in a difficult environment. In the run game, they are implementing more man blocking concepts, which fits Pittsburgh’s line better overall. Left tackle Dan Moore did have some ugly reps against Rashan Gary however.
Running game moves along
There were signs of life from the Steelers running game, although they only handed the ball off on 16 occasions. The tight ends also did their part in the running game, particularly Zach Gentry, who only ran a route on three of his snaps against Green Bay. Harris (15 carries, 62 yards, 1 TD) was once again impressive and even more impressive than the box score would indicate. Harris has an extremely bright future in this league.
Wide receivers find success
You can also make a strong case that this was receiver James Washington’s and Smith-Schuster’s best games of the season. Washington played 49 of a possible 60 offensive snaps and Smith-Schuster once again led his position group in playing time. Overall, the wide receivers were excellent and the lack of production in the passing game doesn’t fall on them.
The Steelers have desperately needed to attack the middle of the field, and Smith-Schuster absolutely provided that on Sunday. This sounds harsh, but 10/11ths of the Steelers offense is getting better.
More questionable decisions
Harris plunged into the end zone with 4:04 left on the clock to cap off an impressive drive against a prevent style Packers defense. That made it a 10-point game and, for some reason, Pittsburgh decided against an onside kick. Rodgers took that gift at the 25-yard line and put the game away.
Here is a small slice of the game that is just unfathomable: The Steelers didn’t show enough urgency down 17 points at the end of the third quarter and absolutely could have gotten another play off. That seems like a little thing, but it really isn’t when every snap and every second is needed.
The play after that Johnson caught a pass, made some moves, and then proceeded to go backwards instead of towards the sticks. In all reality, he probably doesn’t get the first down either way, but that play for no gain put the Steelers in a fourth and 4 situation. Then, Johnson false started making it fourth and 9. Pittsburgh then punted, which also was a massive mistake considering the desperate circumstances of the game. That is an inexcusable sequence.
On the subsequent drive with a little over 10 minutes left on the clock on fourth down, Roethlisberger threw the ball well short of the chains to Johnson who was quickly thrown to the ground.
Tough go for defense
As has become another recurring theme with this team, the Steelers defense was once again put in some difficult situations. But the last three times the offense has turned the ball over, Pittsburgh’s defense has then allowed a touchdown. And Rodgers, more than most NFL quarterbacks, is going to take advantage of such situations. He’s an assassin that thrives on his opponent’s mistakes.
The Steelers defense used a lot of “Mugged up” looks with linebackers peppering the A and B gaps near the line of scrimmage, making it tough on the Packers’ young offensive line’s protection communication and identification. That also made Rodgers figure out the pass-rush and coverage scheme post snap.
The Steelers generated early pressure against Rodgers and an offensive line that was riddled with injuries. There were some communication errors by Green Bay’s rebuilt offensive line, especially the left side, but Green Bay and Rodgers got that figured out as the game went along.
Heyward strong up front
What Cameron Heyward is doing right now is rather remarkable. His effort is amazing, and the attention Heyward is receiving from the opponent is massive right now. The Steelers’ defensive big men really need Stephon Tuitt to return to take pressure off Heyward. There is just far too much being asked of Heyward right now, and he is now the only pass-rusher of that group. Heyward is a one-man gang right now.
Defensive changes
Pittsburgh briefly experimented with Watt to right side of the defense, but that returned little in the way of dividends. Watt also got away with a third quarter tripping call that went as a sack in the official record books. He was impactful in his return on 61 snaps, but in the end, there just wasn’t quite enough pass-rush pressure (by the Steelers standards) on Rodgers overall, and it was still clear that Watt wasn’t 100%.
One unit that deserves praise is the linebackers. Joe Schobert was especially strong as a coverage player. It is encouraging that Schobert is now taking his game up another level while Devin Bush made an impact as a blitzer as well as in coverage. Green Bay tight end Robert Tonyan wasn’t a factor in this game, and those two deserve much credit for that. This is what was expected from this pair when the trade for Schobert was made several weeks ago.
Trouble with slot receivers
Randall Cobb was the guy on third downs for Rodgers. Over the first three weeks of the year, Pittsburgh has now allowed consistent production to traditional slot receivers. Through the first three games vs. the opponent’s traditional slot receivers — Cole Beasley, Hunter Renfro and Tyler Boyd — the Steelers’ defense had allowed a total of 17 catches for 153 yards. That isn’t a massive amount of production, including Cobb’s five for 69 and two touchdown stat line, but it has been untimely and excruciating production allowed to slot receivers. Cobb was only on the field for 46% of the Packers offensive snaps.
The Steelers did do a very good job against Davante Adams, which wasn’t all that dissimilar to how they limited Stefon Diggs and Darren Waller while the other receivers did damage. Don’t blame Arthur Mallet though entirely for Cobb’s production. Mallet was a playmaker in this game and made a strong case to be the Steelers top slot cornerback going forward. He was also an effective blitzer. Rodgers did only complete 55% of his passing attempts.
Defending the run
The Steelers’ defense had somewhat of a tough time with Green Bay’s longer developing lateral stretch runs. Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon were patient before picking their hole and then abruptly attacking upfield for some chunk yardage runs. Jones got a lot of his yardage in this game with second effort after first contact. The Steelers never took either the run or pass away from Green Bay, which is an offense that thrives on balance.
After a long Dillon run where it was pretty apparent that Pittsburgh’s defense was tired and with backups in the game, Rodgers quickly hit Cobb for a touchdown that tied Marino with 420 career touchdown passes and put the Packers up 27-10. Dillon then closed things out with little resistance throughout the fourth quarter with his punishing running style.
Stuck on the sideline
A huge factor in this game was when Green Bay got the ball to start second half after controlling it at the end of the first half. Over the process of two field goal drives by Green Bay to finish and start the half, the Steelers offense went a long time (about 55 minutes in real time) without seeing the field until finally getting the ball with 9:26 remaining in the third quarter. The Packers had already possessed the football for just under 18 minutes in the first half.
Play of the game
But the play of the game without question was on special teams. After what looked like a blocked field goal for a Minkah Fitzpatrick touchdown that was called back for a questionable (which is being kind) offsides call on Joe Haden, Mason Crosby hit a short field goal to end the half with a 17-10 Packers lead. That 10-point swing at that time of the game was a back breaking turn of events for the Steelers.
Looking ahead
The Steelers are home for four of their next five games (although they are 0-2 at home this year) and have a much-needed bye week on the horizon after hosting Denver and Seattle.
Also, Teddy Bridgewater suffered a concussion Sunday, and his Broncos lost their first game of the year. It could potentially work to the Steelers’ favor if Drew Lock is behind center. Hopefully, Bridgewater is all right, but this Steelers team needs every break it can get right now to salvage anything out of this disastrous start to the season.
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