Tale of 2 defenses emerges for Steelers after 2nd consecutive loss takes sting off hot start

In the first three weeks of the season, opponents averaged 8.7 points and 229 yards.

In the past two games, opponents have averaged 23.5 points and 401 yards.

During a three-game winning streak, third-down stops and negligible rushing yards were the norm.

During a two-game losing skid, drives regularly have been extended, and rushing totals have soared.

Will the real Pittsburgh Steelers defense please stand up?

That emerged as a legitimate question after the Steelers’ 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys early Monday morning at Acrisure Stadium.

How can a defense that was so stingy in the first three weeks of the season suddenly put up as much resistance as butter being cut with a hot knife?

“We weren’t playing up to us,” safety DeShon Elliott said moments after the receiver he was covering, Jalen Tolbert, caught the winning touchdown pass with 20 seconds remaining. “We weren’t communicating, and things weren’t going like we planned them to go. We tried to sort them out. We have to be on the same page, and we weren’t.”

Same page? Factoring in the 27-24 loss in Week 4 at Indianapolis, the Steelers haven’t been in the same section of the library, let alone the same chapter or book.

“I didn’t think we were connected enough from a communication standpoint,” coach Mike Tomlin said.

It was a similar refrain the previous week.

At Indianapolis, the Steelers allowed touchdowns on the opening two drives and trailed 17-0 before mounting a futile second-half comeback. Against the Cowboys, the Steelers allowed two fourth-quarter touchdowns to erase 13-10 and 17-13 advantages.

Problems, though, began earlier in the game.

“There was some first-half miscommunication,” free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said. “A couple of times we were playing check ball, and a couple guys were playing different things. Guys were not in the right spots. The second half, I’m not sure (about).”

Slow starts were uncharacteristic of a defense that, well, got off to such a fast start to the season. Consider that while crafting a 3-0 start, the Steelers had the NFL’s top-ranked defense.

But after allowing two touchdowns total in those three wins, they have given up five in two losses. After stopping 25 of 32 third-down opportunities, they have stopped just 13 of 30 the past two weeks. They have allowed 24 points in the fourth quarter the past two weeks after giving up six over the first three games.

The Steelers also have become susceptible to yielding the big play. In the first three weeks, opponents had four plays that gained 25 yards or more. In the past two weeks, the Steelers have been gashed for seven such plays.

“We were allowing them to get a lot of yards after catch,” Fitzpatrick said. “Things we usually do at a high level, we didn’t do at a high level.”

An inability to stop the run also has moved high on the priority list. When the Steelers headed to Indianapolis, they had the NFL’s second-ranked run defense, allowing 71.3 yards per game. The Colts and Cowboys averaged 121 yards.

That the trend carried over to Sunday night was surprising considering Dallas entered the game as one of the league’s worst rushing teams. And, true to form, Dallas had 23 yards on 10 attempts at halftime. In the second half, the Cowboys rushed for 86 yards on 11 carries.

On the winning drive, the Cowboys gained 25 yards on the ground, which helped them run down the clock until the final seconds.

“I definitely didn’t expect them to run the ball in the four-minute offense at the end of the game,” Elliott said. “They probably thought we knew they were going to throw the ball, so they did the opposite. They did it at a high rate and efficiently. That’s not how we should be playing. That’s not us.”

The defense was on the field for 31 plays during the Cowboys’ two fourth-quarter touchdown drives. Dallas converted 7 of 9 third-down chances after halftime, and that doesn’t count the fourth-down touchdown pass to Tolbert that sank the Steelers.

“It’s a long time to be out on the field,” outside linebacker T.J. Watt said.

As for ways to correct the defense’s issues, Fitzpatrick said it begins in practice Wednesday.

“We have to overemphasize it over the week, practice with crowd noise the entire week,” he said. “We have to make sure everybody knows what they are doing, make sure everybody is on the same page. We have a new secondary, there are a lot of new faces, younger faces. We might not have the chemistry that we’ve had in the past, but that’s definitely something we can work on.”

Although he is a sixth-year veteran, Elliott is in his first season with the Steelers. He took the loss particularly hard considering he also was in coverage when Rico Dowdle caught a 22-yard touchdown pass earlier in the fourth quarter.

“It’s fixable things, but things we can’t keep doing,” he said. “It’s repetitive. Communication should never be a problem in the secondary or a defense, period. We see each other every day. We’re with each other every day. That’s no excuse.”