No Steelers fan is festive this Festivus season.

Why should they be? For the second straight year, the Steelers have spent most of December playing themselves out of a playoff spot. The latest issue was Sunday’s 16-10 loss to the 6-9 New York Jets.

Now ‘tis the time on the calendar where we are supposed to air our grievances.

Heck, we do it every week here at “Breakfast With Benz” anyway.

But now it feels all the more important to do as the Steelers have once more put their playoff prospects in the hands of someone else.

Even if they beat Baltimore, the Steelers will also need the Houston Texans to beat the Tennessee Titans. Otherwise they will miss the playoffs after being in prime position to make them with just a few weeks to play.

Again.

And for this week’s “Airing of Grievances,” let’s talk about issues beyond the quarterback quandary. We already know that’s a mess.

Can Paxton Lynch be ready for next week? How about Charlie Batch? Maybe they can pull him off the radio post game show.

What’s Dennis Dixon up to these days?

Drops

Diontae Johnson had one. So did Vance McDonald and Jaylen Samuels.

JuJu Smith-Schuster had one. Maybe two if you count the pass from Devlin “Duck” Hodges that he couldn’t track at the end of the game.

Even Joe Haden dropped an interception.

Starting in 2018, the changes to the "catch rule" eliminated the need to survive the ground. In #PITvsNYJ, this should've been ruled a completed catch. The WR fulfilled all 3 criteria required:

1 - Possession2 - Two feet down3 - A "football move" (in this case, a 3rd step) pic.twitter.com/IIFe4hdDF3

— Gene Steratore (@GeneSteratore) December 22, 2019

Eh, hold onto the ball. With head coach Mike Tomlin’s track record of never getting a break on a challenge, was he really going to throw the red flag on that one?

The quarterbacks are limited enough as it is. They need help. And the receivers let them down as much as they helped Sunday. If not more.

Not to mention James Washington being unable to hold onto that combat catch on the second-to-last throw at the goal line when he was doing battle with Jets defensive back Marcus Maye.

Hey, great play by Maye. But he only had one of his hands on it. Washington had both.

Snaps

How many bad snaps were there? Five? Six maybe.

From both centers. Maurkice Pouncey and B.J. Finney. Pouncey left the game in the third quarter with a knee injury.

And these weren’t just bad snaps the quarterbacks were able to scoop up and play anyway. These wrecked the timing of plays and sometimes resulted in sacks.

Then there was Finney stepping on Mason Rudolph which resulted in him getting sacked and injured.

Bad snaps have been a recurring theme this year. But they haven’t quite manifested as they did this week.

During his press conference on Tuesday, Tomlin downplayed the issue of Pouncey’s snaps saying that he hasn’t had many more than he had in recent seasons. It’s just that Ben Roethlisberger’s hands were so adept at catching them, we never noticed.

Ok. Sure. Whatever you say, coach.

Well, Big Ben “ain’t walking through that door.” And I wonder if Tomlin has a different opinion now.

Or, if he has formulated one about Finney, seeing as how Pouncey may not be able to play next week depending on how badly injured his knee is.

Bad start

While the Steelers defense only allowed one touchdown, it felt like the “D” arrived at the stadium late.

The spotty Jets’ offense marched down the field with ease on their first drive, going 75 yards in 11 plays in four minutes and 33 seconds.

The opening drive resulted in this touchdown throw from Sam Darnold to Robbie Anderson.

I'm lookin' for a diiiiime, that's top of the liiiiine.#PITvsNYJ | #TakeFlight pic.twitter.com/xGGWr9lHBb

— New York Jets (@nyjets) December 22, 2019

The Steelers offense faces an uphill struggle as it is. And normally, it’s their slow start that we are talking about in this weekly post.

But Keith Butler’s unit did no favors for the “O,” putting them down 7-0 before “Duck” and company even got a touch.

Out of the break

So the Steelers were bad early.

They came up short late.

And they weren’t really good in the middle either.

Yes, Rudolph did hit Johnson for a touchdown just before halftime to tie the game at 10-10.

GOING FOR IT ALL!@Rudolph2Mason ➡️ @Juiceup__3 pic.twitter.com/4d4FdDSpnn

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) December 22, 2019

But the opening moments of the third quarter were atrocious. The Steelers started with possession and frittered away any momentum they had with a five-play drive before a punt. The series featured a really stupid tight end screen on a third down that lost 5 yards before Jordan Berry had to punt.

On the ensuing defensive sequence, the Jets skipped 62 yards in 10 plays, leading to a field goal that made the score 13-10, a lead New York would never yield.

In general, the defense lacked its usual splash-play panache.

It only had two sacks and one turnover. And two of those things happened on the same play, courtesy of T.J. Watt.

TURN DOWN FOR WATT!!@_TJWatt pic.twitter.com/V5qi4WRvJV

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) December 22, 2019

But aside from that, the Steelers defense was the second most impactful defense on the field for a second straight week. New York forced two turnovers and got four sacks.

Even Minkah Fitzpatrick is in a big-play slump. He hasn’t recorded a sack or been part of a turnover for four weeks. The safety has just one pass breakup and one fumble recovery over the last six games.

Ground game gone

We warned you that the Steelers may have a hard time running the football against New York’s highly ranked rush defense.

The results lived down to expectations.

Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner dialed up 25 run plays. The Steelers totaled a meager 75 yards. So just 3 yards per carry.

Obviously, James Conner’s latest injury (thigh) during the game contributed to that. But the team has to be used to his absence by now. Kerrith Whyte, Benny Snell and Samuels managed just 43 yards combined, with a collective long run of 7 yards.

If they can’t run, then Hodges and Rudolph have to throw. That’s not a good thing.

Let me rephrase, Hodges or Lynch have to throw. That may be even worse.

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