Sure. Pittsburgh loves the “Duck.”

Almost as much as it loves beating Cleveland.

And it was especially sweet this time around.

But that 20-13 victory over the Browns Sunday at Heinz Field wasn’t perfect.

Far from it, in fact. Here’s a look at some things the Steelers can do better over the last four weeks of the season as they try to make the playoffs in our weekly “Airing of Grievances.”

The first 23 minutes

Did they happen? Did they occur? Does the Steelers offense know the game has started?

That was awful.

Halfway through the second quarter, the Steelers were trailing 10-0. They held the ball for all of four minutes and 48 seconds. They totaled only eight offensive snaps in that time.

After that opening stretch, the Steelers were the much better team. But it was a dreadful start, easily blamed on an overly conservative game plan.

One major issue moving forward for the Steelers is that these bad starts have become a trend.

Last 11 games, Steelers have a combined 13 net yards on their 11 opening drives of the game.

1.2 yards *per possession* https://t.co/mli2sqoRKC

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) December 1, 2019

Not good.

Don’t let the “D” off the hook

The defense didn’t exactly start quickly either.

It allowed the Browns to possess the ball for 11:41 of the first quarter. The first drive for Cleveland went for 13 plays, 62 yards, and a field goal.

Their third drive went for a touchdown after 70 yards on 10 plays in 5:42.

.@bakermayfield finds @Kareemhunt7 and Hunt gets in for the TOUCHDOWN!#CLEvsPIT pic.twitter.com/JBu0M56BA8

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) December 1, 2019

That stiff arm @Steve_OCarlson | #CLEvsPIT pic.twitter.com/iykdt4JBkC

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) December 1, 2019

And there was spotty tackling along the way during both series.

Daffy “Duck”

Here is a bad habit Devlin Hodges needs to break if he is going to continue as the Steelers quarterback.

Duck needs to stop throwing the ball away on third downs when the Steelers are trying to drain the clock.

He did it on a third down late in the game near the end zone in Cincinnati last Sunday. And he did it again on the first snap after the two-minute warning Sunday.

Hodges had nothing open on a third-and-6 from his own 47. He scrambled looking for an option and eventually just threw the ball away.

Hodges should’ve just taken a sack. Cleveland was out of timeouts. The clock would have continued to run. And it would’ve helped Jordan Berry punt the ball within the 10-yard line. Instead, his punt became a touchback.

In both weeks, the worst thing for Hodges to do — short of a turnover — was throw an incompletion. Yet, that’s what he did.

In both cases, I see why the coaches were trying to get yards and retain possession. But if they can’t trust Hodges to do the smart thing in the moment, they should take away the option and just have him hand the ball to a running back.

When will they learn?

The Steelers were busted for six false starts.

In one game.

Only one was on an offensive lineman (Matt Feiler). The other five were spread among receivers James Washington and Diontae Johnson, tight end Vance McDonald (twice), and even Hodges at quarterback (more on that later).

That’s almost impossible to do.

The Steelers had 10 penalties whistled against them Sunday. They have averaged 9.75 per game over the last four weeks. That rate needs to drop.

Fast.

Sound familiar?

On the topic of officiating, it was really bad on Sunday.

As usual.

I’ve never seen so many conferences to get so many things wrong.

Some of that was a result of the replay booth. The rest was on the field.

That previously mentioned false start on Hodges was a joke.

False start, number 6?! pic.twitter.com/jMEk8fLKnf

— Benstonium (@Benstonium) December 1, 2019

Yeah. He twitched a little bit on the hard count. But not much more than any quarterback does in that situation.

And if a crew is going to call that penalty, I can’t believe it missed a blatant hold of T.J. Watt on the third down of an ensuing possession.

Luckily, that didn’t end up burning the Steelers. Somehow, on Cleveland’s last offensive series, this one didn’t hurt the team either.

It could’ve, though.

Roughing the passer on Bud Dupree for not stopping his tackle attempt in the 0.1 seconds he had after Mayfield threw it #CLEvsPIT pic.twitter.com/A9sQ21cN65

— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) December 1, 2019

Shortly thereafter, Joe Haden got a game-ending interception. But how that penalty was deemed to be roughing the passer is beyond me. It was a fraction of a second after Baker Mayfield released the ball, and he wasn’t contacted illegally anywhere on his body.

Others were mad about Cleveland downing a punt on the one-yard line and an incompletion that was ruled to be a catch by Jarvis Landry. I’m not. Those calls were close, 50-50 decisions.

Those three I highlighted were a farce.

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