Steelers offensive line fails a test vs. aggressive Eagles defense
PHILADELPHIA — Steelers guard David DeCastro understands the problem of not being able to gain yards on first down, especially on the ground. He said it is not a good recipe for success. And it wasn’t.
Ben Roethlisberger understands the problem of getting down by several touchdowns on the road, especially against an aggressive defense with a pack of hungry defensive linemen. In effect, he said it is not a good recipe for success. And it wasn't.
“It’s one of those things where you get behind in games and start dropping back to pass and you can’t keep them honest,” DeCastro said. “It’s tough.”
Wide receiver Markus Wheaton, who said he started the game off “on the wrong foot” with a dropped pass in the end zone on the opening possession, said, “It got ugly — quick.”
And it never let up. The Steelers couldn’t run the ball against the Philadelphia Eagles, they couldn’t protect Roethlisberger in the second half and they didn’t manage a touchdown for the first time in nearly two years.
It might sound simplistic to say it started with losing the battle against defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and the rest of the Eagles defensive linemen.
But that’s what basically happened on another ugly day for the Steelers in general and the offensive line in particular at Lincoln Financial Field.
It wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as the 15-6 loss here in 2004 when Roethlisberger was sacked eight times. Or was it?
“You can’t play when you’re down by that many,” center Maurkice Pouncey said.
The Steelers rushed for only 29 yards on 10 attempts, with 7 of those yards coming on a Roethlisberger scramble and another 13 on DeAngelo Williams’ longest run of the game. But Williams had five runs of 1 yard or fewer against the Eagles, giving him 20 of those in the past two games alone.
It didn’t matter so much last week because the Steelers could afford to keep pounding the ball against the Cincinnati Bengals, even without much movement, because they built a 24-9 lead. Against the Eagles, they couldn’t keep up.
“We have to clean it up,” DeCastro said. “Not being efficient on first downs is really going to hurt you. Unmanageable third downs aren’t a recipe for success.”
Behind rookie quarterback Carson Wentz, the Eagles scored the first three times they possessed the ball and on six of their first seven series. The Steelers offense, built to keep up in shootouts, fired blanks all day.
“We pride ourselves on getting 4-plus yards on first down and we’ve been able to do that so far this year,” Roethlisberger said.
“When you can’t do that, then you’re getting behind the chains and they’re dropping back into zones and getting pressure with their front four and that makes it tough.”
Especially against Cox, the Eagles’ $100 million defensive tackle. Once the Eagles got ahead, he made life miserable for Roethlisberger and DeCastro, beating him for two sacks including a fumble by Roethlisberger that the Eagles recovered.
Cox finished with five tackles, one for a loss and two other quarterback hurries.
“I think we did a great job of getting to the quarterback,” Cox said. “He made some plays, which we knew they would make some plays. We knew he would move around in the pocket and throw the ball, which he did. It was just a matter of time before we started hitting him.”
Even tackle Marcus Gilbert, who had allowed just one sack in his past 20 games, gave up a sack to defensive end Brandon Graham.
“They got after us pretty good,” Roethlisberger said.