Epidemic of defensive ills spreads against Chiefs
The previous time the Steelers surrendered six touchdown passes in a game, they finished the season under .500 and four-time Super Bowl winning coach Chuck Noll resigned at the end of the season. Twentyseven years and one week before the Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes performed surgery on the Steelers defense, Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly put on a clinic against the Steelers in a 52-34 blowout in September 1991.
It should be noted the Bills played in the Super Bowl later that season, losing to the Washington Redskins — who also did a number on the Steelers that season in a 41-10 win.
Maybe the Chiefs will end up representing the AFC in the Super Bowl. Or maybe they’ll simply become the latest in a long line of pedestrian teams to feast on the Steelers defense.
The 2018 NFL season is a long way from its end, and the Steelers have plenty of time to turn things around, but the odds seem stacked against them. After all, the same problems that plagued them last season, including in their 45-42 playoff loss against Jacksonville, continue to drag them down.
There were receivers running free in the secondary, communication errors, penalties and a lack of discipline all around.
“There are errors, and, when you have errors like that, they get exposed,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said Monday. “I’m not going to compare it to Jacksonville because it’s a different year with different people. But we have to clean that up. It’s unacceptable. Whoever is on that field — I don’t care who you are — we have to be sound in what we do. As a guy who has been here for a while, I know if everyone does their 1/11th we win games. But, if we don’t, we don’t win games.”
In their past seven games dating to last season, the Steelers are allowing an average of 29 points and 361 yards. When one considers two of those games were against the hapless Cleveland Browns and another came against the Houston Texans’ third-string quarterback, well, it’s easy to see why panic is starting to set in among Steelers fans.
Mahomes might be the next Tom Brady, but DeShone Kizer, Blake Bortles and Joe Flacco dissected the Steelers defense late last season.
Flacco put up 38 points against the Steelers in what was one of the worst seasons of his 11-year NFL career.
Kizer threw for 314 yards against the Steelers starting defense in the 2017 regularseason finale. The Browns were so impressed that they traded him to the Green Bay Packers two months later.
Bortles? Well, the week before he lit up the Steelers in the playoffs, he completed 12 passes for 87 yards in an AFC wild-card playoff game against the Bills.
The Steelers have perfected the art of making the average NFL quarterback look like a superstar for a day.
Next up is Tampa Bay’s Ryan Fitzpatrick, who fits the definition of a journeyman. He is playing for his seventh team in 14 seasons. This year, he’s off to a hot start with 819 yards and eight touchdown passes in the first two games, both Buccaneers victories. The former Ivy Leaguer is licking his chops in anticipation of the Steelers coming to town. It’s like the Steelers are Columbia right now.
Heyward said the players, not the coaches, are to blame for the communication issues that continue to plague the defense.
“It lies with us as players,” Heyward said. “It’s as simple as that. The coaches aren’t out there on the field. The game plan was solid. We just didn’t execute.”
Heyward said the same thing, almost verbatim, after the playoff loss against Jacksonville. That’s what captains do. They take responsibility for the play of the team.
That doesn’t mean the coaches and front office aren’t deserving of some blame.
The common denominator in the past seven games is theyall came after inside linebacker Ryan Shazier was injured. The Steelers had an imperfect but respectable defense when Shazier was in the lineup.
The numbers with and without him are stark. In the first 11 games last season with Shazier, the Steelers held their opponents to 18 points or fewer eight times. Since then, they’ve allowed 20 or more seven times in eight games, including 38 or more in three.
The moves the Steelers made to replace Shazier are rightfully being questioned. They did not use any of their seven draft picks on an inside linebacker, so they’re going with Jon Bostic, who is on his fourth team in five years in the NFL after signing a team-friendly two-year, free-agent contract in March.
It’s difficult to fault the Steelers for passing on linebackers they did not like, but it’s fair to criticize their decision to place the franchise tag on Le’Veon Bell again and their subsequent approach to free agency.
Now more than ever, the decision to set aside $14.5 million for a running back is up for serious debate, especially when he still hasn’t signed his contract. The Steelers could have signed one star defensive player in free agency to bolster a unit that was in desperate need of improvement, or two or three defensive players who would have been upgrades over players currently on the roster.
Instead, the Steelers pretty much stood pat. Bostic replaced Shazier. Morgan Burnett replaced Mike Mitchell. And that’s about it.
Other team’s players just might be the answer, given the way recent drafts have gone. The jury remains out on recent first-round picks. Bud Dupree and Artie Burns, the 2015 and 2016 first-round picks, are struggling big time.
Burns was in coverage for three of the Chiefs’ six touchdowns. Dupree had as many offside penalties as tackles (2). His second penalty came when he jumped on a second-and-18 in the fourth quarter. On the next play, Mahomes threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill.
The Steelers went from the likely scenario of forcing a punt and having a chance to tie to being down by 14 points. It’s that type of undisciplined play that has defined the Steelers of late.
Heyward knows now more than ever the Steelers need a victory to change the conversation.
“I don’t care how we do it,” he said. “I don’t care how ugly it looks. Get the damn W and move on.”