Embarrassment of glitches precede Twitter woes
Patrick Mahomes look like Joe Montana.
The boos for everybody from the Heinz Field crowd were well-deserved.
For the defense, it was a continuation of their horrendous play from the previous home game, a 45-42 playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s enough to make you wonder if the Baltimore Ravens will put up 50 points in the Steelers’ next home game Sept. 30. Of course, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers might beat the Ravens to the punch when they play the Steelers on Monday night in Tampa, Fla. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has led the Bucs to a 48-40 win at New Orleans and a 27-21 win against Super Bowl champion Philadelphia by throwing for an NFL-best 819 yards with a league-best 151.5 passer rating.
Good luck to the Steelers there.
Mahomes threw six touchdown passes with a near-perfect 154.8 passer rating. The Chiefs had six pass plays of at least 25 yards, including three of 30plus. They also had a 31yard run on a jet sweep by wide receiver Sammy Watkins.
It wasn’t just Dupree, although he was awful and did nothing against offensive tackle Eric Fisher, James Harrison’s long-time punching bag. How can a player be so undisciplined to get not one, but two offside penalties? Stephon Tuitt hardly was noticeable. T.J. Watt and Jon Bostic had quiet games after playing well in Cleveland. The entire secondary was lousy. The defense forced just one turnover for the second consecutive game.
Not even “Renegade” and a sideline sighting on the scoreboard of inspirational Ryan Shazier — talk about pulling out all of the stops — could help the defense on the Chiefs’ final drive. Tomlin was right to kick off rather than try an onside kick after the Steelers pulled within five points with 1:59 left. He still had his three timeouts.
Trouble was Chiefs back Kareem Hunt ran for 9 yards on first down, effectively ending the game.
All of it left defensive captain Cam Heyward embarrassed, but unbroken.
“I look forward to practice. We’ve got a great group of guys. They’re going to come in ready, hungry. We’re going to get the job done.
“It’s going to start in practice. We’re going to build towards it. We’re going to be ready Monday night.” Not everyone is so sure. The criticism of the defense continued hours after the game, and it wasn’t just directed at Dupree from a disgruntled fan. Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy sounded off on the NBC “Football Night in America” broadcast.
“I’m a former Pittsburgh defensive player. I’m a former Pittsburgh defensive coach. I don’t like what I’m seeing from that defense. It’s bad. Missed tackle after missed tackle, blown coverages, guys running wide open, no discipline on defense. Mike Tomlin needs to get that fixed.”
Tomlin needs to get a lot of things fixed.
The only thing the Steelers are really good at these days is making fools of themselves on social media.
Ron Cook: rcook@postgazette.com and Twitter @RonCookPG. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Joe” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.