Perfectly imperfect
Despite 6-0 record, Steelers make it clear they’re far from satisfied
PITTSBURGH — To hear the NFL’s last unbeaten team tell it, the Steelers are perfect in record only.
Don’t get defensive end Cam Heyward wrong. He appreciates the fact the Steelers (6-0) are off to the second-best start in the franchise’s 87-year history after escaping against the Titans on Sunday. He’s pleased with the results. The process? Well, the process needs some work after the Steelers allowed the Titans to nearly erase a 20-point second-half deficit.
“There’s a way that we like to play and there’s a lot of meat on that bone as coach likes to say,” Heyward said. “I’m fine saying that. I believe in the guys we got, and I’m confident we can do more.”
The Steelers hinted at what they could be during a dominant first half in which they scored on each of their first four possessions while the defense bottled up Titans star running back Derrick Henry. The swagger vanished over the final 30 minutes amid uncharacteristically sloppy play by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Titans’ relentlessness.
The Steelers didn’t escape until Stephen Gostkowski’s game-tying 45-yard field goal drifted right in the final seconds.
It didn’t have to be that close. Yet in four of the Steelers’ six victories, they’ve found themselves in a dogfight late regardless of the pedigree of the opponent. They needed a late fourth-down sack to stop the Broncos’ comeback in Week 2. The Texans had the ball in Steelers territory trailing by one early in the fourth quarter in Week 3 before Mike Hilton’s interception put the game to bed. A 17-point second-half advantage over the undermanned Eagles nearly vanished in Week 5. The Titans looked outclassed early before putting together a rally that’s become their calling card.
The comeback left Heyward and the rest of the defense in hardly celebratory moods afterward, a byproduct of their incredibly high standards.
“We haven’t played our best game in a lot of games that we played this year, but we are still pushing and still fighting through and staying together as a team and winning football games,” safety Terrell Edmunds said. “We hold ourselves on a pedestal, and we want to be this great team. That’s what we are striving for, and when we don’t play a great game everyone is upset in some ways. But at the end of the day, I am still happy we are 6-0.”
What’s working
The run defense succeeded where most teams have failed over the last 14 months by keeping Henry in check for long stretches. Inside linebacker Rob Spillane, making his first career start in place of injured Devin Bush, survived a memorable collision with Henry at the goal line when he ran into the 6-foot-3, 247-pound Henry at full speed and stuffed him for no gain.
Sure, Spillane needed to exit briefly with his left shoulder in pain and yes, Henry ended up scoring a few plays later. The points ended up not mattering in the end, while Spillane’s fearlessness sent a message that the loss of Bush doesn’t necessarily mean the NFL’s second-ranked run defense will suffer greatly in his absence.
What’s not
Let’s nitpick. If there’s one issue facing the defense, it’s the penchant for giving up chunk plays. The game’s momentum effectively flipped midway through the third quarter when A.J. Brown collected a short pass from Ryan Tannehill, caught Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick flat-footed and raced 73 yards for a touchdown. The score was the fifth score of 20 yards or more allowed this season.