The Steelers blew a first half lead and surrendered 21 second half points losing the 2019 home opener to the Seattle Seahawks. It was a mediocre performance which showed how good this team can be and it also exposed all its flaws.
The biggest story was the injury to Ben Roethlisberger who left late in the second quarter and never returned with an elbow injury. Ben finished 8 for 15 for 75 yards in the first half, the Steelers had trouble moving the ball against a Seattle defense that was thrashed by the Bengals one week earlier. Mason Rudolph, cam in and acquitted himself nicely. He threw for 112 yards and two touchdowns with one interception, another drop by Donte Moncrief. He had good poise and looked every bit ready for the NFL.
Despite solid play by Rudolph, the offense is a work in progress. James Conner never could get on track running the ball. The passing game is off and only mustered 180 total yards against the porous Seattle defense. Donte Moncrief’s nightmare season continues, his dropped caused a turnover and put Seattle in a position to take the lead. Vance McDonald led the team with seven receptions followed by JuJu Smith-Schuster’s five, but neither were big factors. There are still flashes, but the whole thing looks off.
The defense is mediocre again, like the offense, they show flashes of brilliance but continue to fall apart in big spots. The pass rush disappeared after the first half. The secondary was leaky and again had no answer for a middle of the field tight end. Russell Wilson passed for three touchdowns and 300 yards. His biggest play was a 15-yard scramble on third down that setup the game clinching fourth down conversion.
Once again, the fingers are being pointed at the coaching staff. The Steelers made several crucial mistakes and mental gaffes. A special team’s error by Mt. McCullers that setup a touchdown, the Moncrief dropped first down catch that setup another touchdown, a huge missed tackle by Anthony Chickillo that led to a 37-yard touchdown, these are all back breaking errors, that this team is not talented enough to overcome. The fact that the Bengals trashed the Seattle secondary and the Steelers couldn’t, doesn’t speak well to preparation.
Once again, the clock management was horrendous, and the Steelers whiffed at the end of the game on it. Game plan management on both offense and defense is awful and the adjustments are completely lacking.
This is a good week to discuss the referees again because they helped the Steelers, even with the pass interference challenge going against them. The refs were way to involved in the game again slowing down any kind of pace of play. They missed several calls and then made questionable ones, it was an inconsistent and awful performance.
The Steelers can quickly watch this season slip away and go the entire decade without a Lombardi trophy if they don’t get this fixed.
BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!
My “GAME BEER” goes to: I am going with Mason Rudolph, he had a great day given the situation. Also considered: Stephon Tuitt, who had a monster first half and JuJu Smith-Schuster who broke the record for the fastest to 2500 yards.
Where I watched the game: At the house with KGB and the D-Man. The Beer of choices was New York Yankees Pils made by Blue Point brewing. I figured the Yankees would be a good influence…it wasn’t, The Yankees lost too. Corona Light was KGB’s beer of choice and Stewart’s Diet Root Beer for D-Man! Once again, the food was great, we had Nashville Hot-Chicken Sliders, and Chili for dinner. The Janick was at the game, representing Beer We Go.
My Stat of the week: Five Catches for JuJu Smith-Schuster. He was already the fastest wideout to amass 1,000 career receiving yards and added another page to his history book. Smith-Schuster reeled in five catches for 84 yards in route to becoming the youngest player (22 years, 297 days) to reach 2,500 receiving yards
My Thoughts on next week: The Steelers have a must win game in a tough rejuvenated 49ers team. They need to have a much better game plan.
This week’s jersey: JuJu Smith-Schuster, 19, Color Rush