It was ugly, it was rough, it was valiant, it was heartbreaking, and, in the end, it was a loss and the end of a five-game undefeated streak as the Steelers fell to the Chargers. Ben Roethlisberger came off the Covid-19 list and engineered twenty-seven fourth quarter points, but the Steelers fell 41-37 to Los Angeles.
The makeshift defense had few answers for Justin Herbert who torched the secondary for 382 touchdowns and three touchdowns, he also ran for 90 yards. The front seven were gashed for 159 yards on the ground and never were able to contain Herbet when he was blitzed. In the absence of T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward is playing alone out there right now.
He ran down Herbet on a mad scramble, 40 yards down the field and then punched him out for good measure. He also generated the biggest turnover of the game with a tipped pass to Cam Sutton. Isaiah Buggs and Joe Schobert combined for a big fourth quarter, fourth down stop. These were the only two defensive highlights of the game. Alex Highsmith came along after a slow start. What has happened to Devin Bush? He seems lost right now. The secondary was torched without Joe Haden and Minkah Fitzpatrick.
After spiraling for weeks, the special teams contributed to the effort. Miles Killebrew had his second blocked punt of the season, and it got the Steelers back in the game. Chris Boswell once again delivered a big game, with three field goals. Ray-Ray McCloud stepped up on the return game, averaging 31.5 on the returns.
The play calling is still very suspect on offense, against the team with the worst run defense in football, the Steelers abandoned the run early. What was worse was that they abandoned the run on the goal line. With Roethlisberger misfiring on a wide-open Chase Claypool, the Steelers couldn’t punch it in on the goal line…absolutely horrendous and the last pay was well short. Clock management continues to be the achilleas heel as well and there were two glaring incidents where the Steelers needed to manage the clock better.
It was a renaissance performance by Ben Roethlisberger, passing for 273 yards and three touchdowns. After a solid game, the offensive line essentially broke down on the last series, otherwise those numbers would be even better. Diontae Johnson had a big game again, he hauled in seven catches for 101 yards, Chase Claypool had 93 yards on five catches and played great. Najee Harris grabbed five catches as well. Pat Freiermuth hauled in a touchdown.
In the end the Steelers fell to a touch Chargers team, victory was in their grasp, and they let it slip away.
BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!
My “GAME BEER” goes to: Cam “Steelhead” Heyward is the personification of Steelers toughness, he deserved a better fate than last night, he played his heart out. Also considered: Chris Boswell who drilled three field goals, Ben Rothlisberger, who is whistling past the graveyard, but put up 273 yards and led the comeback efforts.
Beer of the Game: IC Light 12 Oz, cans that we brought back from the Burgh. KGB went with a local Long Island White Wine, Mattebella, Chardonay. We took it easy as we now do during Sunday Night and Monday Night Football.
“Steel the Snacks”: No “Steel the Snacks” because of the start time of the game. We had traditional Italian fare as out Sunday dinner, meatballs that simmered all day and pesto pasta made by KGB. When we don’t have a day game, we try and do standard dinner.
My Stat of the week: The Steelers scored 27 fourth quarter points the most in franchise history, eclipsing 25 points against the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014. It was a shame that it was a losing effort. The team never gave up and fought ‘til the end.
My Thoughts on next week: This is the make-or-break game of the season for the Steelers. This is a must win on enemy territory. They need T.J. back AND Minkah to have any sort of chance. The Steelers need to run the ball and keep the ball away from Joe Burrow.
This week’s Jersey: Ben Roethlisberger 7, Home Black, in honor of his getting off the Covid-19 List. One of my staple jerseys.