Steelers News: INSTANT REACTION After 35-25 LOSS vs. The Packers | 2nd Half Collapse Spoils Week 8

Steelers News: INSTANT REACTION After 35-25 LOSS vs. The Packers | 2nd Half Collapse Spoils Week 8

The Pittsburgh Steelers lose again in front of a national audience. This time by multiple scores to the Green Bay Packers at home by a final score of 35-2. Um, and maybe the biggest issue with the Pittsburgh Steelers right now, guys, is I’m not sure if Mike Tomlin and Terrell Austin uh really understand what the biggest issue with this team is, and that scares the living crap out of me. Welcome into the Steelers Talk postgame show. I’m your host, Jack Spar. Today we’re going to be talking about this game, what went wrong, and uh you know, kind of some, you know, big picture kind of stuff here for the Pittsburgh Steelers as we prepare to take on the number one seed in the AFC at home next week and Shane Stikens, Indianapolis Colts, who are on an absolute tear right now. Um, but make sure you guys click that subscribe button. We’re going to have my film takeaways after I watch the film tomorrow. Um, we’ll also have extensive coverage for you guys throughout this week. two live shows Tuesday and Thursday and then we’ll be live again next Sunday for uh week nine of the NFL schedule where the Steelers hopefully can get back in the win column and get a statement victory versus the Colts. But after this game, man, uh it’s certainly not a ton of hope that they’re going to be able to do that. Um this game actually started out pretty well. The Steelers were moving the ball extremely well. They had their Jimbo personnel packages out there. They were running the ball effectively with Jaylen Warren in this game and Kenny Gainwell. and they were throwing the ball pretty well with Rogers. They were consistently getting into Green Bay territory and they were up by two scores heading into halftime and they got the ball with a chance with the ball in their hands to take the lead by three scores in the second half. Um, and then you know what really kickstarted a really bad second half in a series of of unfortunate events was that the the officiating crew failed to call an obvious offsides call uh on a third down and eight that would have brought them to third down and three after an incompletion but um just really brutal call there followed by a touchdown by Green Bay followed by three and out by the Steelers followed by another touchdown from Green Bay to take the lead and it was just a downward spiral the entire second half and you know there were some good moments in the second half. Roman Wilson led the led the team in receiving yards today and got his first touchdown today. So, Roman Wilson, guys, if there’s a if there’s a takeaway to come out of this, Roman Wilson has actually played pretty darn good football the last three weeks. Um, and I think that he’s going to continue to see his his role increase. And he’s actually played pretty darn well over uh the last stretch of games. And Jaylen Warren, I thought, had a good game today. I thought Rogers had his moments for sure. Lots of drops today, lots of self-inflicted wounds that we’ll get into uh later in today’s show. But plain and simply, guys, the the the story of the game was the defense just couldn’t stop Jordan Love in the Packers passing attack this entire game. Another game where you’re giving up over 300 passing yards to a quarterback. This time, 360 yards passing and three touchdowns to no interceptions to Jordan Love, who once again, just like Joe Flacco, is getting the rid of the ball quickly, absolutely dicing up the Steelers defense. And uh you know Tucker Craft 143 yards by himself absolutely dominated the Pittsburgh Steelers today. And to make matters worse here uh some injuries on the Steelers and all of them are pretty big. Okay, Daniel Aqual left the game with a knee injury. We’ll have some injury updates for you guys tomorrow um on overreaction Monday uh in terms of how severe these injuries are, but Aqual left early. Uh he’s one of your best, if not your best rundefending interior defensive lineman right now. maybe outside of Derek Harmon and Cam Hayward, but he’s certainly your best rundefending nose tackle on the team. And um he’s been really big in some big moments and losing him, you know, especially with Jonathan Taylor coming acer stadium next week. Really bad timing to to lose Daniel at Qual, especially if he can’t go next week. But then Deshawn Elliott, and guys, I’ve been saying this all season long, how important Deshawn Elliott is to this defense. like when he left that game versus the Jets and he wasn’t on the field um for week two, week three, week four, it was and then of course the rest of the Jets game. That was probably the worst stretch of of defensive football for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season. Maybe outside of these last two games, but what you could tell in that second half when Elliot left the game after he got rolled up on by Tucker Craft on a big third down completion. That was the play of the game that completely shifted the tide because that flipped the field for for Jordan Love and the Packers. they would have had to um you if that was if that play was incomplete, they would have had to punt the ball. Steelers would have got the ball back again with a chance to go up three scores. Uh but instead, you flip the field, they end up getting a touchdown there, and Elliot’s out for the rest of the game. And you play Chuck Clark and Juan Thornnehill out there and those guys were just not getting the job done uh frankly uh in the second half. So, all I can say, man, is if Deshun Elliott’s out for an extended period of time, you got to play Jabril Peppers. All right? He is a true strong safety. He’s a good tackler. he can at least do some of the duties that Deshawn Elliott does in this defense. So, um you know, hopefully moving forward, it’s not Chuck Clark and Juan Thornhill as the two starting safeties uh for this Steelers defense. And then also Isaac Seamalo left the game with a pec injury. And this is big guys because you can’t go to your jumbo personnel packages when he’s not out on the field. Okay, they had to put Spencer Anderson in at left guard. And if that’s the case, you can’t run those jumbo personnel packages that have been the Steelers bread and butter and have been really the reason why this Steelers offense has been a top 10 offense over the last several weeks. And you could tell in the second half when Seamalo left. All right, the two big injuries, Deshawn Elliot and Isaac Seamalo had huge impacts on this ball game and the way that the Steelers were able to operate on both sides of the ball. And you know, if the way that the Steelers played on offense and defense was any indication of how these, you know, injuries are going to affect this team moving forward, especially if these guys are done for the season, um it’s going to be rough sledding for the Pittsburgh Steelers moving forward. Uh if they play like the second half of this ball game. Now, let’s get to my takeaways. Starting with self-inflicted wounds. And just like the Seattle game where you give up a touchdown to Seattle, a free one on special teams and you drop a touchdown or you tip up a potential touchdown to Muth and give them a free interception taking seven points off the board for the Steelers. Today there’s just a lot of self-inflicted wounds that killed you again. Um multiple penalties on offense, stupid uh you know unnecessary roughness penalties on DK Metaf or it would have been third and two. Instead it’s third and 17 ending your drive effectively. Um, you know, and then you have fumbles late in the game from Kenny Gainwell. So, like when you compile all those self-inflicted wounds along with a defense that can’t stop anything, uh, you know, you’re not going to win the ball game even if you have a two-score advantage at halftime. And listen, man, the pass defense is the issue. And I’ve been preaching this over the last several weeks. All I heard from Mike Tomlin, Tara Lost, Cam Hayward, um, you know, TJ Watt this week, stop the run, stop the run, stop the run. That’s the biggest issue. All I heard all week was the run defense was the big reason why the Steelers defense is struggling. That’s freaking [ __ ] man. All right. How many times has a quarterback thrown for over 300 yards against the Steelers this year? It’s got to be almost every single game this year. But no, we’re going to sit up here and pretend that it’s the run defense that is the issue. He gave up less than a 100red yards rushing in this game before garbage time. and Jordan Love put up 360 yards, three touchdowns, so no interceptions on you guys. And we’re we’re going to sit there and say, “Oh, our our pass defense is fine. We just got to stop the run and everything’s going to be good.” No. The issue is you play way too much man coverage with geriatric guys at cornerback that can’t run with Christian Watson, that can’t run with Matthew Golden, that can’t run with [ __ ] Tucker Craft. All right? So, you got to find a different way to get the job done in pass defense. Confuse them. And frankly, guys, I I just don’t think man coverage is what this team is built to do. And hell, they might even have to just sit down Darius Slay entirely to play Brandon Eckles to get some [ __ ] speed on this defense. Okay? And you know, it’s not just man coverage though, man. Like Patrick Queen was out of position in zone coverage multiple times today. Multiple times. There was missed tackles from the linebackers multiple times in pass defense as well after the catch. And then of course you got Chuck Clark who can’t move anymore getting full-time starting reps. And you know and then Juan Thornhill was out of position a number of times as well. I mean like it’s more than just one player or one issue with this passing defense. But what just drives me up a wall is that Mike Tomlin and Terrell Lawson don’t seem to realize that the passing defense has and will always be the issue of this defense. And when the hell are these guys going to learn that that is the case? All right. When are these guys going to learn that running cover one man with no intermediate zone defender is not going to work? And it’s going to leave guys wide open over the middle of the field because you don’t have guys that can stick with people in man-to-man coverage. All right. When I mean they they’re operating as if they think Darius Slay and Jaylen Ramsey are [ __ ] 25 years old. All right. They’re not. They’re in their they’re in their 30s. All right. or at least Slay is okay and Ramsay certainly getting up there in age as well and I think Ramsey in a specific type of defense can be pretty good but when you keep running man coverage time and time and time again and they keep getting beat time and time and time again I don’t know how these guys look at the film and say oh yeah our game plan this week is to run more man free I really don’t and I’m hoping today this is the final straw that they finally see it’s not the run defense all right it is the passing defense that is the issue with this defense and is the issue with this team and they got to have a philosophy switch right now if they want to turn around their season. Um, and frankly, if Mike Tom and Terost can’t figure it out by the end of the season, I think we’re all in agreement here in Steelers Nation. These guys should be gone. Mike Tomlin should be traded for a first round pick and they should embrace a rebuild because this is getting embarrassing. But then, you know, like I said, more miscommunications on defense. You know, it’s hard to say for me to come up here and say play less man coverage when in zone coverage where you got to know where your assignments are, people are missing those assignments. All right? And there’s miscommunications on where people are supposed to be. And Patrick Queen, the person that’s supposed to be the quote unquote quarterback of the defense, is the one that’s consistently out of position. All right? And it’s just it’s embarrassing. All right? So, I’m hoping that when I look at the film, Patrick played a little bit better than upon my first watch. But I mean, there was multiple times to my eye that that PQ was out of position in this ball game. Now, let’s say you guys, we’re halfway through our takeaways here. Grade today’s performance versus the Steelers. Give me an A, B, C, D, or F. Um, you know, second half was certainly an F. First half was probably an A minus, but I got to give this one a D, man, because you got to play your best football in the second half, and that grade certainly outweighs the other. Um, but make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Make sure you guys get there. get down there in the comment section for today’s pin question and answer this pin question with an A, B, C, D, or F. But before we get into the rest of our takeaways here, guys, and my final thoughts, make sure you guys check out our friends at Omaha Stakes, which is the official sponsor of tailgating this football season. From legendary burgers to mouthwatering steaks, deli style franks, and so much more. You’ll elevate your next game day get together with America’s original butcher. And now with this exclusive offer, you guys can get $35 off at omahastak.com with promo code Steelers at checkout. Terms apply. 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Terms apply. site for details and a big shout out to Omaha Stakes for sponsoring today’s edition of Steelers Talk. And honestly guys, you guys heard me last week saying, “Why is Chuck Clark starting for the Steelers defense?” I mean, once again, you know, comes out there, he’s a starter to start the game with Deshawn Elliott, okay, over Juan Thornnehill and Jabril Peppers, two guys that I believe are better than he is. He can’t run anymore. Can’t run anymore. We’re putting another geriatric uh you know dude out there along with two other guys and and Darius Slay and Jaylen Ramsey and we’re wondering why we’re getting [ __ ] cooked in man coverage. I mean wake up Terra Lawson and Mike Tomlin Chuck Clark. I mean is it is it is it a coincidence that on the day that he was a healthy scratch for this defense against Cleveland, they had the best defensive performance of their season? No, it wasn’t. So, what did Chuck Clark do after that Cleveland game to make you think that he should be getting full-time starting reps? Please explain to me why this guy continues to get all these snaps. I would be surprised if he didn’t get 50 plus snaps in this game, especially after Elliott went out. It’s a [ __ ] joke. All right. And why is he playing over Peppers? Like, Peppers should be playing. All right. Should you want Thornill at free safety because he’s more aggressive. He’s actually got some speed and Jabril Pepper should be the strong safety that plays in the box and plays the role that Deshawn Elliot plays in this defense. Plain and simply. And if one of those guys gets hurt, fine. Put Chuck Clark’s ass out there. But over those two guys is [ __ ] malpractice by this Steelers defensive coaching staff. Plain and simple. Okay, I’m done with it. All right. And then we shift to the offensive side of the ball. And you know, if Isaac Samal is out for an extended period of time, if not the entire season, I think the Steelers just lost their competitive edge on offense. All right? And I came into this game feeling very good about the Steelers offense with the jumbo personnel looks that they were running, all that great stuff. And they continued to do that in this game. They were very efficient when they were allowed to put, you know, Spencer Anderson out there at tight end. Hella even had a catch. All right. It was awesome to see. But then when Seamalo comes out, Spencer Anderson goes in at left guard. Pass protection breaks down. you can’t run the football as effectively and it was just a complete mess. So, you know, I love Spence, but I like him a lot more as a jumbo tight end versus a left guard. So, I hopefully the Steelers don’t have to deal with, you know, this situation. Hopefully, Seamaloo is back and, you know, he, you know, if he misses time, he only misses a couple of weeks and he can get back and this team can get back to playing really good football. But, this really couldn’t have come at a worse time with two really tough teams next on the docket versus the Colts and Chargers. and you really need this offense to be playing at its best. Um, I think there there might have to be a change of direction with this offense if Seamalo is going to miss a uh extended period of time. Um, but you know, the thing that has really sucked over the last two weeks, guys, is that the Steelers defense has actually had pretty good starts to games and they have actually came in, you know, ready to play at times and they’re getting guys off the field. I mean, versus Cincinnati, they forced two punts to start that game. All right. But then once the downward spiral begins, they cannot stop it. And that is a big issue with this Steelers defense and frankly this this entire Steelers team as a whole versus Cincinnati. You know, you were able to combat the downward spiral with the offense continuing to score points. But today it was, you know, the you had the downward spiral infect the offense as well with the self-inflicted wounds, the fumble, the 15- yard penalty that ended a drive, all these different things, the officiating, you know, just time after time and time again, you know, these drives stalling out for kind of just shitty reasons. And you know, that’s you can chalk that up to bad luck. You can chalk it up to whatever you want. It’s two straight games now where once your opponent has gotten a groove offensively, you have been unable to stop it for multiple drives. And for the rest of the game, you cannot stop it. And you know, this is also the third straight game without a turnover, which is supposed to be the identity of this Steelers team is that they don’t turn the football over and they turn the other team over. Well, guess what? You know, you’ve been turning the ball over way more over the last three weeks than you’ve actually been able to force these turnovers. And that’s got to change over the next, you know, several weeks if this Steelers defense is going to be playing to their potential moving forward. And also, it’s another week here with zero sacks from the Steelers. And I don’t even think that that is something that is necessarily on the Pittsburgh Steelers, you know, you know, players, Alex Heismith, TJ Wat, Cam Hayward, you know, is there certain moments where they should have done better? Sure. But I also think when it comes out here how fast Jordan Love is getting rid of the ball, like there’s just at moments here where the Steelers are sending blitzes, but you have one-on-one man coverage and they’re getting toasted immediately and they’re just throwing it out there. Um, and you know, these guys just don’t have any chances to get home. And that is the number one thing the Steelers defense needs to do is they need to create more opportunities uh for the pass rush to get home. quarterbacks are just frankly getting the ball out way too fast versus this team and they got to find a way to combat that in the weeks to come. But hey, if you’re feeling pretty bad about this team right now, just wait till tomorrow when they sign Marquez Valdez Scantling instead of going out and trading for Jacobe Meyers, instead of going out and trading for Jawan Jennings or somebody else, Calvin Ridley or or somebody of that kind. All right. I I hate to say I I told you guys what I said last week once he was released by the 49ers, if he’s healthy enough to play, the [ __ ] Pittsburgh Steelers are going to bring him in. And I hate when I’m right, but guess what? During the game today, Jordan Schulz, the Steelers are scheduled to work out veteran wide receiver Marquez Valdis scantling on Monday, signing MVS would reunite him with Aaron Rogers. All right. And the Steelers wanted him before he signed with San Francisco. Calvin Ridley or not Calvin Calvin Austin had a couple decent catches today. He’s back. And then you’ve got Roman Wilson who had a pretty decent day receiving as well. I mean, once I saw MVS was released by San Francisco, I knew immediately this team was going to bring him in. All right, because you know, he doesn’t cost a draft pick. We all know how precious the Steelers are being with their draft picks this year. He’s fast, so he can be that deep threat. He’s got chemistry with Rogers. He can automatically pick up the checks and the signs and all that different stuff that he wants to run. and he’s a longtime veteran that has won Super Bowls and has caught touchdown passes in Super Bowls. He’s played this exact role as a depth piece in a wide receiver room for a Super Bowl team. So, it just, you know, the puzzle piece just fits too well here. Um, and I tried telling you guys, Steelers are going to get MVS and I got crucified for that take because everyone wants Jacobe Meyers and I get it. I’m with you. I want Jacobe Meyers. I want Christian Kirk. I want Chris Olive even though he’s off the market. But like this is the Pittsburgh Steelers and this is the wide receiver position and they don’t want to give up draft picks and you know this is going to be their solution before the NFL trade deadline at the wide receiver position. And if you don’t like that, too bad. Aaron Rogers likes him so he’s going to be coming to Pittsburgh. That is if he passes his physical. So point the finger for me down there in the comments section. Who’s the most to blame for the loss today? For me, it’s got to be Mike Tomlin because he doesn’t understand the issue with this with this defense. um and he doesn’t understand that this defense can’t play man coverage, especially without middle of the field zone help. It’s just it’s absolutely embarrassing at this point. Um and until he fixes this and until this defense embraces a philosophical change in what this defense is moving forward as a pass defense unit that nothing’s going to change. Nothing is going to change. Now, just some final thoughts here before uh we go. Um it’s still not too late. I want to make that abundantly clear. We’re not even halfway through the season. And like if the Steelers turn around here and they beat the Colts at home next week, that will be a great ray of hope for this team because the Colts are the number one seed in the AFC. The Colt the Packers were the number one seed in in the NFC going into tonight. The Packers are a damn good team. All right, kudos to them. They played well. All that stuff. You know, Jordan Love deserves a lot of credit. All that stuff. Okay. But, you know, if the Pittsburgh Steelers can go, you know, at home next week against another number one seed team and this time put together four full quarters instead of just two at the beginning of the game. Um, you know, they could win that game and then you go to the Chargers, maybe you win that game on the road. Um, but let me tell you this man, you got to completely change this defense and the way that you call it or it’s just going to continue to be more of the same. And if Mike Tomlin and Terrell Austin can’t fix this by the end of the season, I’ve said this a number of times. And it’s not going to be mid-season, guys. If you’re saying fire Tomlin now, it’s just not going to happen. So, let’s not even discuss that possibility. Maybe they fire Austin, but honestly, who do they replace him with? It’s just going to be another guy touting Mike Tomlin’s vision. Until Tomlin changes his vision for this Steelers pass defense. It will not change. So, we’ll see when and if that change comes, but if it doesn’t, it’s going to be a very long season here on Steelers Talk. That’ll be it for today’s show, guys. Thank you so much for bearing with me here with my ranting. Um, you know, I’m pretty upset, pretty frustrated with yet another week of this Steelers defensive coaching staff not figuring it out and not figuring out how to play this Steelers defense. Um, and it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the weeks to come. They better turn it around fast or uh, you know, this season might get a lot worse before it gets any better. Uh, but at the end of the day, Steelers still in first place uh, in the division. You know, they still control their own destiny within the division. Um, and if they can turn it around at some point, we still got 10 games left, they could still easily win the division this year, make the playoffs, get a home playoff game, and if they’re playing good football at the end of the season, uh, we could still see, you know, a playoff win here in Pittsburgh. But after tonight, it certainly doesn’t feel that way. Um, and they got to change a lot fast if that’s going to happen. So, thank you guys so much for joining me here this evening. Make sure you click that subscribe button. Tomorrow, I I’ll have my film takeaways, breaking down uh, my takeaways from the film u tomorrow. Make sure you click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Until next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers took a devastating 35-25 loss to the Green Bay Packers on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. The Steelers were outscored 28-10 in the second half and now fall to 4-3 on the season. Pittsburgh is still in first place in the AFC North however they have many questions regarding the team. Jack Sperry of Steelers Report by Chat Sports breaks down why the Steelers lost and what they can take away from their game vs the Green Bay Packers on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

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Jack Sperry’s takeaways vs GB:
– Self-Inflicted Wounds Kill Again
– Pass Defense Is The Issue
– When Are They Gonna Learn?
– More Miscommunications On D
– Why Clark Over Peppers?
– Is ‘Jumbo’ Officially Gone?
– Downward Spirals Must Stop!
– Here Comes MVS!

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Pittsburgh Steelers injury updates vs GB:
– Daniel Ekuale (DT – Knee)
– DeShon Elliott (SS – Knee)
– Isaac Seumalo (LG – Pec)

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QB Jordan Love vs GB:
– 78.4 CMP%
– 360 YDS
– 3 TD
– 134.2 QBR

Pittsburgh Steelers gave up 300+ passing yards to opposing team’s QB’s in back to back weeks and have some serious questions regarding their defense which is the most expensive defense in the NFL. If the Steelers can not figure out their defensive issues, their grasp on the AFC North may loosen and fast.

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