Steelers’ Pass Defense, Man Coverage an Achilles Heel in 33-31 Loss to Bengals? | Long Term Issue?

The Pittsburgh Steelers lose 33-31 to the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football. I’m Chris Carter on the Lockdown Steelers podcast. And I think there’s one big problem specifically that if not fixed could be the Achilles heel to the entire Steelers season. That’s next year on the Lockdown Steelers podcast. Let’s get into it. You are Locked On Steelers, your daily Pittsburgh Steelers podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome to the Locked On Steelers podcast. I’m your host, Chris Carter, your daily dose of all things in the Pittsburgh Steelers. As always, you can find the show on your favorite podcasting apps and on YouTube. Like this video if you enjoy it. Subscribe to this channel to get all of your daily Monday through Friday episodes. We thank you for making us your first listen every day because we’re your team every day. Steelers fans, it’s a rough Friday morning because the Steelers went in and lost in Cincinnati 331 to the Bengals in a shootout. And we’re going to break down several elements of this game from the offense, the defense, the run defense, pass defense, everything about it. But there was one part of this defense that was assembled this year for a specific reason that needed to come through in this game and it did not. and that was its defense when it went man coverage against the Bengals passing game because it very rarely won. And listen, maybe they’ll win other ones. Maybe they’ll the next time they play the Bengals, it will work. But that to me is the big question that these Steelers must answer on defense. Can this secondary hang with the big boys when they want to go man-to-man in coverage? because that that was a big reason why you swapped Jaylen Ramsey or Ma Fitzpatrick for Jaylen Ramsay. It’s a big reason why you went and got Darius Slay. It’s why you’ve been trying to develop Joey Porter Jr. You wanted to have the cornerback room just to come out and say we can line manto man with T. Higgins, with Jamar Chase, with Justin Jefferson, with Jordan Addison, and we can go toe-to-toe with those guys and come out on top. And they’ll get us sometimes, but we’ll get them back. And in this game that did not happen nearly enough. Jamar Chase of course 16 to 16 catches on 23 targets for 161 yards and a touchdown. Tehen six of 10 for 96 and a touchdown. Um they were the entirety of the Bengals offense. And really the Bengals team the Bengals defense didn’t do anything really that spectacular. They they caught two interceptions. You know that one interception shouldn’t have been an interception because DK Metaf’s hand was on it while he was out of bounds. Uh I don’t know how that got missed. Um, but uh the uh the the first interception, Rogers just made a bad bad error there. But what drove the entire Bengals offense was really the the the Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. And it was the thing that we said going into this game, the Steelers had to limit. They didn’t limit it. And I think that that and I think that it’s because their game plan was around, hey, Jaylen Ramsey, Joey Porter, you’re going to take these guys away. You’re going to win more often than not against these guys. And you saw early on Joey Porter getting tagged with penalties. So was Jaylen Ramsay. Um, I think that they came into this game with an idea of what they wanted to do. And when the the Bengals started to win with that, they didn’t have a good backup plan because their plan was to cover in man and then try to switch it to some zones. But Joe Flacco eats zone alive when uh when he gets the chance and that ended up being a nightmare scenario for this defense. And I think it poses a problem moving forward because while you will not play teams that have Jamar Chase T. Higgins type wide receiver combos every week. You will play other teams on your schedule with a really with with a really good receiver core. The Packers don’t have that next week, but you know, Michael Pitman, if he’s healthy with the Colts, you know, could be a problem with with the second with the with the guys they have there. Uh you play the Bengals again in about a month’s time in November back in Pittsburgh. Uh Romeo Adun and DJ Moore, the guys they have with the Bears. Uh the the Lions with Aman Ross St. Brown and Jameus Williams, they they there’s guys coming and and you got to be prepared because if you’re not going to be able to win in man coverage against those guys and that’s a big part of what you wanted this defense to be, you got to make some adjustments. You got to call you got to switch some something up here. Now, again, short week on the road in division, we know that that’s the curse of Mike Tomlin and the Steelers, but to me, this was where Mike Tomlin and Terrell Austin needed to have this team better was that they needed to say, “Hey, this this way that we’re that we’re running our man coverage, forget about it. We’re taking these guys away. I I personally think when I look at overtime and my covering the Pittsburgh Steelers, the way that they like to approach teams with multiple receiving threats is they’ll let you kind of get some yards here and there with cert with a with a specific wide receiver and they’ll take away another. And the problem was in this game they didn’t take away the other wide receiver. I think that they had a plan that like, hey, Jamar Chase will get his, but we’re going to make it so that T. Higgins and Yosphus and everybody else won’t eat. And if they and if we do that and force them to live through Jamar Chase eventually he’ll they’ll make the mistake and we’ll get the play. And that was the problem this game that never came to fruition. T Higgins had his way. I mean even on theus uh deep ball that Joe Flack connected on this Darius Slay Darius Slay is not a vertical guy you know you don’t want to run speed but he was supposed to at least maintain his leverage to just stay in front of the play and he couldn’t do that. And that to me is alarming because if other teams now see this as they will when they look this look at this on tape and they prepare for the Steelers, they’re going to go after this too. And a lot of the structure of the blitz makeups of everything the Steelers wanted to do was behind was that they could trust that they could go into man coverage aggressively and win. And some of the times you do have to tip your cap to uh to the other team. Like for example, the last deep ball to T. Higgins, Jaylen Ramsey had great coverage. He pinned him to the sideline. He he he ran with him step for step. Joe Flacco just threw the perfect ball and T. Higgins went and found it. Jaylen Ramsey, you know, got beat there. That’s okay. But there were other instances where they needed to be in better in better situations. And it’s something that hearkens back to something that I thought I saw in week one that I wasn’t sure if it was going to continue to be a thing. And it really hadn’t been a thing for for about a month, but now I think it’s rear ugly head again. And I think it’s that the Steelers secondary is given a lot more liberties to not have traditional coverage leverage in certain situations because they’re because a lot of them are are veteran or experienced guys and they’re trying to set up something else. They’re trying to set up the mistake. They’re trying to and I I noted this against the Jets where I thought Jaylen Ramsay was letting receivers and I think also against the Seahawks as well, but Jaylen Ramsey like would let guys get in front of him and then he played trail technique to try to jump the pass. I think that happened a lot in this game. I have to go back and watch the tape. I don’t think that’s it. But I think if Mike Tomlin and Terara Lawson are going to take this defense forward and unless they they they say, “Hey, you know what? Our guys got beat in this game. They won’t get beat the next time we do this.” Okay, that that’s that’s betting on your boys. But I I think what needs to come out of this is they need to have a different approach to how they’re running man defense, especially against teams with playmakers like this on offense because those other other teams will be coming down the line. And to me, that’s the biggest question for the Steelers, for Mike Tomlin, for uh for Joey Porter, for Jaylen Ramsey, for Teros, for everybody involved. You have to be able to to win those types of matchups when this is this is a pillar that you’re built on. And we’ll get to the run defense in a minute, too, because that’s also a big problem in this. And Cam Hayward had some very strong words about this uh after the game, and I want to get to that. But to me, the whole a big part of what they wanted to how they’ve structurally changed the defense. We talked about how this is a Blitzburg defense again. They’re bringing the heat and we got to see their blitz rate for this game. But I thought that they brought plent plenty of heat and the ball was getting out quick and going going, you know, going to certain guys. This needed to be a game where you just said, “Hey, Jaylen, I know you want to play off leverage or you know you want to play outside leverage and and work this here, but we need you to play inside leverage the entire play. Jam this guy, give him a hard time and make and make Joe Flacco hold on to the ball for five, six seconds.” so to give our pass rush time to get home. And I just feel like the Steelers didn’t do that enough. And there were a couple times they did it and they did it well. Uh the field goal that they held them to uh in the fourth quarter uh where Jaylen Ramsey broke up that pass in the end zone, that was really good man coverage. That was basically what we’re talking about here. Joey Porter had a couple plays like that, but it wasn’t enough. And I and I think that it’s I think that there’s a lot of grace given to these guys. And a lot of grace, excuse me, a lot of um there’s expectation that these guys are going to be able to still play at that level where they can be given the luxury to to to make their own calls where they’re going to back off a guy on a certain play or play up on another play or give outside leverage here because I think I can force this. I think that there there might be a time to say if you’re Ter or Mike Tomlin saying, “Hey guys, we know that you think you can do this, but right now we need you to be able to do this part of the game.” That’s take take away the slant. Like when they were running those slants, the Steelers I thought needed to be, you know, in man coverage, but when they were in man coverage, people were saying, “Oh, they’re not going to man covers because they’re scared. They were they were going to man covers.” Problem was they were just getting flat up beat. And that’s what you can’t allow to happen. you you’re be physical at the you know at the start of the play cut off take away the inside force them to live on the outside and eventually and take with that what what what it gives you. Um I think that if the Steelers had done that more the defense might have had a better day. Um but that to me could be an Achilles heel moving forward if other teams see it and the Steelers don’t address it. And when I say address it I mean by like doing these things saying hey we’re going to we’re going to change how we how we how we run these things. We’re going to we’re going to switch up the way that we go about putting on man coverage and trying to run with guys on the shorter passes and the quicker passes. That’s got to be a task. Now, fortunately for the Steelers, they get 10 days rest. They get to, you know, lick their wounds over the weekend and get ready for a big game against the Packers. And the Packers aren’t a team with superb wide receiver talent, but they still have good wide receiver talent. So, they’ll get a chance to kind of get their stuff their stuff back together. But to me, this loss could be a sign that that comes back to kill them later in the year if they do not figure out better ways to run man coverage when they want to be aggressive, when they want to take away certain guys um and not just getting abused by highly talented receivers. Um so I think that’s that’s a big story out of this game. But another big story is how the run game allowed and 108 yards to Chase Brown on 11 carries, the most rushing yards on the season for him. And a big game for a team that was averaging 56 yards on the ground per game going into to Thursday night. We got to talk about that run defense and how they need to be better. That’s next here on the Locked On Steelers podcast. I’m your host, Chris Carter. Stick with us. We’ll be right back. 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It’s quick, easy, and honestly my favorite way to follow on with football. Download the prize picks app today. Use code locked on NFL to get $50 off lineup or on in lineups after you play your first $5 lineups. That’s code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5. Prize picks run your game. We’re back here on the Lockdown Steelers podcast. I’m your host Chris Carter. We continue to talk about this Steelers game and I want to reiterate this because I I did the locked on Steelers squad show with Tyler Felman and Wayne Gandandy afterwards and you know I said the sky isn’t falling because at the end of the day the Steelers are four and two one and a half games up up in the division and they still have the whole season out in front of them. But saying the sky isn’t falling is not saying this was a that this loss was fine because this loss showed a lot of weaknesses that we thought the Steelers or at least I thought the Steelers could be better against or had improved against. And we talked about the pass defense. We talked about the the man coverage and the things there. But the other thing that’s that was alarming was the run defense. And you look at just the raw stats and it’s disturbing when you see 11 carries by Chase Brown for 108 yards with a Bengals offensive line that is not good and you see a Steelers defense that should have been doing better there. I mean going into this game the Bengals averaged 56.7 yards per carry. They were dead or yard not yards per carry, excuse me, yards per game. They averaged 3.1 yards per carry. Those were both dead last in the NFL. The Steelers were at least in the middle. They were 17th in yard in rushing yards per game allowed, 13th in yards per carry allowed. And it didn’t matter. The Steelers came out and they laid an egg against the run. And Cam Hayward was viscerally upset. I mean, and rightfully so, uh, when you when you because because he’s the he’s the captain of the of the team. Um, and, uh, he basically said and prior ESPN quoted him saying this in the locker room after the game. He said, “It’s not the secondary because that’s a copout. I think the front line, we’ve got to control the line of scrimmage a lot better. I’m pissed off. We didn’t take care of our jobs. They were They were last in rushing and the way we gave it up today, that takes the cake. And he also says, “We we’ve we’ve got to stop the the bleeping run.” It that’s as simple as that. Um Cam Hayward’s going to be a leader and take responsibility and accountability when the secondary is also definitely at fault for things and and he should. But I look at this and I I do think that part of this is it goes back to the things that they struggled with stopping the run in the first couple weeks. And I think that it’s something that Cam Hayward said when I was asking him about those problems or we were asking him about this problem. Wasn’t just me um back in the early part of the season during the regular season when he kind of noted that like the biggest thing the defense had to do better, the defensive line had to do better was they had to anticipate better what offensives were trying to do, where they were trying to go. And I think early on the Steelers certainly did when uh you know when they when the they got they got their first third down stop. You know, I thought they stuffed the runner up well on the drive and then uh you had the the shallow cross to Jamar Chase. Juan Thornnehill was all over it. I thought that was a brilliant play call. I thought that that was a good sign of how things started, but the problem was it continued and uh you saw the run game start to work. You saw guys missing tackles. Um, this is a thing that the Steelers have to be better at. Bottom line, nothing else will matter if they can’t stuff the run. Um, and and that stuff feeds the success in the passing game. And to me, that’s where, uh, you’re a little concerned here to about the Steelers is, you know, can you step back from this, readjust, and say, okay, we have to fundamentally be better at these things to stop the run. Because I totally get I totally get um the idea that like hey you know what you know and because when we’re saying anticipation, right? We’re saying we you’re you know when you get a certain look they’re most likely going to go in this direction or they’re mostly going to do this or we can be prepared for that. We got to prepare for how they want to attack us here so we’re going to practice against these techniques. Um, those are fine. Like, you know, those are good to have, but you also have to, I think, have general play that’s just going to out physical somebody or just straight up beat somebody regardless of what they they bring to the table. And, um, I think this defensive front can be that good. They weren’t good good like that in this game. And that’s where I think they made the biggest mistakes was that they were um, you know, you look at some of the third down conversions at the end of the day. Um, you know, it’s kind of crazy. The Steelers actually had a better third down rate because on offense they were they went seven of 10 uh on third downs, but um the Bengals offense they they go seven of 14 and 50% on third downs is is not where you want to be if you’re the Steelers. Uh when you look at the Steelers defense on third downs uh you know and you know on the on the year they were at 40%. And so they kind of jumped up and the Bengals also jumped up with that because on the year they were 36.8%. So, they were, you know, those were two things that the Steelers, you know, should have had in their favor that they didn’t have in this game. They were getting cooked in a lot of respects there. Um, but again, I think it comes up with, and Mike Thomas said this after the game, it comes up with being stronger up front, winning the trenches, uh, you know, winning the early downs. That’s the bottom line there. You need to be able to win those. I don’t think that the Steelers won um enough of those in this game as Cam Hayward alluded to because I still think at the end of the day, this is still a team that wants to win with its defense and occasionally with this offense, but with this defense, you’re supposed to take away certain things and that’s the thing that I didn’t think happened enough in this game. Now, I know I’ve been talking a lot about anticipation with the run defense and and being in the right spots. What do I mean by that is that, you know, there are certain things that teams do that you can prepare for that you can get your hands up for that you can notice certain jump in certain gaps and and the Steelers didn’t do that enough tonight. Uh both in the run game and in the pass rush. They didn’t get home enough. But again, I think the run game kind of set up the pass rush because the Bengals were able to get the ball out quick a lot of times and and they were able to score that with with with that. So, um, if I’m the Steelers and I’m looking at this at that run defense going into this week, a big part of it is you you got to be get your fundamentals down to be able to win and not get pushed off the ball the way they were in this game or and get off your blocks. It’s the bottom line. You got to get off your blocks. And I think that’s what Cam Hayward’s kind of talking about with his statement and and saying they just have to do their jobs there. It’s that it’s not a complex thing there. you have to find a way to to to absorb their blocks, take them on, expect where they’re going to be where they’re where they’re going to be going with this. Um, and when you combine that with losing the turnover battle two to nothing and with um, uh, the coverage problems they had, you know, it’s it’s no wonder the Steelers gave up 33 points in this game. Um, sometimes you wonder maybe they should have given up more with the way that they played, but um, I still think that there’s they have the talent to fix this problem. I don’t think this is something that necessarily lingers all season, but they better figure it out because other teams are about to copy that real so fast with the way that the Bengals are trying to run and the way the Bengals are trying to throw. Um teams are going to copy that so fast and they’re going to be looking around and being like, “Okay, we’re going to use some of these concepts because we need to take advantage of it.” Um but uh but yeah, again I think that the defense there it’s a big letdown and it’s a big letdown you know from them and everyone involved from the coaches to the players. There’s no doubt about that. But I still do think they have the tools to get where they need to be. The question will be when they get there I I think again I think that they can they can get to be a team that’s competitive when they get to play those really good teams. Can they trust this defense to hold them off to give the Steelers offense more more of a time to build up a bigger lead and to u and to hold on to that lead throughout? I think those are things that um that can happen for the Steelers, but what’s going to determine how good this team is is if they actually do make them happen. Because that’s the problem right now is that the Steelers um I at least I think when I when I when I watch them right now, I think that there is potential for things to happen and there’s, you know, things that they drop that could work. Uh but there’s always a let down. Not always, excuse me, that’s hyperbole there, but there’s often a let down at the wrong moment, wrong time, and it kind of blows up the entire play. Um and when it comes to the run defense, that I think that’s definitely part of it there. There were some plays where they just lost at the point of attack and there were certainly some questionable calls in this game, but the bottom line is you’re not supposed to let this let that that team run on you and you’re supposed to take away Jamar Chase and if they eat with T. Higgins, they eat with T. Higgins. But, uh, to me, that’s not what happened in this one. And that’s a big bad sign for the defense that they let this happen. Now, do they let this carry over? Do they let the Do they let this uh continue? That will be what determines how good of a team they are. because Terrell Austin said that to me, uh, the Steelers defensive coordinator said that to me back in training camp. He was like, you know, we got you can’t let the snowballs, you know, turn into avalanches. And you got to be able to bounce back. And I thought that they’ve bounced back a few times. But right now, to me, this defense, they need a really big bounce back against the Packers team that’s going to be loaded and ready to go uh in 10 days. But to me, that’s a big part of what’s going on here right now is the Steelers defense was supposed to stuff the run, was supposed to live in man coverage. Those two did things didn’t happen. They have to figure out an answer to be better in those positions. But I do think the offense deserves some flowers because Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdown passes. Uh was really impressive there in doing so. We’re going to talk about the offense and what’s sustainable with them next year on the Locked Steelers podcast. I’m your host, Chris Carter. Stick with us. We’ll be right back. But first, remind you this show is brought to you by Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. Mazda delivers confidence with every ride. With more IHS Top Safety Pick Plus awards than anyone else, you can feel Japanese craftsmanship in every detail. From the metallic accents to available Napa uh leather upholstery with all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence through almost any season. Like our like the players, they sweat every detail because when you make every move count, impossible becomes irre irrelevant. Mazda move and be moved. This episode is also brought to you by Rouette. Guys, you probably heard of Viagra or Seialis. Maybe you’ve even tried them. But if you’re looking for something beyond the usual pill, it’s time to meet Rouette ready. 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Steelers do with a one and a half game lead in the division. I look at this offense, I can’t help but be complimentary uh to uh Aaron Rogers for his way to maneuver things and to work things. That man threw four touchdown passes and they were all the tight ends. Absolutely diabolically insane, but he makes it work. And I think that that’s part of what the Steelers are going to need to figure out uh in this uh move moving forward with this offense is the the different ways they can win. You know, can they keep expanding upon them and keep teams from guessing what they’re doing? That to me is going to be a huge part for this Steelers offense that had a very great day. What’s impressive to me about this offense, and again, this was a bad defense they did it against, so it’s not let’s not like hang the they’re they’re a number one offense in the NFL banner yet. Again, don’t take the highs too high. Don’t take the lows too low, but they were able to run the ball and pass the ball pretty well in this game. The offensive line was pushing guys around. They were protecting Aaron Rodgers and Jaylen Warren was able to eat 16 carries for 127 yards. And and I know Arthur Smith was losing it because he got four touchdowns to tight ends in this game. I I have to I have to think that that’s the most touchdown passes to tight ends in a single game in NFL history. I I I have not had the time to look that up. I also have to do I have to start looking at film tomorrow morning so we can start doing our film breakdowns and starting to look at different things. And I’ll get you our grades Mon for the Monday episode where we do stars and skulls. Uh there’s gonna be a lot of skulls for this game. Um but man, uh Pat Frymouth showing everyone why maybe the pay trade Pat Footh for tweets are just a little premature. Maybe he just needed some time to get the ball. Um DK Metaf, I mean the one play he he should have came down with it, didn’t but ultimately still, you know, a really good player, still doing his job there. Jaylen Moore, you know what he does. Johnny Smith making the catches that he made in this game, uh, you know, was pretty was pretty solid staying alive that he did to to find space for Aaron Rogers to target him. Darnell Washington also getting that touchdown. Um, all of those guys really delivering there and I think that was huge for the Steelers in this game. Even Roman Wilson getting involved and and getting involved in a good way. Um, you know, he caught two passes for 17 yards. Uh, one went one went 13 yards, one went four yards. One pass was just a brilliant just, hey, get him the ball quick. uh get behind the blitz and leap over. He jumped over guys. I think Roman Wilson might be earning some more snaps soon in the offense. Um Aaron Rogers seeing the field for the most part. He did have one bad interception, but mo for the most part he saw the field well, took advantage of it. The offensive line was was able to was able to hold up. And even though this isn’t this isn’t a win, I do see this as a growing step or stepping stone for the offense to get to a point where they can be a consistently good unit because you can see the remnants there. You can see the things that they’re trying to put together there. That to me is there’s there’s a potential there and they’re getting closer to it, but it’s going to take time and that’s where this defense has to come has to come together. I said this during the lockdown Steelers squad show. I do not think the sky is falling on this team. I do think there are several things that they need to correct. I do think that there are things that Mike Tomlin, Terrell Austin, especially on defense, u they need to be sitting down and have hard conversations with this secondary be like, “Hey, we got torched, guys. Are we going to do the same thing we did last they did today, the next time we play these guys, or are we going to try to switch it up?” And to me, I think that’s going to be a big part, a big pillar to whether this season succeeds or it fails if you’re the Steelers because you need to be able to do this thing that you designed yourself to be to be good at and to have a structure in, that to me is the big thing the Steelers uh need to be able to get uh moving forward. If they’re able to find that rhythm, make those plays on defense and and be more consistent there while the offense continues to steadily grow with all the young players it has, that can make you a formidable team moving forward. And listen, they’re a formidable team right now for this for as as as bad as this loss was. And again, this is a bad loss, a loss that that you do not want to lose. You’re still 4-2, one and a half games up in the division. And you have a chance to control things, but you got to control things. And that’s what we’re going to talk about next week in in the Lockdown Steelers podcast because to me, I’m going to look at these things. I I’m you can’t let you know a bad a bad game turn into a bad month, which is what happened last year when they lost to the Eagles. It just compound everything compounded on itself to get worse and worse and worse. So far, this year is their first loss didn’t do that. The second loss, we’ll see what what happens here. But they’ve got to come in with a plan that’s going to win them uh more often and more often than not. And if it means not being able to go into man coverage or or some different kind of emphasis in man coverage, great. Sign them up for it. But um this team still has the potential to get, I think, to 11 and six. And 11 and six right now looks pretty good considering that means the Ravens will have had to just lose one one game down the stretch. and you get them twice. So, if I’m the Steelers, I I I go back to the drawing board about coverage. I prepare my run game uh a little bit better to be sharper moving forward and I get ready for trying to re to keep going, hold on to this division lead throughout the throughout the stretch of the season and then see where things go from there. But, uh I think the offense is timing things up. I think the defense needs to learn these lessons from today and if they do those things, they’ll move forward. But we’ll we’ll we’ll we’ll uh we’ll study more of that here on the Lockdown Steelers podcast. I’m your host, Chris Carter. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Blue Sky. Uh same social media as it is everywhere. It’s Carter Critiques. You can read my work in the Pittsburgh Postgazette by going to post-gazette.com. Find me here on the Lockdown Steelers podcast every day Monday through Friday. Breaking down your your uh uh breaking down your Pittsburgh Steelers uh on on right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Back here Monday with our grades here on the Lockdown Steelers podcast. Heat. Heat. N.

The Pittsburgh Steelers lost 33-31 to the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night football as Jalen Ramsey and Joey Porter Jr. didn’t hold up well enough in pass coverage against the Bengals’ star receivers. Christopher Carter disucsses what went wrong, and why the Steelers’ failures in man coverage with Porter and Ramsey could be the team’s Achilles’ heel if not fixed soon.

Also, Cam Heyward calls out the Steelers’ run defense for its failures against a weak Bengals run game. But what went wrong for the defense to allow Chase Brown to gain over 100 yards on the ground?

Finally, Aaron Rodgers looked very goodas his tight ends Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington and Jonnu Smith combined for four touchdowns, the offensive line played well and Jaylen Warren had over 100 rushing yards.

Steelers’ Pass Defense, Man Coverage an Achilles Heel in 33-31 Loss to Bengals? | Long Term Issue? https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7JorgD8nGLtvvMy1ogFetg

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44 comments
  1. Besides the first defensive drive for us we couldn't barely get any pressure on flaco. I think that's more on the secondary not locking up receivers but still pretty clean pocket for him all night

  2. Cinci has phenomenal playmakers on offense. Not every offense is as potent as Cinci’s. That said, if you can’t beat a Bengals team with a losing record that doesn’t have Joe Burrow or Trey Hendrickson playing, why would anyone believe the Steelers can contend for a Super Bowl or even compete with any of the true elite teams in the league? This loss paints a very bleak picture for the season.

  3. Dudes it’s the coordinator he is a bum!! The bungals fired him after 5 games ya? It was ridiculous to have hired him anyway!! He’s a not even a good position coach! Look how played that penalty call my God it was horrible!! How long has he played her? My God I’ve never seen a ball played worse. Tomlin should be fired for horrible coaches alone… fine we all understand Tomlin not be fired but Good God at least hire competent coordinators and position coaches… the offensive line coach is the worse coach in the NFL!

  4. Yeah the defense has alot of big names who makes alot of money who's not getting younger who just basically got BEAT MONO 2 MONO they wasn't ready or prepared and Cin's hit them right in the mouth what did the players do nothing until steelers draft better player or trade for against good offensive same results

  5. Had more to do with the short muscle recovery time that Thursday night football creates for all players but especially the veterans over 30. Secondly, every media analyst flubbed off the Bengals rushing game and that type of baloney affects the players who listen to it. You're a top notch media guy and you know every player in this league ranks in the top one tenth of one percent of all athletes in the world. Exciting game, Chase and Tee are awesome, and the AFC North is still the toughest division in the league. Things all work out in the end, Cleveland looks like idiots, Cincy is still in the race, Ravens will be there fighting for the title, and we have a strong shot to win it too if Broderick doesn't get excited and tackle his QB again.

  6. The Bengals Offense asked the questions, and Coach Tomlin and DC Teryl Austin had no good answers. The concerning aspect is that both coaches are regarded as Secondary experts, and who had all the players healthy, and ready to play.

  7. Same record, same result once a Championship pedigree QB or Head Coach figures Tomlin's defense out they OWN HIM . HE NEVER MAKES ANY ADJUSTMENTS n FLACO WOULD BURN HIM ON ANY TEAM N HE KNOWS IT. HE'S GOT NO ANSWERS JUST SAMEPLAN SAMEPLAN.

  8. Hi there Chris and Steeler Fam!
    As always , @Chris, appreciate your analysis. 😊

    Agree that the Offense led by Rodgers was a bright spot! They kept us in it; Even with not being on the field that long. Although the unfortunate turnovers led to the Bengals changing the momentum 😮of the game, Offense did answer back eventually gaining a 1pt lead with ~2 (long) mins left in the game. It’s too bad the D couldn’t stop much of anything….

    We really need to revamp the secondary- it’s a liability right now! That soft coverage ??? Tackling (and missing) so many yards after completion and conversion – HAS to change!
    Really think Ramsey and Elliot will work it out, but the Slay experiment needs to end. We were bamboozled into thinking he’s still a big playmaker- he’s no longer that dude! Every game something ails him and he needs to take plays off. And when he’s out there….man! Just not good enough! It causes others to overcompensate which is never a good formula for success.

    Play Echols more, bring Beanie back to get more experience and maybe some explosive INTs. He DID make some big plays for us!
    And JP(I)J needs to work on his technique being a little savvier.

    Thursday is on tape now, and will be used against us if we don’t fix it!
    Can’t keep doing the same thing expecting different results.

    Astonished at how badly the D was outplayed!

    Real talk- we need to play Herbig and Harmon a bit more; the run defense is better when they’re out there.

    Boy do I wish we kept ERob- he understood the assignment!

    We always said,” Boy, if we just had competent QB play, we’d be just fine!”. Well, now we have it, better than we thought we would. D needs to hold their end of the deal!

    Chris- expecting a lot of skulls this week😂 But there were a few bright spots too….
    Cheers🖤💛

  9. Am I the only one pointing out that Arthur Smith the wanna-be OC again was a big reason we lost? Examples: running the same back into the same hole 3 times in a row, the wordt blocking schemes on outside sideline passes with a receiver and NO blocking, Rogers actually showing disgust with calls staring back at Smith when he got Smith's call, and after the play when it was a loss. Busticket Smith ASAP or this dedicated fan of 65 years is ending my tv watching!

  10. 16 reception drive with 2:21 left on the clock!? 342 yards and 3 touchdowns from a dude that just showed up last week!? 100 yards rushing from a team that can’t run the ball? NO ADJUSTMENTS MADE!!!! I don’t want to hear about how our defense has been ranked over the past few years. Our DC has to go Chris he is hot garbage and don’t get me started on Tomlins (I’m going to over explain with the same worn out phrases every week and hope to confuse the press so no one actually asks me a hardline truthful question) as s!!

  11. JPJ is garbage and he is never going to be what they want him to be. He just can’t cover effectively without getting a flag. His grace period has been over.

  12. Why are we surprised absolutely every season for the past 5 years. We play teams that “have never done this or that or not even win a game until they play “US”.

  13. This coaching staff is incapable of in game adjustments it’s embarrassing. They going with one game plan and stick to it u til it’s WAY to late. FACT.

  14. Just read a BTS article claiming they played zone instead of man and that was the problem… total nonsense 🤦

    I felt like there was a number of calls against the Steelers and not against the Bengals were very lopsided in coverage… it was a clear push off by Chase on the TD catch and some ticky tack calls on Porter.

    I expect these calls to change for the game in Pittsburgh.

    Also, despite the quick release by Flacco, they brought little to no pressure and it left the secondary out to dry…

  15. The odds of all 11 guys on defense having the same bad game is miniscule. It is more about the terrible Teryl Austin scheme. 31 other D coordinators would get 5 to 6 All-Pros from this defense.

  16. MEDIOCRE MIKE , TALKS THE TALK WITHOUT ACTIONS TAKEN , BUSINESS AS USUAL .
    PENALTY PORTER , OVERRATED , OTHER TEAMS WILL TARGET PORTER AS WELL AS. THOSE REFS ,
    THE. N.F.L. ISN'T ABOUT . COLLEGE PLAYERS MAKING PLAYS ON. DEFENCE , THEN AGAIN — PENALTIES. COME IN HANDY OVER BECOMING TOASTED & OUT PLAYED ??????

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