The roller coaster continues

December 5, 2018 /

The Steelers dropped their second straight game to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday night. Suddenly. they find themselves in a race with the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC North division title. Much like the Broncos game last week, this game had plenty of awe-inspiring, disappointing, and all around gut wrenching moments. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly:

The Good

Antonio Brown

AB reminded the world that he is still the top dog in the NFL. Business was booming Sunday night as Brown recorded ten receptions for 154 yards and a touchdown. Ben Roethlisberger had a 141.2 quarterback rating when targeting Brown. Brown did everything from a long fly route on the outside, to dicing up the defense in the middle of the field.

This catch may have looked easy on TV, but Brown’s ability to track the football behind his body and adjust to make the catch with a defender on his back showcase his elite skills.

The Offensive Line

The big guys up front continued their dominance this season. They allowed just one sack the entire game to pro bowler Joey Bosa. Roethlisberger had all day to throw, and  James Conner added 4.0 yards per carry on the ground with two big goal line touchdowns.

LJ Fort

This is a guy who has fought for a roster spot on the Steelers for the past four seasons. Sunday Fort showcased why the Steelers have kept him around. Fort posted 12 total tackles, nine of those being solo. That was good enough to lead in both categories for either team Sunday night. The Twitter poll @TheSteelCityScrubs started yesterday voted to make him the spotlight player for this piece. I think the Steelers found the two-way linebacker they have needed all season, at least on a small scale.

The most impressive takeaway from Fort was his play recognition against the run and his pursuit to the ball. Fort roamed sideline to sideline, making plays all over the field. Here you will see the running back make a cut back to the right side, and Fort recognizes and makes the tackle for no gain.

The next GIF shows the pursuit mentioned earlier. Fort quickly breaks from coverage to make the solo tackle on Keenan Allen. Fort excelled in read and react situations all game.

This GIF is a good transition highlighting how San Diego was able to exploit Fort, which in this case was the downfall of the entire Steelers defense. This time Fort gives too much space in his zone coverage, Phillip Rivers finds Allen underneath for five yards. Still, Fort reads the play and closes quickly, landing a big hit on Allen. Unfortunately this was far from the only time this type of match-up was utilized.

 

The Bad

Match-ups

The Chargers won the game by capitalizing on the Steelers defensive match-ups. Described earlier, Rivers did his best Tom Brady impression and decimated the Steelers’ zone coverages, specifically noted in match-ups between wide receivers and linebackers. It did not take long for the Chargers to show their game plan, and they never strayed from it.

Here is the first play of the game:

Coincidentally, here is the play that sealed the Steelers’ fate:

Keenan Allen finished the game with 19 targets, 14 receptions, 148 yards and a touchdown. All of his receptions occurred at or before the first down markers. His longest reception of 21 yards resulted in a blown coverage that Allen took a four yard pass another 17 yards. Of his 14 receptions, seven of them occurred against a linebacker in coverage. The Steelers did not have a lot of options heading into this game, as Morgan Burnett and Cam Sutton both were inactive. The Steelers opted to play man coverage on the Chargers’ final drive, with similar negative results that zone coverage yielded.

Zone coverage without playmakers is a death sentence, and Kieth Butler and the Steelers defense displayed that again on Sunday night.

The Ugly

The Officiating

Its no secret that the officiating directly influenced the final score of the game. Arguably, the most influential no-call of the game, is shown below. San Diego’s right tackle moves well before the center snaps the ball, and the play results in the first score of the game for the Chargers.

The play that led to the Chargers tying the game at 23 resulted from two holding, clipping, block in the back penalties, or whatever you would like to call the two illegal blocks on this punt return.

I do not have the will power to post video of the field goal debacle at the end of the game. I am still not sure if Haden was offsides or not on the field goal miss. The Steelers should have won the game before it got to that field goal.

Sean Davis

C’mon man…

The Steelers travel to Oakland to take on the Raiders this Sunday. With New Orleans and New England on the horizon, Pittsburgh needs to come home with a win.