Lack of focus, overconfidence, just plain being lazy.
Whatever the case may be, it really doesn’t matter, as the Steelers were in no way ready to play Sunday, dropping an ugly 20-13 setback to a one-win New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The Steelers trailed 17-0 after the first quarter, and while the final score made it look like a competitive game, the Steelers scored on an 80-yard TD to Martavis Bryant with 1:16 left to play.
Shaun Suisham, who made a career-high 52-yard field goal at the end of the first half, and then missed a 23-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, tried an unsuccessful onside kick as the Jets ran out the clock for the win.
While the blame can go all the way around for this loss, the offense was awful, going back to it’s form of a few weeks back when they dropped a 31-10 decision to the Browns in Cleveland.
The team then went on a three-game winning streak, looking like the best team in the AFC North, but now after laying a huge egg to a bad Jets team, they find themselves tied for last in the division.
The setback puts them at 6-4, tied with the Ravens, and trailing the 5-3-1 Bengals and the surprising 6-3 Browns.
Ben Roethlisberger went 30-for-43 for 343 yards with a touchdown and two picks. He was sacked twice and ended with a QB rating of 81.8.
Le’Veon Bell had just 36 yards on the ground as the run game was just not there, going for just 36 yards on 17 carries, the lowest rushing totals since last season.
The defense put the Steelers in a hole as down 3-0 Michael Vick hit WR T.J. Graham with a 67-yard TD to make it 10-0.
Vick then hit TE Jace Amaro with a 5-yard TD after a Antonio Brown muffed punt to put the Jets up 17-0 after the first quarter.
The Steelers turned the ball over four times, with two Ben picks and a pair of Brown fumbles, one on a punt and another after a short catch.
Pittsburgh outgained the Jets 362-275, but the missed field goal, along with the turnovers was their undoing against a team they should have beaten.
The Jets ran for 150 yards on 36 carries, putting up 4.2 yards per carry in the win, and winning the line of scrimmage all day.
The next up for the Steelers is another prime-time game, this time against the Tennessee Titans next Monday night in Nashville, TN.
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DaveB.
November 9, 2014 at 5:41 pm
Everyone in the organazation acknowledged it this week including head coach Mike Tomlin . Its a trap game and we have to be ready to play . They werent and once again they lost to a mediocre team . This trend has gone on for years and the bottom line is Mike Tomlin has no idea on how to fix it . With that being said , its time for a coaching change in Pittsburgh . Mike Tomlin needs to be let go after the season . Will that happen ? More than likely , it wont . Ive been a Tomlin supporter , but these pitiful performances against poor teams has to stop and Tomlin has proven once again , he has no idea on what to do to correct it . Bottom line , thats his job and hes not getting the job done . Im sorry but its time to move in another direction .
DrGeorge
November 9, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Well, Christine, do you still think we should re-negotiate Ben’s contract early? If so, how much would you pay? How much is a QB worth who throws two picks, takes two sacks, misreads a badly compromised secondary, and can’t turn any of the trips into the red zone into TDs? — against the lowly Jets??? — and earns an 81 QB rating? His present salary is worth two good CBs, a nose guard, and a quality safety, all of which we badly need on defense and can’t afford. Did we pay Ben too much? If not, why not?
Tomlin put the blame for the loss on two fumbles by Brown and two INTs by Ben, as if that explained everything. But if we wish those turnovers away, would the Steelers have won? Those miscues did not prevent us from running against the Jets front seven, nor did they present us from completing passes or moving the ball effectively in the red zone, nor did they prevent us from stopping the Jets running game or allowing Vick to throw deep. We did all that to ourselves even without the turnovers.
The coaches and pundits called this a ‘trap game’ during the week. Perhaps it was. But it didn’t look like one. From where I watched, it looked like the Steelers took the game seriously and tried hard. It also looked like they simply weren’t good enough to win.
At the end of this season, regardless of how it plays out from here, the coaches, team, and fans will look back on these three inexplicable loses — Jets, Tampa, and Jacksonville — and think about what might have been. But regret is wasted emotion; and by then, it will be too late.
Jay
November 9, 2014 at 7:22 pm
We beat Jacksonville
Jay
November 9, 2014 at 7:24 pm
Early in the jets game and it’s the same old shit from the steelers….Tomlin and company cannot get a team prepared to play against a suck team! Beat em good and lose to the bad ones sign of a suck team.
Jay
November 9, 2014 at 7:29 pm
I haven’t been on here praising Tomlin during the win streak because i refuse to give that cocksucker credit…All I know is that the team is something like 11-11 against sub 500 teams on his watch. lose this one and we are below 500 against sub 500 teams.. knee jerk reaction or not, I’d fire tomlin if they lose this game just because he absolutely sucks as a head coach in terms of getting his team ready to play against bad teams. Go to Hell, Tomlin!
Jay
November 9, 2014 at 7:31 pm
Bb just proved today that he’s not an elite QB….if he is, he’s at the bottom of the elites or the top of the next tier. To lose to the jets reaffirms and confirms how abysmal of a head coach TOMLIN is. Can’t mention bb with Brady or Manning or Rodgers…I don’t see thoseELITE QBS LOSING to suck teams. Any given Sunday is a cop out for steeler apologists. Why anyone would want to root for this team is beyond me. There are literal cream puff run blockers on the left side of our line which means in addition to revamping a horrid secondary next yeR AND finding an edge rusher, we need a LT because Beachum is flat out weak meaning not strong meaning he sucks. We abandoned running game way too soon and all the people I the locker room ie bb and tomlin will utter their rhetoric of, ” we own this” and it’s my fault” bullshit. They probably come back and beat ten but who cares if they do. 7-4 at the the bye is unacceptable. They ain’t going anywhere because as soon as they put a few wins together, they lose ….they lose as soon as everyone starts talking ( good) about them…when they’re the favorites this team sucks….guess what, to win big in this league you have to front run and win when everyone says you will….not only when everyone says you won’t…anyone can win games when your backs are against the wall. I give the jets no credit for this win because they allowed the steelers to hang around and the steelers did was stepped on their collective dicks. That goal line situation when Blount got tackled back at the ten was comical like keystone cops. Play calling wasn’t bad but execution was horrible. The worst thing is the total laissez faire mentality the team seems to possess whe. They play garbage teams….THAT IS A REFLECCTION OF THE HEAD FUCKING COACH!
George H
November 10, 2014 at 3:35 pm
Yikes this must be overreaction Monday. I’ll address Jay first by giving you a paraphrased quote from Chuck Noll; “if the players have to rely on me to get hyped for a game, then I don’t want them on my team.” All throughout the week Tomlin addressed this game as a trap game. What do you expect him to do to get his team “hyped?” Its only 60 minutes a week, if the players can’t get up for that then there is something to blame on them as well as Tomlin. Its easy to blame the coach when things go wrong. Look at the rhetoric for the first 8 weeks of the season about how Haley is awful, then two huge offensive weeks and things are ok. Football is a week to week sport, remember the team/coaches/players are never as good as you think they are and never as bad as you think they are. Keep in mind a few weeks ago NFL pundits were suggesting to actually trade Brady in favor or Gurapalo (sp). One more point about firing the coaches… everyone hated Arians, well hes looking like one of the leagues best coaches today.
Lets just throw away the term elite for a minute because that is the most overused and over-emphasized word in football today. Does anyone really think Flacco, Dalton, Newton, Romo, Ryan, Cutler, ect. are elite QBs? They certainly are getting paid like they are. Besides getting paid like an elite QB, they all have bad games from time to time and can struggle against a bad opponent. Ben is still a very good QB, coming of an insanely productive 2 week run. He is a proven winner and I will still love to have him as our QB.
I do acknowledge that this is a very frustrating loss and there is a trend over the years to lose to teams that we really shouldn’t be losing to. However, the Jets have a few strengths that really play well against some of the Steelers’ deficiencies. Our o-line is good and getting better, but Beachum gets over-matched at times and it looked like Foster was starring at Ben presnap on every play. The left side of the line definitely struggled yesterday against the Jets biggest strength, their d-line. The dink and dunk passing game looked to be back, but it was probably due to the pass rush Ben was facing that couldn’t allow Ben to step up and make the throws down field. I really did not like deciding to start the game kicking the ball off after winning the toss. We needed to start fast and get points on the board early so we can dictate the pace of the game. Allowing the Jets to use another one of their strengths (running the ball and misdirection) against our weakness gave the pace of the game to the Jets from the get go. Our defense is still vulnerable against the big play and that was evident on the 67 yard bomb against Gay. Gay had a rough game, though he has played very admirably this year, so I wont crush him too much. Also Mitchell bit on the play action instead of being the help over the top, another way the Jets were able to dictate the game. The Jets have an improved offense with Vick, Harvin, Decker, Amaro, and their running game, along with a defense that can get after the qb which allows them the opportunity to hide their biggest weakness, their secondary. This game wasn’t going to be a blowout like everyone was hoping for and this is what happens when the Steelers’ players read the papers about how great they are; they overlook their current opponents.
Lastly to address Doc’s point about the money allocated to Ben that can fill multiple positions of need. Yes that is true, the 100+ mil that Ben will get will hurt the teams salary structure, but that is just how most teams with a good qb has to operate. The majority of the cap goes to the most important position like it or not. Does anyone really think this team as currently constructed can win a superbowl or make the playoffs without Ben? I know that getting some CBs, a NT, and a quality safety will help, but when you have that qb you have to pay the price. Unfortunately, its the NFL we all live in. And to your point, we did pay to get a quality safety in Mitchell, he just hasn’t worked out the way we all hoped yet. I think the talent is there, he just needs to get the system down better and I think good things will come.
As Tomlin said earlier, lets just pull up our sleeves and get back to work. Hopefully this week will be a glitch in a successful season. I’m as disappointed as anyone, but lets just hope we rebound well and go into the bye 7-4. With the rest of the season to go, I think this team can go 4-2 and make it into the playoffs with a 10-6 record.
Jay
November 11, 2014 at 11:19 pm
Tomlin says all the politically correct “right” things, George but my pint is that it has been and continues to happen way too often for it be the players. The head coach needs to be held accountable when this happens year in and year out. They’re believing they’re great after reading about it because theyre being permitted to.