First Half Thoughts as the Steelers Trail the Eagles 13-3 in Philadelphia

I can’t say much has gone right for the Steelers in the first half this afternoon in Philadelphia, as it seems like every time the Eagles have had the ball, they have been able to score and make plays.

There’s also been a number of injuries on the Steelers defense, and lineman Ramon Foster left the game on offense, another blow to a team that came in looking good at 2-0 after the win last week over the Bengals.

Here’s a couple thoughts on the game, and how the Steelers hopefully can turn it around in the second half.

* Pressure Wentz. Sounds simple doesn’t it? James Harrison finally got in late in the second half, but overall the Steelers did little against Wentz in the first half, and this after we talked all week about how in the past the Steelers dominated rookie QB’s. Wentz was 18-for-25 in the first half, Ben Roethlisberger attempted just 18 passes the entire first half. The Steelers have done little to confuse Wentz in their coverage, and unless they mix things up, the rookie is simply going to keep eating this defense apart.

* If the run game isn’t going to work, which seems to be the case considering the Steelers have 15 yards on eight carries in the first half, how about making the game faster with a little no-huddle? The teams’ base offense is going nowhere fast, and Big Ben is getting pressure by an Eagles D we talked about has been very good at getting to the quarterback the first two weeks. Either start the series in the shotgun and use DeAngelo Williams as a pass catcher or on draws, or go to another game plan, because this one isn’t working.

* Get off the field. The defense, while beat up with injuries, is making silly mistakes with missed tackles and key penalties on third downs. They had a personal foul on a dumb penalty on Lawrence Timmons, and William Gay had a bad PI call on another third down, that didn’t look like much of a penalty. If the Steelers are going to rally, they have to either force a turnover or two, or simply get off the field and let the offense go to work. The Time of Possession was 15:47 to 14:13, but it seemed more lopsided.