Airing of Grievances: Self-inflicted wounds, shaky coaching decisions allow Steelers to get trapped vs. Colts

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I got a message from a reader on social media Wednesday looking ahead to the Pittsburgh Steelers game in Indianapolis as a “TTTG.”

Typical Tomlin Trap Game.

TTTG. Typical Tomlin Trap Game. This is the type of game Tomlin seems to find a way to lose. They’re superior to the Colts but just have an uneasy feeling about it cuz he’s blown these games his whole career. If he wins vs the Colts, my optimism this season will increase greatly! — tim flannery (@TimboSlice910) September 25, 2024

Yeah. You know the script. The Steelers are on a hot streak. They go on the road as favorites to play a struggling, banged-up opponent. Then they somehow figure out a way to lose.

Heading into Sunday, I had that vibe too. We’ve seen it a dozen times before. Usually when the Steelers went to Oakland, or sometimes Denver or Cleveland. Maybe the occasional trip to play the Cincinnati Bengals and Ryan Finley, or hosting the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots last year.

But I was still dumb enough to pick the Steelers (3-1) to win at Lucas Oil Stadium. Why? Because they were unbeaten. Because their defense had been fantastic through three weeks. Because they were playing a 1-2 Colts team that had been awful against the run and was playing through multiple injuries with a turnover-prone, inaccurate quarterback in Anthony Richardson.

So, of course, they beat the Steelers, 27-24, anyway. As you’ll see in our weekly “Airing of Grievances,” there are plenty of reasons why.

Defensive deflation: After three weeks of excellent play and national praise, the Steelers defense was hideous.

From the first play on, it was a disaster. Anthony Richardson had plenty of time in the pocket and found Michael Pittman. Jonathan Taylor followed up by breaking a number of tackles for a big gain. Then Richardson advanced the chains with a third-down designed run from the shotgun.

Eventually, Taylor cashed in the offense’s efforts with a touchdown run where the Steelers defensive front got shoved into the end zone.

Coming out swinging. ???? ???? CBS pic.twitter.com/79Jgl4H8MY — Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 29, 2024

It felt like the Steelers missed more tackles than they made throughout the day. Joey Porter had a tough afternoon. He dropped an interception and was beaten by multiple receivers throughout the game, including on a deep ball that resulted in an (albeit very sketchy) unnecessary roughness penalty by Minkah Fitzpatrick. He even drew a pass interference penalty while giving up a completion at one point.

After knocking out Richardson, the Steelers did little to make backup quarterback Joe Flacco feel uncomfortable. The vaunted Steelers pass rush didn’t register a sack until halfway through the third quarter and ended up with only two on the day. Alex Highsmith didn’t play, and Nick Herbig left for a bit with an ankle injury. That didn’t help.

As TribLive’s Chris Adamski pointed out, last week versus the Los Angeles Chargers, the Steelers only allowed 166 yards. Sunday in Indianapolis, Teryl Austin’s unit yielded 178 in the first 17 minutes.

By the end of the game, the Colts posted 358 yards in total offense and converted eight of 15 third downs.

What were they thinking?: The Steelers couldn’t put the “D” in defense. Mike Tomlin figured out a way to put in “disaster,” though.

The Steelers coach made a panic call on fourth-and-1 from his own 39-yard line with 28 seconds left in the first quarter.

Not only was the decision questionable at best, but the play call from offensive coordinator Arthur Smith was ridiculous. They went shotgun and tried to run Justin Fields and he got stuffed.

Why not line up and smash Najee Harris or Cordarrelle Patterson into the line against a Colts run defense that had been historically terrible over the first two weeks?

“Everybody plays shotgun and pistol football these days,” Tomlin insisted.

“I don’t think your running game is minimized in any way. There are too many teams that run the ball extremely well out of that posture.”

The real answer probably is that Tomlin didn’t trust his reconfigured offensive line to get any push. It’s like Tomlin was “living in his fears” while trying to avoid “living in his fears.”

Indy turned that possession into a field goal. It ended up winning by a field goal.

Wrecked by recklessness: On the Steelers’ first offensive drive, Spencer Anderson was called for a late hit after a second-down pass completion. If he didn’t get flagged, Broderick Jones could’ve been for hitting someone else half a second later. That set up a third-and-23. The penalty came a series after the Steelers were the beneficiary of a very shaky roughing the passer whistle earlier in the series. The officials were begging for a chance to throw a make-up flag. Anderson (and/or Jones) gave them an opportunity to do so.

Later in the first half, George Pickens was careless with the football after making a catch in the second quarter. He fumbled deep in the red zone.

Pop it loose and scoop it up. ???? ???? CBS pic.twitter.com/dV2KNhlopy — Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 29, 2024

Pickens also dropped a pass in the end zone before Fields eventually scrambled to bring the Steelers within 24-17 in the fourth quarter.

In the third quarter, Fields also fumbled as he was running backward more than 15 yards while attempting to avoid a sack.

When is it coming?: We are still waiting to see the allegedly elite Smith run game come to fruition. Once again, it didn’t really coalesce Sunday.

In the final box score, the Steelers ended up with 122 yards rushing. But 55 of them were from Fields, and a good chunk of those yards were scrambles, not designed runs.

Harris only had 19 yards on 13 carries.

Final failing: The last drive by the Steelers offense was characterized by miscues, on top of mistakes, on top of mental errors.

On first down from the Steelers’ 41-yard line with 1 minute, 43 seconds left, Fields and Zach Frazier had yet another miscommunication on a snap. It hit Fields in the face. They lost 11 yards.

“I got the tap, and I snapped the ball. I was in the middle of making a call. And I got the tap. I just got the call out. I just have to snap it. I don’t know what happened. But it was just unfortunate,” Frazier said.

Rookie C Zach Frazier on the bad snap that effectively ended the game pic.twitter.com/0LeLChv8l5 — Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 29, 2024

Fields took the responsibility after the game.

“At the end of the day, it’s on the first leg kick. After I kick my leg, I’ve got to be ready for the ball no matter when it is going to come. It’s on me,” Fields said.

After an incompletion on second down, Fields hit Harris, who didn’t get out of bounds near the Colts sideline when he could’ve after an 11-yard gain so the clock kept running with 56 seconds left.

Tomlin elected to keep his final timeout in his pocket. The Steelers had to go for it on fourth down with the clock running and nothing set up. Fields threw an incompletion. The Colts took over on downs and ran out the clock.

“I just wanted to hold it in my hip pocket. Sometimes working at pace is an advantage for an offense. It doesn’t give an opportunity for the defense to get specialized people in the game,” Tomlin said.

I get that. But the timeout stayed in Tomlin’s hip pocket the whole flight home. He should’ve used it there because the fourth down was a potential game-ending play. Worry about what is going to happen later in the series whenever you cross that bridge. You have to get there first and keep the drive alive.

The Steelers didn’t, and they lost as a result.

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