Steelers Surprises: Offensive disappearing act highlights ugly loss to Patriots

There weren’t many pleasant surprises for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. After escaping Week 1 with a win despite an inconsistent offensive performance, the expectation was that another week together would help Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers and company take a step forward.

Instead, Pittsburgh went in the opposite direction during a 20-3 loss to the New England Patriots.

The Steelers failed to score a touchdown, produced only 235 yards and dropped to 1-1. While some of the problems looked familiar, there were still several developments I didn’t expect to see when Pittsburgh arrived in Foxborough.

Here are the biggest surprises from Sunday’s loss.

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Where did the big plays go?

For all of the discussion about Pittsburgh’s inability to sustain drives, the complete absence of explosive plays might be even more surprising.

The Steelers ran 67 offensive plays Sunday and exactly one gained 20 or more yards. That was a 26-yard catch-and-run by Jaylen Warren with 6:24 remaining and New England already leading 20-3.

That’s it.

Rodgers was brought back to Pittsburgh in part because the Steelers wanted to open up an offense that had become painfully predictable. Pairing him with McCarthy was supposed to give Pittsburgh opportunities to attack every level of the field, but the deep passing game has been practically nonexistent through two weeks.

According to NFL Research, Rodgers completed 20-of-27 passes for 142 yards on throws traveling fewer than 10 yards Sunday. When he went 10 or more yards downfield, he completed only 3-of-9 for 45 yards. He’s also 0-of-9 this season on attempts traveling at least 20 air yards.

Some of that is protection. Some is timing and execution. Some of that is dropped passes.

Whatever the reason, this certainly isn’t the explosive passing attack many expected to see from Rodgers, McCarthy and Metcalf.

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Germie Bernard leads the Steelers in receiving

With Michael Pittman Jr. inactive, rookie Germie Bernard got his first real opportunity in Pittsburgh’s offense and finished as the team’s leading receiver with 35 yards. Bernard caught four passes on eight targets, including a 19-yard reception that was Pittsburgh’s longest offensive play until Warren’s fourth-quarter catch-and-run.

Those aren’t huge numbers, but consider the rest of the receiving totals: Pat Freiermuth finished with 32 yards, Roman Wilson had 28 and Metcalf managed only 27 despite being targeted nine times.

Rodgers went to Bernard repeatedly during one possession and came away encouraged by what he saw:

“He created some separation, made some contested catches, and then made a rookie play,” Rodgers said. “I thought I saw some growth. I’m proud of him. He’s a good kid, and cares about it. We’re going to need him to keep improving.”

The “rookie play” was the late interception, when Bernard was unable to secure Rodgers’ pass before Gabe Jacas came away with the football. That’s part of the learning curve, but Bernard getting eight targets and leading Pittsburgh in receiving yards was still one of the more unexpected developments from Sunday.

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Two takeaways somehow produce nothing

Creating turnovers is supposed to be one of the easiest ways to steal points in a close game. Pittsburgh’s defense gave the offense two opportunities Sunday and neither one resulted in so much as a field goal.

The first came on New England’s opening possession: Nick Herbig forced Rhamondre Stevenson to fumble after a reception and Payton Wilson recovered, giving Pittsburgh the football at its own 16 following a Jalen Ramsey taunting penalty. The Steelers proceeded to go three-and-out.

Patrick Queen provided another opportunity early in the third quarter, intercepting Drake Maye at Pittsburgh’s 10-yard line with New England leading only 10-3. At that point, one touchdown could have completely changed the game: instead, Pittsburgh moved 29 yards and punted again.

The Steelers defense has now produced four takeaways through two games, including T.J. Watt‘s pick-six against Atlanta. Against New England, however, the offense couldn’t turn either takeaway into anything. In a game that remained within one score until late in the third quarter, those wasted possessions loom even larger.

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The Patriots didn’t need much offense to win by 17

A 20-3 final makes it look like New England’s offense had its way with Pittsburgh, but that really wasn’t the case. The Patriots offense scored only 13 points, with their final touchdown coming when Elijah Ponder returned Rodgers’ fourth-quarter fumble 19 yards for a score.

Drake Maye completed only 14 passes, threw for 208 yards, didn’t throw a touchdown and was intercepted by Queen. Pittsburgh also sacked him three times and forced two fumbles, recovering one.

New England still won by 17, which tells you about all you need to know about how poorly things went for Pittsburgh’s offense. Rodgers said afterward that when the defense holds an opponent to 13 offensive points, the Steelers have to win that game. McCarthy shared essentially the same sentiment, saying he expects Pittsburgh to win when its defense allows 13.

Still, the Steelers defense wasn’t perfect. New England rushed for 136 yards and produced several explosive plays, including TreVeyon Henderson‘s 39-yard touchdown and a 63-yard completion from Maye to Romeo Doubs. Still, asking a defense to hold opponents below 13 points because the offense can’t score isn’t a sustainable formula.

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McCarthy is cutting back after only two games

McCarthy has coached Rodgers for years, Rodgers has seen just about everything an NFL defense can throw at him, and their familiarity was supposed to help Pittsburgh install an offense capable of doing more than we’ve seen in recent seasons. However, two games into the experiment, McCarthy is already talking about doing less.

McCarthy admitted that Pittsburgh wasn’t handling the volume of the game plan particularly well during Wednesday and Thursday’s practices. Rather than reacting then, McCarthy continued forward with it and took responsibility afterward.

“If it’s not clean, you cut the volume down, and we’re not clean on offense,” McCarthy said. “So, the volume is getting cut down.”

That doesn’t mean McCarthy is abandoning what he wants the offense to become. In fact, he specifically said he doesn’t want Pittsburgh playing “dink-and-dunk” football and still wants to attack downfield. The issue is getting all 11 players operating together well enough to actually do it.

Perhaps simplifying things is exactly what Pittsburgh needs. Fewer concepts could mean cleaner protection, better communication and players reacting instead of thinking through assignments after the ball is snapped.

Yet, the Steelers are 1-1, so there’s plenty of time to figure this out. The surprise is how quickly an offense featuring McCarthy, Rodgers and Metcalf has reached the point where simplifying everything already feels necessary.