Inept In Indy: Five Thoughts On Steelers’ Week 4 Loss

This was a game of endless miscues. Frustrating, inexcusable, game-deciding miscues, and as a result, the Steelers will lose their first game of the season, falling to 3-1.

The failed comeback attempt, led by Justin Fields and a surging offense, was admirable, but it quite frankly did not need to happen. Pittsburgh’s prized defense folded like a cheap suit and cost this team the game.

I suppose losing was inevitable, but the way they did it today is certainly worthy of conversation. Let’s get into it.

1: This Is Not The NFL’s Best Defense

Whatever case the Steelers’ defense could have made to be the best in the NFL, they relinquished it today. They got absolutely carved up by 39-year old Joe Flacco for 168 yards, 2 touchdowns, and seemingly endless third down conversions.

Before starting quarterback Anthony Richardson went out with that hip injury, he went 3/4 for 71 yards as well. Truthfully, you could have put my grandmother in there at quarterback and she would have been slinging it around in Indianapolis.

Pittsburgh’s defense allowed back to back touchdown drives to open the game, and surrendered 17 points by the half, a figure higher than any score they’ve given up to opponents all season.

By the time this defense actually started playing up to its standard and pay grade, it was far too late. Make no mistake, this unit was the biggest letdown in this game.

2: The Najee Harris Optics

Indianapolis came into today possessing one of the worst rushing defenses in the NFL. They gave up a league-worst 179 yards on average through the first three weeks of the season.

This is exactly the type of game you drafted Najee Harris in the first round for: to play that bruising style of run that does not stop. Harris is supposed to be the guy in situations like this, where a run-heavy team should be able to lean even more on their running game.

So how did Harris fare today? A total of 18 rushing yards on 13 carries. Of any rusher not named Aaron Shampklin (who had 1 carry for 5 yards), Harris had the lowest average at 1.4.

By comparison, Cordarrelle Patterson finished the day with more than double Harris’ rushing total, at 43 yards, despite having a third of the carries and leaving in the first half due to an ankle injury. Patterson had 4 carries of 9+ yards, and had a burst through a weakened offensive line almost every time he took the ball.

Harris, meanwhile, made Indy’s run defense look like a Pro Bowl squad out there.

I will say this for Najee, he was much more effective in the passing game, where he caught a trio of balls for 54 yards, including a 32-yard catch and run play that set up the Steelers in the redzone.

But that is not his primary role on this team. He is a running back who put up less than 20 yards against one of the worst rushing defenses in the NFL. That cannot happen.

3: Let’s Talk Timeouts

For all their ineptitude in this game, the Steelers had a legitimate chance to still win it. Down by a field goal and on the north side of the two-minute warning, Justin Fields and the Steelers had the ball and were looking to cap off a late-game surge that saw them put up back to back touchdowns.

Fields ripped off a 12-yard run, and then completed a 9-yard pass to Van Jefferson. But then, disaster struck. At their own 42-yard line, Fields had to scramble to recover a snap he wasn’t ready for. He fell on it back at Pittsburgh’s 30-yard line, but that meant that the Steelers were now stuck with a 2nd & 22.

An incomplete pass to George Pickens and a 11-yard catch that Harris did not get all the way out of bounds for then set up the Steelers for a 4th & 11, with the clock now under a minute and time fleeting. This is where the Steelers needed to call their final timeout.

I know that makes your time situation after the first down complicated, but the offense was scrambling and didn’t look to all be set and ready. This play was the game right here, a gotta-have-it pass that has to reach the first down. That’s not a play you can rush.

Instead, the Steelers try to hurry it, and a Fields pass falls incomplete to Van Jefferson, sealing the game for the Colts.

4: Justin Fields Is Still That Guy

Despite the loss, and his first half struggles, I really liked the way Justin Fields responded in the second half. He led two touchdown drives in that half and was in a position to have his first game-winning, two-minute drill with the Steelers.

He finished his day going 22/34 for 312 yards, 1 passing touchdown, 2 rushing touchdowns, and a fumble lost. His 55 rushing yards were also a team-leader in this game, which shows how Fields can use his legs and how poor the rushing efforts were from the Steelers today.

That first half showed a lot of reasons why Chicago was willing to move off of him. But that second half showed why they drafted him so high in the first place, and why Pittsburgh sought to get him in a trade.

That second half was tremendous and if they can get that kind of Fields in a complete 60 minutes, the offense gets a little more dangerous.

5: Get Darnell Washington Involved More

Darnell Washington was used almost exclusively as a blocking tight end in his rookie year for the Steelers. Despite playing all 17 games, he had just 7 receptions for 61 yards.

This season, the team has been ever so slightly betting him more involved in their game plan. And they need to continue to ramp it up, if for no other reason than this play alone: