Buckwheat from the ancient TV show, “The Little Rascals” might put it this way; “otay, otay, dem team lost today, but do I’m still get a peanut butter and jelly samich if I’m good?”
Translation…that is the question that the offensive and defensive coordinators of the Pittsburgh Steelers should have asked the following Monday after the Steelers lost to the “horses,” 27-24. The OC and DC for Pittsburgh called an atrocious game and on the Monday following the game, should have been forced to ask themselves the following question: “Do we deserve an NFL paycheck?” My immediate response is: “No, yinz should not be paid.”
I’m reacting that way because every time Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin travels over a speed bump in the road during the season, time after time, some media-related folks don’t respond like musical legend Cyndi Lauper by saying, “If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting.” Most of the local media recite an entirely different set of lyrics. Their timeless song goes like this: “If you fall, we will stomp you, we will be waiting, time after time.”
First, let’s begin with the Steelers’ offense. Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith seemed to have hijacked the playbook of the former OC of the Steelers, Matt “Canada Dry” Canada. In addition to that losing strategy, Canada, oops, I meant to say Smith, sang his own tune crooning the lyrics from the song, “macho, macho man, I wanna be a macho man,” a tune that he borrowed from The Village People. Back in the day, that song may have worked wonders for the bank accounts of The Village People, but it fell flat at Lucas Oil Stadium. Arthur Smith keeps forcing the issue of running the football when there are 5 and 6 men in the box. Taking that into consideration, there is a distinct possibility that running the ball excessively might not be such a good idea. Also, continuing to feature Najee Harris might not be the best strategy either, because it is my theory that Harris may have visual issues because he oftentimes does not hit the hole in a timely fashion.
Could it be that he may not even see the hole? Najee Harris may have also taken the “throw your teammates under the bus 101 course,” taught by none other than Professor Ben Roethlisberger. This is what Najee Harris had to say, postgame. Richard Gegick posted an article on Steelers Now titled: “Najee Harris Believes Steelers Offense Must Execute.” Najee Harris is quoted in the article saying: “They are going to come out there with certain defenses to stop the run. We know that. So, we just have to execute it.” Harris went on to kind of spread the blame for the ugly loss on Sunday, Sept. 29 in Indianapolis around, not really taking responsibility for his performance. “It’s all of us. So what did we do, what did we see? I saw us all fight us as a team.”
What you mean “we?”
Hmm, let’s crunch a few numbers, shall we? Did I hear Mr. Harris complain about the lack of offensive execution? Let me see, Cordarrelle Patterson, 6 rushes for 43 yards. Justin Fields, 10 rushes for 55 yards. They seemed to be executing pretty darn well. For many of us who saw the game, it seems that Najee Harris, who had 13 carries for 19 yards, was the one who failed to execute. His ineffectiveness and subpar performance was one of the primary reasons that resulted in the Steelers’ defeat. As far as the Steelers’ defense was concerned, they came out flat and inadequately prepared. The cardinal sin is after the Colts starting QB Anthony Richardson was forced to exit the game as the result of a hip injury, second-string QB Joe Flacco came in like the comedian Carrot Top with his slice and dice machine and got busy with surgical precision and proceeded to carve up the Steelers’ secondary like they were a turkey at Thanksgiving. There were very few in-game defensive adjustments that were effective. However, like “Ghostbusters,” who you gonna blame? Mike Tomlin. Hey Mr. Austin, you’re competing against Joe Flacco, c’mon, the formula is not brain surgery. You rush five, drop seven, play man to man and cover 2 when forced to, but playing zone against a vet like Flacco, put it like this. Just call me when you come out of surgery and the anesthesia wears off.
Arthur Smith likes to run the ball. With his decimated offensive line, if his offense develops the three-and-out, “Kenny Pickett syndrome” going forward, move over Cleveland Browns, you may have some colleagues joining you in the basement of the AFC North.
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