Slow Starts Becoming Too Familiar to Steelers Offense
It was a disappointing home opener for the Pittsburgh Steelers, coming off a huge win in Buffalo just a week prior.
The hits came early as Devin Bush and Joe Haden were announced as inactives prior to the game with groin injuries. The hits didn’t stop there, either. The Steelers lost both Tyson Alualu and T.J. Watt in the first half to injuries, as well.
The offense needed to step up on Sunday and for that, they deserve a good portion of the blame for the loss.
The biggest issue is that this unit continues to start slow out of the gates. It’s been an issue for some time and the 2021 version of the Steelers offense isn’t changing that narrative any time soon, it feels like. Last season, the Steelers scored just four offensive touchdowns in the first quarter; two rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns. That’s just not good enough.
They haven’t been good enough early in games so far this season, either. They’ve accumulated just six first downs thus far in the first quarter of both games. Never mind the fact that they aren’t scoring points, they aren’t able to stay on the field.
Roethlisberger has not looked comfortable at all, especially early. The lone turnover from Sunday’s game was a first quarter interception on a broken play that should have been a throwaway. Johnson didn’t exactly help him, thereby stopping on the scramble drill upon contact with the corner. Speaking of shortcomings on the scramble drill, Ebron had a chance to reel in a first down grab off a vintage Roethlisberger play but couldn’t hold on to the ball. Harris hasn’t had much room to work with on the ground, either. In his ten first quarter carries, he’s totaled just 25 yards.
Ultimately, the Steelers lost the time of possession battle again in the game against the Raiders. The Steelers' ball control on offense isn’t going to improve unless the offensive line starts to play better in the run game or protecting the quarterback. With a pair of rookies and a second-year guard, it’s unclear when that unit may start to improve. Until that happens, the offense is going to continue to struggle.
There’s a small hint of optimism because of all the youth on the offensive line but at this rate, Roethlisberger won’t be around to see the final development of the product.
We knew the Steelers' offense was going to be far from a finished product. There are still 15 games left, and it would be premature to hit the panic button on the entire side of the ball just yet. However, they need to start figuring something out.
Maybe we see Matt Canada design a brilliant game script to open the Bengals game on Sunday. Remember opening drive touchdowns? Those seem like distant memories at this point but would be a welcomed sight in Pittsburgh.
Derrick Bell is a contributor with AllSteelers. Follow Derrick on Twitter @derrick_daKidD, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
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