I don't know about you, but after an approximately ninety-minute weather delay, I would have expected the Steelers to put forth a better effort at home against the Dallas Cowboys, but, alas, I was mistaken. That's not to say that an effort was not put forth. It's just that the effort was not a winning effort.
After the performance we turned in the week prior on the road against the Colts, I was looking forward to seeing how we would respond at home, in prime time. I would offer that our response was disproportionate given the gravity of the situation, e.g. needing to bounce back from a loss.
With that in mind let's see what we learned on the offensive side of the ball.
As I have said over our many discussions, I am objective but honest, meaning I call it the way I see it, but let me pose these facts to you and let you decide whether the offense is stuck in a malaise. The offense gained a whopping two-hundred and twenty-six yards.
Considering the defense surrendered over four hundred yards, the offense did not respond in kind. We converted only three of twelve third-down opportunities, averaged exactly four yards per play, lost a fumble, lost the time of possession battle and, in turn, lost the game.
For as good as Justin Fields has played thus far, meaning that his record as the Steelers starter was three wins and one loss heading into the Cowboys game, he did not look 'sharp' and was not able to provide the 'spark' we needed to secure victory.
Fields did not have a particularly stellar game, statistically speaking, despite passing for two TDs. Completing fifty-five percent of passes is 'okay', but completing those passes for an average of a little over four yards per attempt is just not good enough, in my opinion.
There's no need to belabor the point. The offense was not good against the Cowboys and that's that. Needless to say, the offense must play better in order for us to be where we want to be at the end of the regular season. Right now, that's a fantasy, not a reality.
Let's see what we learned on the defensive side of the ball.
It's very rare to see the Steelers' defense not play at a 'high level', but I think it's fair to say that we witnessed a 'mid-level' performance against the Cowboys. Here's the 'stat' line and you tell me how you would grade the defensive performance.
The Cowboys' offense ran several five plays, converted nine of fifteen third down opportunities, which is a sixty-percent clip, gained four-hundred and forty-five total yards, and won the time of possession battle by a 'shade' under five minutes.
To be fair, had it not been for the two INTs and the one fumble the defense was able to generate, the margin of victory would have been much wider than it was. The defense was able to hold the Cowboys to only one 'red area', as Mike Tomlin calls it, conversion.
Couple that with a blocked FG by the special teams, the defense hung in as long as they could and gave the offense opportunities to capitalize, but, as we have seen many times over the last few years, the offense and defense did not or could not complement each other.
Congratulations to T.J. Watt for notching his one-hundredth sack. While I don't know Watt personally, I think I know the type of player Watt is, which is to say that Watt would have taken the win over the sack any day of the week.
Let's see what else we learned.
Look, I understand that it is difficult to win a game in the NFL. I also understand that the Steelers are the type of team that will not go undefeated over a seventeen-game season, but I also understand that we can't afford to keep losing if we desire to achieve what we want to achieve.
As Mike Tomlin has repeatedly stated I am paraphrasing)-football is our game and our business is winning. That sounds great. Since Tomlin has been our head coach, we have never had a losing season, but we have also not won a Super Bowl since the 2008 season.
I would take it a step further and say that the business of the Steelers is not only to win but to get to and win the Super Bowl. I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation. With the current iteration of the Steelers, getting to a Super Bowl may be out of the question based on the way we have played in two consecutive games.
To be clear, we are a flawed team.
Every team has flaws, but what separates the good teams from the championship-caliber teams is the ability to scheme from week to week and from series to series. It is also the ability to overcome adversity. We did not accomplish that against the Colts and we certainly did not accomplish that against the Cowboys.
We had every chance to beat the Cowboys and we didn't. I would argue that part of the reason we didn't beat the Cowboys was the ineffectual nature of the offense, which, frankly has not been good all season, and the inability of the defense to get off the field on third down.
As of this writing, the Steelers offense is ranked twenty-third in average yards per game and twenty-sixth in average points scored per game. I don't know about you, but those numbers are not the marked improvement I was hoping to see this year. Defensively, we are in the third quartile in third-down conversion percentage.
Something has to be done to address the feckless offense and the inability of the defense to get off the field on third down when it matters most. I would say that Tomlin simply needs to look in the mirror to find the answers to those questions.
