In the lead-up to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals, we heard from Teryl Austin and Mike Tomlin that the Steelers’ offseason moves in the secondary, including trading for Jalen Ramsey, were made with the Bengals in mind. After a 33-31 loss in which the Steelers’ defense was largely to blame and Ramsey was routinely beat, it seems as if they failed their test. On ESPN’s First Take on Friday Morning, Stephen A. Smith took issue with the Steelers’ lackluster performance, and Ramsey in particular.
“Didn’t you trade Minkah Fitzpatrick so you could get Jalen Ramsey? Jalen Ramsey was getting exploited throughout the night, multiple times by multiple people. Not just Ja’Marr Chase,” Smith said.
He added that he doesn’t know if Ramsey is a player who can continue to be relied on.
“What I’m worried about is the reliability associated with Jalen Ramsey. We have to ask, he’s been around for a very long time, he’s done it all,” Smith said. “It’s not to say that the brother still can’t play and he can’t still do good things, but is he what he used to be? Because I don’t see last night happening to a younger Jalen Ramsey.”
Ramsey isn’t the same All-Pro caliber corner he was when he was younger. But the Steelers still expected him to come in and be a guy who could battle with some of the top receivers in the league. So far, that really hasn’t been the case. He’s made some nice splash plays, namely the hit on Garrett Wilson to preserve the Steelers’ Week 1 win and two sacks against the Cleveland Browns in Week 6, but he hasn’t been consistently good in coverage against top receivers, and that’s why the Steelers acquired him.
He allowed nine catches for 128 yards in Week 2, per Pro Football Focus, while largely lined up against Jaxon Smith-Njigba of the Seattle Seahawks. When Ramsey has to go toe-to-toe with one of the top wide receivers in the league, he hasn’t shown that he can still hang.
Smith said every time a Bengals receiver made a play Thursday night, Ramsey was in the vicinity .
“Every time you looked at the screen, a play was being made by a Bengals wide receiver, Jalen Ramsey was in the picture. Every single time. Go back and watch it. We saw Jalen Ramsey more last night than we saw him in the first damn five games combined.”
Ramsey is far from the only reason the Steelers lost in Cincinnati. The lack of a pass rush and the awful run defense certainly played a major factor too. But Ramsey allowed what was essentially the game-clinching reception by WR Tee Higgins and wasn’t very good when lined up across from Ja’Marr Chase.
He’s still a good cornerback. But he’s not the elite cornerback who can take away the top dogs at receiver. Last night showed that. It was a disappointing performance, magnified by the fact that the Steelers seemed to tout that bringing in Ramsey could help slow down the Bengals’ passing attack. And yet, Cory Trice Jr. didn’t allow Ja’Marr Chase to play as well as he did when he was primarily lined up on him in the regular-season finale last season.
It wasn’t just Ramsey, as the entire secondary and defense had an awful night, but it was alarming that he seemed to be helpless in limiting Cincinnati’s passing attack.
Recommended for you