The Steelers are understandably under fire this week after their failure to stand with the Bengals offense. Having made Joe Flacco look like he was back in his glory days, every pundit under the sun is prodding the AFC North leaders. In particular, HC Mike Tomlin and company are drawing fire for their big talk preceding such a small performance.
During the offseason, Steelers defenders expressed belief they could have an all-time great defense, which Tomlin backed. Even leading up to Thursday’s game, they reminded that they added Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey for teams like Cincinnati. With Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in their division, they loaded up to counter that weaponry. But perhaps they’re overconfident in what they have and need to ratchet it down, Emmanuel Acho says.
“The Steelers should be utterly embarrassed. Mike Tomlin is too great a defensive mind to allow this to happen”, Acho said on the Speakeasy podcast. “Like, Mike Tomlin, eventually, you’ve got to humble yourself. Teryl Austin, defensive coordinator, you’ve got to humble yourself. Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, y’all got to humble y’allselves”.
“It was not y’all’s day”, he added. “Ja’Marr Chase is absolutely a dawg. He is one of them ones. Patrick Queen needs to run to the sideline and say, ‘Coach, call one double. Send me to double-team Ja’Marr Chase.’ I don’t want to see in the hole, I don’t need to sit a hole player and try to guard [Andrei] Iosivas”.
“There is absolutely no reason for the Steelers to have looked this pitiful with Joe Flacco showing up eight days ago”.
There might not be a reason for the Steelers defense to look the way it did, but what’s done is done, and they can only work toward fixes now. During the offseason, Jalen Ramsey let it be known that he is “still that one”, and he welcomed critics to question it. Right now, he seems to be on the losing end of that argument.
While Ramsey remains a very talented player, his true lockdown cornerback days may be behind him. At least when it comes to the elite defenders of the day, the Steelers may be asking too much of him. Or maybe they’re just asking him to do too many things. The Steelers have him playing all over the defense, which he wanted, but it’s not easy.
Meanwhile, Joey Porter Jr. looked far worse than he did against the Browns, and Darius Slay didn’t fare much better. Even DeShon Elliott missed an open-field tackle on the longest run the Steelers allowed all night. And that’s not even speaking about the front seven.
Yes, they had a short week, and they played a divisional opponent on the road. But the Steelers have invested so much in this defense that one cannot excuse a performance like this under any context. And if it can happen once, it can happen again.
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