Steelers Blow Game To Jets, Lose 22-17

The Steelers came into today one game up on the Ravens in the AFC North and had a chance to clinch a playoff spot with a win.  Instead, they left tied with the Ravens in the AFC North and the Jets left with a playoff spot clinched.  Pittsburgh knew this was going to be a hard fought contest, a defensive struggle but the didn’t get the job done today. The opening kick was returned by the Jets for a TD and they took a quick 7-0 lead.  The Steelers were able to tie the game at 7 in the 2nd quarter, and traded field goals after that to make it 10-10 at half time.  They took a 17-10 lead and then the Jets did the rest of the scoring to win 22-17.  The worst play of the game came in the last few minutes of the 4th quarter, down 20-17. The Steelers had the ball on their own two yard line. They go into a shotgun and hand the bal off in the end zone to Mewelde Moore. Jason Taylor busted through the backfield and pummled Moore in the end zone for a safety which essentially sealed the game.  The Steelers made a 87 yard drive at the end of the game, but they needed 92 yards to win.  They fell short on two incomplete passes from Roethlisberger in the end zone and the Jets left victorious.

Big Ben threw for 264 yards and a TD but he was off today. It may have been the weather, it may have been the gloves, it may have been the receivers running poor routes and dropping balls but it all added up to 21 incompletions on 44 throws.  The offense wasn’t putrid like in recent weeks but they just couldn’t put it all together when they needed to. Mendenhall put together 100 yards on only 17 carries against a very strong Jets defense but it just wasn’t enough today.  The offensive line showed once again it’s not very solid as they gave up three sacks, a safety and several hurries in which Big Ben fumbled twice.  The defense showed that without Troy Polamalu they just aren’t the same. They were unable to truly contain a struggling Mark Sanchez who was a respectable 19/29 for 170 and no interceptions.  Side note, we think Sanchez is a jerk off but we digress. The D only got to Sanchez for 1 sack. Timmons and Harrison were animals combining for 23 tackles but they weren’t able to ever really pressure Sanchez.  The defense also gave up 106 yards on the ground to the Jets running attack. That’s not seen often but the Steelers were unable to mix up their blitzes and coverage without number 43. 

The team did reduce the penalties as we had been calling for, only having 3 today but they just didn’t have enough of the all around game to get it done. A failed special teams play, a failure to get to Sanchez and a failure to get the down the field on offense effectively cost the Steelers the game. They better get over it fast though, they play their final home game of the year, barring playoffs, this Thursday night.

A couple of notes, we had mentioned you should compare Holmes vs. Wallace today to see who comes out with the better numbers. For the record, it was Wallace! He had 7 catches for 102 yards while Holmes had 6 catches for 40 yards.  The problem with that number is the Steelers allowed Braylon Edwards 8 catches for 100 yards. (NO TROY!)

We had mentione how Harrison didn’t tackle anyone last week, he picked up 10 today.

The bottom line about today, it wasn’t a crippling loss, it didn’t change much, the Steelers still hold the 2 spot in the AFC for now and a tie breaker over the Ravens, but they must win their final two games to keep both of those in tact.  They should be able to but you never know.  The Steelers were out coached today. The 4th and 1 bootleg and the 3rd and 3 snap to the RB were proof of that. We think they’ll bounce back but a couple things are very obvious, the team must get better on the O Line, special teams, in the secondary and the coaches must game plan better….yeah, we’re talking to you Tomlin and Arians.

10-4, next up Carolina.