The Pittsburgh Steelers took another one on the chin in Week 8. After a strong first half, things fell apart for the team, especially Cameron Heyward and the Steelers defense, in the second half against the Green Bay Packers.
At one point, the Packers scored 25 of 28 points, which allowed them to cruise to a 35-25 victory.
Obviously, Heyward, one of Pittsburgh’s defensive captains, was not pleased with the team’s performance. He let that be known in so many words while speaking to reporters after the game.
“You gotta handle adversity a lot better. This game eroded in the second half and big plays were the death of us today,” Heyward told the media, via TribLive.com’s Joe Rutter. “You’re not going to be perfect out there, but you’ve got to keep fighting.
“I just think there is a lot of ball and not enough fight on our side.”
Heyward continued to say even more.
“We can’t let penalties or stuff that goes against you affect your heart in the game,” he added. “When you’ve got a love affair with this game, there has got to always be a buy-in.”
The Packers started Sunday night’s affair 1-for-6 on third downs. However, on their first third-down attempt of the second half, Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love completed a 59-yard pass to tight end Tucker Kraft.
That was the start of the Packers converting four of their final six third-down tries in the game. Green Bay also finished with 454 yards and a 9.7 yards per pass average.
Meanwhile, the Steelers helped the Packers’ cause, committing two personal foul penalties in the second half. The Steelers had six fouls for 65 yards in the loss.
Cameron Heyward, Steelers Pass Rush Goes Missing
The Steelers effectively placed Love under some pressure throughout Sunday night. So it wasn’t as if the team had no pass rush at all.
However, the Steelers were unable to create any splash plays with their pass rush. They failed to record a sack against Love, and when under pressure, Love often still connected with a receiver for a big play.
Week 8 was the first time this season Heyward and the Steelers were unable to register a sack. Still, over the past two games, the Steelers have just two sacks. They also don’t have a takeaway in the last 13 quarters.
It’s difficult to create turnovers when the opposing quarterback isn’t under consistent pressure.
Steelers Secondary Torched Again
Heyward’s comments appeared to be more general rather than directed at a certain teammate or even position group. But the team’s secondary deserves a lot of criticism for the second straight week.
The Pittsburgh secondary allowed a season-high 360 passing yards against the Packers. It was the third time in the past four games the Steelers yielded 300 yards through the air.
During that stretch, the Steelers have allowed eight passing touchdowns and registered two interceptions.
On Sunday night, the team’s secondary couldn’t keep up with Kraft, who posted the most yards after catch for a tight end since 2018.
Kraft was the first tight end with more than 140 receiving yards and two touchdowns against the Steelers since Jackie Smith in 1963.
Whether due to the lack of “fight,” failing to deal with adversity or something else, it was an embarrassing performance for the Steelers defense. Heyward and his teammates will be danger of dropping to the .500 mark next week if they don’t improve quickly on that side of the ball.
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