Within the Pittsburgh Steelers first house recreation, they wore down the Los Angeles Chargers’ protection, chewing up the ultimate 5 minutes to victory. Of their second house recreation, they acquired a dose of their very own medication. Worn down by accidents to a number of outdoors linebackers, the Dallas Cowboys marched on 15 an 16 play landing drives within the second half, together with the game-winning rating on a protracted trek in the direction of the Steelers’ aim line.
Explaining why the Steelers’ usually stout protection faltered, Mike Tomlin stated accidents and attrition performed roles.
“We allotted seven to protection, which meant we needed to do it with a four-man rush,” Tomlin informed Bob Pompeani throughout his weekly Mike Tomlin Present. “After which the second half of the sport because the attrition set in and we misplaced a few of our succesful rushers, that acquired compromised. And that’s in all probability acquired extra to do with it than anything.”
Pittsburgh got here into the sport with out Alex Highsmith, sitting out after aggravating a camp groin damage towards the Chargers. They misplaced Nick Herbig late within the third quarter, an enormous blow to the group’s rush. Herbig was having success all recreation, whooping on rookie LT Tyler Guyton earlier than Guyton left with an damage. Even on Herbig’s last play, he pressured and hit QB Dak Prescott. Per our charting, Herbig had 5 pressures and a half-sack on simply 28 move rush makes an attempt, an extremely environment friendly fee.
Backup DeMarvin Leal went down with a neck damage within the fourth quarter, leaving the group with solely T.J. Watt and Jeremiah Moon because the Steelers final two wholesome true EDGE rushers. Watt was taken away by the Cowboys’ safety whereas Moon was enjoying his first recreation of the season, out the primary month as a result of an ankle damage. They had been pressured to play each snap of the Cowboys’ 15-play last drive. Even with the advantage of timeouts, it’s clear they had been worn down because the Cowboys transformed two third downs and the fourth-down game-winner.
Tomlin additionally cited a have to drop into protection as one purpose why the Steelers didn’t blitz to compensate for his or her accidents.
“We would have liked seven to allocate towards protection and the trouble to attenuate the likes of CeeDee Lamb and so forth. They had been enjoying him lots inside and he would have one-on-one matchups with a man like [Beanie Bishop].”
Bishop was overmatched within the recreation and had his worst efficiency of the season. From a manufacturing viewpoint, Lamb wasn’t a lot of an element on the drive, however his presence impacted how the Steelers felt they might play. And so they lacked the juice to get house with their entrance 4, a blueprint that’s labored all through the season.
With Highsmith, Herbig, and Leal out, the Steelers should contemplate a distinct technique Sunday towards the Las Vegas Raiders. With WR Davante Adams out, the Raiders lack the huge receiver menace the Cowboys do. There may be TE Brock Bowers however that may by no means be a Bishop-type of matchup. It ought to permit Pittsburgh to be extra aggressive and blitz extra usually than they’ve.
Ideally, this recreation isn’t shut sufficient for final-drive attrition to even be an element. However provided that 4 of the Steelers’ 5 video games this season have been determined by one-score, the protection will in all probability be counted on to win late.
