The eleventh time is apparently not the charm. The Steelers went to Philadelphia and dropped a 27-13 decision to the Eagles, bringing the Black and Gold’s win tally there to 0-11 since 1965.
Going into this game the Eagles offered a unique measuring stick to gauge the team’s progress since the drubbing the Steelers suffered in Philadelphia a little over two years ago.
- Today, the Eagles won because they out-executed the Steelers end-to-end.
But does that mean Pittsburgh hasn’t made any progress? No, fortunately it does not. Despite the loss, the Steelers did show that they’re making progress. However, within that progress there are as many reasons for caution as there are for hope.
Najee Harris fumbles. Photo Credit: SteelersWire.com
It’s Execution, (or Lack Thereof) My Dear Watson
The Eagles brought a 9-game winning streak into the game. They were at home, in a place where the Steelers have struggled. They were favorites for a reason.
Still, it was said the Steelers had a “puncher’s chance.” Multiple times the Steelers had chances to expand their foothold against the Eagles only to falter.
- Down 3-0, T.J. Watt forced a Jalen Hurts fumble at 5:17 in the first quarter
- Beanie Bishop recovered
- at 4:25, 3 plays and one Russell Wilson sack later the Steelers were punting
In less than a minute, the Steelers had created and squandered a chance to get ahead of an opponent that was clearly in control of the game. But that didn’t seem to matter, as Danny Smith’s special teams struck back quickly.
- Mark Robinson forced a fumble on the punt which Nick Herbig recovered
- The Steelers now had the ball at Philadelphia’s 11
- Najee Harris ripped off a 7 yard run on the next play
- Only to have it negated by an unsportsman like call against Darnell Washington
- That brought up 2nd and 19 instead of 2nd and 3 at the 4
- Two incompletions later Chris Boswell was kicking a field goal
Sure. We can complain that Washington’s penalty should have been off set. It was not. And the reality is that the Steelers had two fumbles inside of one minute and could only turn those into 3 points.
- Arguably, these weren’t the Steelers most damaging misfires.
The defense opened the second half by forcing a field goal, watching a Montravius Adams penalty give the Eagles a second shot, only to force another field goal.
- It took three plays for the Steelers to reach the Eagles’ 26-yard line, only to fumble.
- The Eagles turned that into a touchdown.
- The Steelers started the ensuing drive strong, only to scuttle it with a Zach Frazier penalty
Thanks to the penalty the Steelers had a 1st and 21, lost a yard on a pass to Cordarrelle Patterson and punted away their last chance to punch their way into this contest.
The Bad: Execution is Elementary for Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles were the better team in this game and that was evident from the outset.
Jalen Hurts started this game on fire. HE completed 12 of his first 13 passes and finished the evening with 290 yards on 25 completions with two touchdowns.
- The Eagles converted 10 of 17 third downs
- They also converted 1 of 1 4th down attempts
- A.J. Brown had over 100 yards receiving
- As did DeVonta Smith
- The Eagles dominated time of possession by almost 20 minutes
To drive that final point home, after the Steelers scuttled their final drive with the Zach Frazier penalty Philadelphia got the ball with 10 and a half minutes and never gave it back.
The fireworks in Philly weren’t limited to the offensive side of the ball. The Eagles defense forced 4 three and outs by the Steelers offense, won the battle at the line of scrimmage, and not surprisingly, held them 3 of 10 on third downs
The Good: Some Progress for Pittsburgh
This was the worst game the Steelers have played in 2024 but, despite that, they’ve improved since their last trip to Philadelphia in 2022.
- Russell Wilson was only sacked twice, as opposed to 6 sacks for Kenny Pickett in ‘22
- A.J. Brown’s longest catch was for 21 yards
- His shortest touchdown was for 27 yards in 2022
- The Steelers held Saquon Barkley to 3.4 yards – his season average is just under 6
- T.J. Watt sacked Hurts twice and Alex Highsmith got to him once
And while there’s no doubt that the Steelers offense is struggling without George Pickens, credit Arthur Smith and Russell Wilson for engineering a crafty drive (Ben Skowronek for 17 yards on first down – we all saw that coming) that finished with a phenomenal Pat Freiermuth combat touchdown catch.
Pat Freiermuth makes a combat touchdown catch. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
The duo was looking to do the same with the flea flicker to Calvin Austin hookup that started the second half drive that ended in the fumble.
Needed: A Running Game
If the Steelers have made some progress when measured against elite competition, they clearly remain very far from where they want to be: Russell Wilson may have supplanted Kordell Stewart as the last Steelers quarterback to throw a touchdown pass in Philadelphia, but Mike Nixon still has a win there that continues to elude Mike Tomlin.
There are many reasons for that, but the biggest and perhaps the least obvious reason is that the team cannot establish the run.
The Eagles were successful with their short passing game because they forced the Steelers to respect the run.
- The Steelers couldn’t command reciprocal respect.
And as a result, Corliss Waitman had another strong outing as a punter. The good news is that, despite that, the Steelers were only a couple-of-three plays away from giving the Eagles a run for their money.
But until Arthur Smith can establish some consistency on the ground, this offense will remain too dependent on parlor tricks to seriously compete with true Super Bowl contenders.
