PITTSBURGH — In the moments after the Steelers' first loss of the season, coach Mike Tomlin said he was worried about his offense's ability to "fluidly" move the ball, whether with the run or the pass.
And he should be concerned — before it's too late.
"We move it how we choose to move it," he said. "The way that we chose to move it (against Washington) wasn't fluid enough for us to have victory."
It wasn't just against Washington, which beat the Steelers, 23-17, by coming back from an 11-point deficit in the second half. It's been that way against every team since November. There is no moving the ball with the run for the Steelers, who had their worst outing in a season rife with miserable efforts, gaining 21 yards on 14 carries and having eight runs of zero or negative yards on Monday.
There is only a pitch-and-catch offense that has to throw the ball a season-high 53 times, even when the Steelers have a 14-point lead. It is an offense that when there is a surprising gain with a running play — such as Anthony McFarland's 9-yard run on the first play of the second series after halftime — it feels compelled to throw the ball eight of the next nine plays. Or when Ben Roethlisberger attempted 11 consecutive passes after Benny Snell gained 7 yards on the first play of a 13-play field goal drive last week against the Baltimore Ravens.
Something needs to change in an attempt to find some semblance of balance, even if it's a more representative imbalance. It's up to offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner to do something about it. He either has to find more creative ways to gain a yard — something the Steelers failed to do on seven instances against Washington — or emphasize a greater need to run the ball with the play-calling. Failing that, maybe it's up to Tomlin to step in and exert a greater influence, as he does with the defense.
What has happened to all the pre-snap motion, misdirection and jet sweeps installed by quarterback coach Matt Canada that were designed to bring some unpredictability to the offense? Right now, the only pre-snap motion comes with false starts.
If anything, the Steelers are becoming predictable on offense. Defenses are bringing their safety down into the box, not because they respect the run, but to disrupt the short, quick passing game. Too many of those quick throws are coming up short of the chains because defenders are waiting to prevent a first down.
James Washington suggested some of the dropped passes on Monday were because players were trying to run with the ball before catching it — that happens when you know a defender is sitting there like a dog waiting for a bone.
It is significant that Roethlisberger hasn't been sacked in his past 252 attempts over the past 21 quarters. Protecting him is the team's most essential priority. But another way to reduce the possibility of a sack, along with dropped passes and tipped balls, is to be able to run the ball, especially when trying to protect a double-digit lead.
The Steelers choose to do that throwing the ball. They need to change that before it comes back to bite them again.
