The Pittsburgh Steelers week 2 loss to the Seattle Seahawks could have season-long ramifications if Ben Roethlisberger and/or James Conner miss significant time due to injury. At the time of this article, there are no updates and I won’t speculate, that being said here are my gut reactions to week 2.
The good
I’m trying to look at the Steelers relatively compared to week 1. On an 0-2 franchise, there’s a lot more bad than good to examine as one would expect. But the Steelers defensive free agent signings Steve Nelson and Mark Barron both had solid games. Each finished with six tackles and Barron was credited with both a half of a sack and a fumble recovery while Nelson was sound in coverage and broke up one pass. This is a good sign for a defense that still surrenders big plays regularly. They look lost at times, surrendering a 38-yard touchdown rush and three touchdown passes in week 2, but eventually, if Nelson and Barron keep making an impact the Steelers will reap the rewards.
Sticking with the defense, in the preseason I realized that Terrell Edmunds is set up to have a breakout year, and in week 2 he was in rare form. While the defense surrendered 300 yards through the air and over 100 on the ground, Edmunds was making plays all over the place. He led the Steelers with 11 tackles and had a pass defense to boot. While those numbers aren’t jaw-dropping it’s how he played that really was eye-opening. He was a force when he played in the box, making multiple tackles around the line of scrimmage, but was equally good in coverage.
The Seahawks regularly got D.K. Metcalf, their No. 2 receiver, matched up against Edmunds. On paper, a strong safety trying to cover a major receiving threat is considered a mismatch. But Edmunds defended Metcalf well and even though he got a 38-yard pass interference penalty that set up a Seahawks touchdown Edmunds showed that he has all the tools to be a complete strong safety for the Steelers.
Mason Rudolph acquitted himself well in Ben Roethlisberger’s absence, leading a 2nd half comeback that fell short. Rudolph was the story all preseason and the Steelers offense showed some semblance of life when he was under center. He connected with Vance McDonald for two separate touchdown receptions and looked like he was comfortable in the pocket. If he can continue to develop maybe the offense will find new life with him behind center.
The bad
I know the Steelers quarterback play hasn’t been amazing, but the receiving corps has been hard to watch. Juju Smith-Schuster was supposed to take over where Antonio Brown left off. He had five receptions on eight targets for 84 yards. 45 of which came on a flea flicker. But if you omit that play, he had four receptions for 39 yards on seven targets. That’s not enough targets for an offense that’s looking for playmakers and 39 yards receiving on seven looks is far from an efficient day at the office. Hopefully Rudolph and Smith-Schuster can develop some chemistry in a hurry.
Donte Moncrief continued his poor play, dropping the only target he that went his way which ended up as an interception. Ryan Switzer had one reception for 0 yards on four targets and fumble to boot. In case you’re counting that’s one catch on five targets for 0 yards with a drop that led to an interception and a fumble to boot.
This duo has been ice cold, hopefully, there’s nowhere to go but up. Switzer’s play made me wonder if the Steelers made the right choice letting Eli Rogers go. He’s never been a major offensive threat and I would’ve liked to see Jaylen Samuels run some of Switzer’s routes before James Conner got injured. Samuels played a little bit of everything in college and runs crisp routes. But with Conner out, he’ll be shouldering the load out of the backfield. I don’t know where to go from here, let’s figure out how long Conner and Roethlisberger. That’s the next step. The Steelers face a 2-0 49ers group next week and don’t have many answers two weeks into the 2019 season.
