Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers couldn’t pull off the upset on the West Coast, as they fell to the Los Angeles Chargers 25-10 in a game that never seemed like much of a threat. The defense kept things close until late, but a truly anemic showing offensively was just far too much to overcome. Not only does this open the door for the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North, but the loss could have Wild Card implications down the road. Mike Tomlin’s club will have a chance at revenge next weekend, as they host the Cincinnati Bengals.
Before we turn the page, let’s take a look at some winners and losers from tonight’s showdown.
Coming off his best game of the season last week versus the Indianapolis Colts, Benton turned in another strong performance tonight. He tied for the team lead with four pressures and added a couple of run stops for good measure. Granted this outing was against some pretty weak competition, it’s been really encouraging to see the third-year pro bounce back after a rough start to the season. Throughout his young career, we’ve seen flashes of disruption, and it finally seems like it’s turning into legitimate production.
There’s no sugar coating this one: the future first-ballot Hall of Famer was abysmal tonight, finishing the game with -0.5 EPA/play and a 37% success rate. The offensive line had a couple quick losses early in the game, and he seemed spooked from that point forward, dropping his eyes quickly, throwing off his back foot, and making poor decisions with the football. He was actually only pressured on 23% of his dropbacks and went 0-5, taking five sacks and a safety in the process. As an offense, they went 2-11 on third down, and it’s obviously pretty difficult to win games when you can’t stay on the field.
Los Angeles was playing with their backup tackles in this one, and the Steelers’ edge rushers were able to take advantage of that. Watt, Herbig, and Highsmith (2) all got home in this one, and it felt like they were winning a fair amount of their individual matchups, making Justin Herbert a bit antsy in the pocket. Most of the Chargers’ success through the air came off quick throws, a formula that teams have spammed all season long. Other than being unable to generate a turnover, you can’t ask for much more than what they brought to the table in this one.
It was certainly a rough performance for Echols, with three catches for 89 yards and a touchdown when matched up with Chargers wideout Ladd McConkey. Late in the fourth quarter, the Steelers had a chance to get off the field on third down, only behind 12 points at that point. Echols actually matched the crossing route step for step but couldn’t break up the pass at the catch point, and it went...
