The Pittsburgh Steelers defense made 40-year-old Joe Flacco look like Joe Montana on Thursday night, getting ripped apart by the quarterback in a 33-31 loss. It was the Steelers defense, not Flacco, that looked old at prime time.
Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh’s offense put up 31 points, including a late lead, but the defense offered was as strong as single-ply toilet paper.
“I look at it like our offense gave us a ton of points and as a defense it’s more than enough,” defensive tackle Cameron Heyward said, via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor . “As a defense, we got to own it. As a D-line, that run game is a big blemish on our team right now. Your offense gives you 30 points, you should feel good that you can win a game, but as a defense, we got to take pride in stopping the run and we didn’t. That’s unacceptable.”
The Steelers allowed 470 total yards and 33 points to the Bengals. That’s the most yards allowed by Pittsburgh’s defense since Week 5 of 2022 against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills (552). The 31 points are the most allowed in a loss since Week 11, 2021, against the Los Angeles Chargers.
There wasn’t one aspect of the Steelers defense that played well. The senior sophomore was eaten alive by Ja’Marr Chase (16/161/1) and Tee Higgins (6/96/1). The front could not clear the run. And the pass rush didn’t come home until it was too late – TJ Watt, for example, didn’t have any QB pressure until late in the third quarter and only scored two for the game.
“We’ve been proud to get that splash, and I don’t think we’ve had one last week, we won’t have one this week,” Watt said. “If you’re not stopping the run and getting off the field and not creating turnovers, you’re in a world of hurt.
The run defense was particularly underwhelming. Brown entered the NFL ranked in the bottom three in the NFL in yards per carry (2.7), rushing yards per game (33.7), first downs per game (2.2) and 10-plus yard rushes (2) among 36 RBs with at least 50 carries. On Thursday night, he rushed for 108 yards, 9.8 yards per carry, four first downs and three carries of 10 yards, including 37 yards.
“We just weren’t doing what we’ve been doing,” Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen said. “We weren’t physical, we didn’t keep our spacing. Everybody just got a job, and they just had to stick to that job. It started with me, I got better. I got two chances to play, didn’t make the games and there was a big rush, so I just got to get better. It’s that simple.”
According to Next Gen Stats, the Steelers didn’t have a single rushing touchdown on the night. The inability to prevent Brown from racking up big gains allowed Flacco to be in unpredictable down-and-away situations. The short 2nd and 3rd downs opened up the ability to choke the Steelers defense to death. The Steelers also tackled poorly, missing 14 on the night.
The headlines may be that the 40-year-old Flacco – on the team for 10 days – has carved up the Steelers defense, but in the meeting rooms, they’ll be pretty frustrated about the lack of blocking ability.
“It’s not a sideshow, it’s a cop,” Heyward said. “I think the front line, we got to control the monster a lot better. I’m mad. We didn’t take care of our job … they were last to rush, and how we gave up today takes the cake. We had to stop the f—ing run. It’s that simple.”
The Steelers allowed 30-plus points in three games this season (Jets, Seahawks, Bengals). They allowed just 30-plus points in two games in 2024 (Week 13 at Cincinnati and Week 16 at Baltimore).