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Battered Steelers limp into Cincinnati in another must-win game

Despite the season-ending injury to starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in week two, followed by their top running back in James Conner missing a few games this season, the Steelers were rolling along, finding ways to win games despite the adversity, collecting four straight wins to post a 5-4 record after starting off the year 0-3.

Then the bottom fell out up in Cleveland.

Conner left the game as quickly as he entered it, re-aggravating his shoulder injury. Soon Juju Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson would leave the game suffering concussions. Mason Rudolph had his worst day as a pro, throwing four interceptions, and wasn’t able to hit the ocean with a pass if he were standing on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean.

To add insult to injury, you had the brawl at the end of the game, when Myles Garrett decided to drive Rudolph into the ground and lay on top of him, well after the pass had been thrown, and the game already decided at 21-7 Cleveland.

Rudolph, rightfully pissed, pushed Garrett to get off of him. Next thing you know, in a three-man tussle, Garret rips Rudolph’s helmet off, and then swings it at Rudolph’s head, barely connecting, but causing center Maurkice Pouncey to lose his mind and attack Garrett, throwing punches at him until he was on the ground, then adding a few kicks to the head to boot… pun intended.

It was ugly.

Garrett acted like a man a few days later. Admitting his wrongdoing. Rudolph responded shortly thereafter with an apology.

Then on Thursday, Garret decided to go the coward’s route again, desperately trying anything to get his suspension reduced, and stated that Rudolph used a racial slur against him.

His lies fooled no one, especially James Thrash, who upheld Garrett’s indefinite suspension. Pouncey’s suspension was reduced to two games, so he will miss this game and next week in the rematch vs Cleveland.

In addition to the Garrett incident, the Browns were headhunting, leading to the concussions listed above to Smith-Schuster and Johnson.

Now the team has to regroup quickly, and they may have what the doctor ordered in the win-less Bengals. Both James Conner and Juju Smith-Schuster will be out, but Benny Snell will be back in action after missing a few weeks from having his knee scoped.

Snell and Jaylen Samuels should see the bulk of the work at running back, with Trey Edmunds and Kerrith Whyte perhaps seeing a few touches here and there.

With Smith-Schuster out, Diontae Johnson and James Washington will have to elevate their play, as will their quarterback in Mason Rudolph.

This team has a lot of rebounding to do in the wake of last week’s offensive disaster.

The best thing they can do is burn those tapes and come out with an “us against the world” type attitude, with all that has happened not only last week but for the entire season.

Johnny Holton and Deon Cain will look to inject any type of life and offense they can muster for the depleted receiver corps. It would be nice to see Vance McDonald step it up and contribute more, as well as Nick Vannett.

It’s going to take the entire roster to pick itself up and make some plays, or they can kiss the 2019 season good-bye.

With the way the defense is playing, if the offense can find any way to be just average, this team has a puncher’s chance, but honestly, that’s a BIG if with what we’ve seen from this group through ten games.

“It’s crazy how such little things can affect a play,” tight end Nick Vannett said. “It can stop you from getting a yard or two. This is a game of inches, and we want to get as many as we can.”

That statement couldn’t be truer, especially when you have so many starters missing from the line-up.

One of the Steelers biggest problems this season has been converting short-yardage situations. It has been a disaster.

“We realize short-yardage has been an issue for us,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “There are some ways to approach it. No. 1, we have to execute better. There is a certain meat-on-meat or bone-on-bone element of football that you can’t run away from, and short-yardage is one of them. But at the same time, we could do some things from a coach’s perspective from a planning and schematics perspective to assist the guys, as well. And I think we are working in both areas.”

The Steelers should be able to find success running the ball, as the Bengals are dead last in rushing defense. It’s time to man up this weekend, from across the offensive line to the ball carriers.

“I think we are going to be a lot better,” Vannett said. “We expect to be a lot better from here on out.”