Ben Roethlisberger's career worst five-interception performance against the Jaguars has been the point of discussion for the Steelers this week, and rightfully so.
The poor performance shined a spotlight on a consistent problem which has been at the center of the Steelers' offensive woes all season, and that's been the lack of an explosive passing attack.
Roethlisberger is currently ranked 28th in passer rating, has not thrown for more than 300 yards in a Steelers' win since they beat the Jets in October of 2016, and has the second-most interceptions in the NFL.
Much criticism of the Steelers revolves around the coaches' week-to-week plans of attack. This week the big question was why the Steelers threw the ball 55 times against a defense ranked No. 1 in pass defense and No. 32 in rushing defense.
But there were plays out there to be made that Roethlisberger and his teammates didn't capitalize on. Several plays gave solid matchups for the Steelers' talented offense to take advantage of the Jaguars' confidence in their secondary, but the Steelers never actualized that promise.
Sunday's 30-9 loss to the Jaguars was a solid microcosm of the problems facing Roethlisberger, so I did a deep dive into the film room to find the plays that best highlight what's going on with this offense ...
NOT CAPITALIZING ON SINGLE COVERAGE
The Jaguars' defense was happy to leave their starting cornerbacks, A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey, on islands against Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant several times against the Steelers. Doing so would allow their safeties to patrol the middle of the field, help against the run and clog passing lanes for Roethlisberger to his underneath options.
When teams do this, your top receivers winning outside the numbers is vital to opening up the rest of the field. Doing so would force the Jaguars to give help to their cornerbacks and spread their defense more.
Brown's 19 targets for 10 receptions and 157 yards was solid as he was able to take advantage of Bouye and Ramsey with his elite route-running skills. He has been the most consistent part of this offense in 2017 and presents the threat Todd Haley expects him to be.
When a defense gives you a one-high-safety look that isolates the cornerbacks with the wide receivers, that's basically a challenge to the receivers and especially the quarterback. It usually means a defense is either running a Cover 1 man defense in which everyone but the blitzing players and the high safety are in man coverage, or they're in a Cover 3 zone defense.
Brown thrives in these situations with the option to use a double move to get behind his man or run a great route to open up space and present an easy target for Roethlisberger.
Here you see him highlighted in red and running a deep comeback route against a Cover 3. Notice how he runs the top of his route five yards past the first down marker so that when he turns around he has that space to come back to Roethlisberger and increase the amount of room his quarterback has to fit the ball in safely:
But highlighted in yellow is Bryant, a player who has been pretty much a non-factor for the Steelers' offense outside of what he did to the Vikings earlier this season. Watch the above play and how he sets up Bouye with a solid post pattern that keeps Bouye behind him and gives Roethlisberger a lot of space to fit a pass to him.
While Roethlisberger still does a good job on this play by converting for the first down to Brown, Bryant has been getting open frequently this season without much of a connection from his quarterback.
The biggest aspect of beating these single-high-safety looks that isolate the cornerbacks is the potential for a deep-threat receiver to get behind his man and have the chance to score a touchdown.
Outside of when Bryant caught a 50-yard pass and drew a pass interference penalty, both against the Vikings, that element has been missing from the Steelers' offense. And that's a major issue after the team really missed Bryant in 2016 for the threat he represented with his 2015 and 2014 performances.
Here is Bryant using his top-flight speed to beat Bouye on a deep route in some of that single coverage we've been talking about. Watch how he attacks Bouye by running at him until he gets to the 20-yard line, then cuts inside and starts to get accelerate past him.
That's the unbelievable burst that Bryant always has, but he has to pull up when he notices the ball sailing far to the outside and ends up being an incomplete pass:
That's an opportunity that the Steelers count on hitting at least half the time. Roethlisberger is not the best dissector of defenses in the NFL when it comes to a dink-and-dunk style of attack, so it's essential to the offense for him to be able to hit on these types of deep throws.
Even so, there are still other options that Haley has drawn into the play for Roethlisberger to hit if he doesn't feel comfortable with the deep shot. Look at the top of the play and you'll see Brown lined up next to Juju Smith-Schuster.
The Jaguars are again in a Cover 3 defense, and there is plenty of space between the two receivers and the linebackers playing zone coverage in the middle of the field. While Smith-Schuster distracts the safety playing deep thirds coverage, the lower cornerback covering the flat has to let Brown run his slant, and there is a ton of space for him to run if he gets the ball.
But again, the Steelers' offense has a major investment in Roethlisberger's ability to hit the deep ball. So taking the shot to Bryant isn't a bad choice, unless he completely misses with the throw.
The Steelers have to capitalize more on these opportunities to scare defenses.
NOT BEING ON THE SAME PAGE
One thing that every quarterback needs is for his teammates to execute their roles in the given plays so that the offense's more intricate plays can work.
A perfect example of when that worked was on a third down during the first quarter. The Steelers spread the Jaguars out with two wide receivers to the left and motioning Le'Veon Bell, highlighted in yellow, outside with Jesse James and Vance McDonald to give Roethlisberger an empty set, a formation with nobody in the backfield.
When Roethlisberger motioned Bell to the outside, Jaguars' linebacker Telvin Smith, No. 50, went with him and lined up with him, giving about 10 yards of space. That's an immediate tell that this defense is running a man coverage scheme.
The call here is for Bell to run a quick slant behind the tight ends who run an unofficial screen by running their routes right at the guys in front of them. The result is Bell getting the ball two yards in front of the line of scrimmage and having the space to get the first down:
The trick for the tight ends is occupying space in front of Bell without throwing so aggressive a block that they would get called for offensive pass interference. It's a play that requires detailed work on their part and the awareness to start blocking at the right moment. That, in turn, requires timing and practice to be ready to execute properly, and it seems they were indeed prepared.
The Steelers used that concept again, but in the red zone during the third quarter on a second down. This time it's James lined up with Smith-Schuster inside of Bell, looking to give him the space to score. But something goes wrong when James not only doesn't touch anybody, but runs into the end zone freely as if he's a target and fails to impede anyone's progress:
The result is Paul Posluszny making a solid tackle on Bell. But if James is at least in front of Posluszny, Bell gets a chance to beat Smith one-on-one. The Jaguars are in a zone defense on this play, unlike the earlier man defense, but it's still an executable opportunity.
These are the plays where you see the lack of consistency from James and how one miscue can completely destroy a play that has a ton of potential.
There are other moments like this where small detailed mistakes lead to opportunities missed. When your star quarterback is having a tough time getting his own game together, adding problems like this only compounds the pressure the offense puts on itself.
NOT BEING ABLE TO FIT THE SAME PASSES
This ties into Roethlisberger's problems with the deep ball, in that his performance against the Jaguars showed him having consistent problems putting any zip on the ball in important situations.
Roethlisberger's arm strength has gotten him through some of the most difficult of situations and made up for his lack of reading defenses over the years. So many times I've seen him throw a ball past a defender who never had a chance to touch the ball because of the velocity.
Similarly, I've also seen him fit some great passes into tight windows with that same velocity, but that was especially absent on Sunday and has been missed for most of the season. So many times when Roethlisberger's back has been against the wall he has came out gunning with a laser pass that hits his receivers right in the hands.
On this third-and-long situation, the Steelers were starting to get desperate as the Jaguars had just gone up by five points. Brown runs a deep route and perfectly sets up Ramsey with a quick curl that presents a target for Roethlisberger beyond the first down marker.
Roethlisberger fires the pass in, but it sails very high and gives Ramsey the chance to recover and knock the ball away. It happens to land in the hands of Barry Church, who returns it for a touchdown:
Roethlisberger has often relied upon those passes to get him and the team out of jams from mistakes on earlier downs. It's also what he goes to in order to try to create a spark in the offense for a big play.
But it does seem that, at least for now, his arm isn't the same source of power that he has relied on throughout his career. Ben has covered up his mistakes in the past with some terrific throws, but he is now more at risk as his deeper passes hang higher in the air, giving defensive backs better chances to react.
This could just be a temporary issue, as the zip he has put on the ball in his best moments could return, but at the moment it has not been the asset that helped build his reputation.
NOT FINDING THE SOFT SPOTS
Sometimes Roethlisberger is able to sift through his reads and find the soft spots, but other times he tries to use the arm that he's relied on all his career to fire past the teeth of a defense.
The latter scenario can sometimes lead to big plays, but it can also lead to crucial interceptions. That happened when Roethlisberger targeted Brown for a deep post pattern that followed a shallower post pattern by Smith-Schuster, who was aligned inside of Brown.
Roethlisberger saw three deep defenders, which can signal either a Cover 3 defense or a Cover 6 defense. Both have safeties patrolling the middle of the field, but a Cover 3 forces the middle safety to commit harder to the middle and leave the receivers outside the numbers alone, while a Cover 6 defense allows for the middle safety to play a quarter of the field and be more aggressive in less space.
Tashaun Gipson was that middle safety on the below play, highlighted in yellow at the onset of the play, and started the play initially running with Smith-Schuster. That's the look that those dual post patterns are intended to draw, as the middle safety ends up following the interior receiver, Smith-Schuster, and opens up space for the post pattern from the outside receiver, Brown.
Typically this puts more stress on a safety playing Cover 3, which it appears Roethlisberger reads to be the defense he faces. But instead, Gipson doesn't have to aggressively run to the middle of the field and is in position to slide over and sit in the perfect spot to intercept Roethlisberger when he goes for Brown's post pattern:
But in all that, Roethlisberger overlooked a chance for Bell to have a one-on-one opportunity in space against Telvin Smith with no support behind Smith for at least 15 yards. If Roethlisberger checks it down to Bell here, the Steelers have a chance to gain big yards or at least stay alive for a third down opportunity.
But part of what Roethlisberger brings is his commitment to his pre-snap reads and having trust in Brown to get open in tough situations. Sometimes that leads to him not having the patience to see other people who might find their way to the softer spots of the defense.
That's what happened with Bell in the above play, and also what happens with Smith-Schuster in the below play. This was a third down on the opening possession of the second half. The Steelers had driven the ball inside the Jacksonville 5 and were only down by a point.
After an incomplete pass on first down and a pass that resulted in a tackle short of the end zone, the Steelers looked to pass their way to paydirt. Roethlisberger takes the snap and commits to Brown running an out-and-up route against Bouye.
Bouye has the route covered, though, and the pass is incomplete. But again, the Jaguars are in a Cover 6 defense, which means one side of the defense will only have one defensive back playing a deep zone. That side was where Bouye was running with Brown, leaving a huge gap in the deepest part of the defense between Bouye and the middle safety, Church.
When the ball is snapped, Smith-Schuster comes out of the slot and beats Church with a slant that gets across the safety's face. While a linebacker patrols underneath the middle of the field, Smith-Schuster's route is taking him to the weakest spot of the defense:
These opportunities presented themselves, but credit must be given to the Jaguars for disguising their coverages throughout the day and closing down on the Steelers' receivers consistently throughout the game.
They were able to take away Roethlisberger's primary read all game, thereby forcing him to cycle through his reads and find wherever the soft spot of the defense might be. If he doesn't recognize the weak spot, it forces him to hold the ball and gives more time for the Jaguars' aggressive pass rush to get after him. That speeds up a quarterback's mental clock and leads to missed throws.
But that's not to say that Roethlisberger doesn't know how to cycle through his reads and find the soft spots. He just needs to do that more consistently against tough pass defenses like the Jaguars'.
GETTING IT RIGHT
The following is an example of what doing that looks like, as Roethlisberger faces a Cover 4 defense from the Jaguars. The Cover 4 defense means that four defensive backs are playing deep 'quarters' coverage, each covering a fourth of the field.
That usually leaves three defenders for underneath coverage and opens up opportunities for corner routes, outs, and other routes that run underneath deep coverage. The coverage is identifiable by how four defenders are more than 10 yards off the ball.
The Steelers run a sort of smash concept at the two defensive backs highlighted in yellow as they both play deep coverage. Because both are responsible for playing deep, they each lock onto Brown running a deeper corner route. That leaves Smith-Schuster running a short hitch route that he extends closer to the sideline and ends up getting yards after the catch:
While there can always be criticisms made of coaching adjustments, play calls and the team's approach to an opponent, the question of who to blame is often the biggest question when a team loses.
Concerns for why the Steelers threw the ball 55 times against the NFL's top-ranked defense against the pass are legitimate, even after you consider the fact that the team had to throw the ball late in the game to come back after the two defensive touchdowns by the Jaguars.
But relying on your highest-paid player to be able to execute a passing offense with the best receiver in the NFL isn't all that ridiculous a concept, and at some point the focus has to be on executing the calls on the field.
Whether that lack of execution was from players like James who missed his spot in blocking assignments, or in the quarterback who thew five interceptions, many of the plays called presented real opportunities to capitalize on the weaknesses of the Jaguars' defense and advance the ball.
As the Steelers prepare to face the Chiefs, the offense has to find a way to execute the plan laid out by Haley and take advantage of the weak spots the Chiefs' defense presents.
The answer is not to fire Haley or dump all the responsibility for a loss on the coaching when your star players underperform in the opportunities presented to them. But rather, take a real look at the players that the team has made the biggest investment in, and see if they have played up to expectations.
That's not to say that anyone should jump to conclusions on Roethlisberger's future just because he had a bad game or has yet to put together a complete game this season. It just means taking a realistic look at why mistakes were made, to see if they're correctable problems or mean that he and the Steelers can't rely on the style of play which has been part of this offense for over a decade.
If there were no opportunities for that player to succeed, then go after the coaching and ask why they weren't there. But if the star player misses on several opportunities, maybe that means the issue with that particular loss isn't with the coaches who called for the scheme that provided those opportunities, but the players who didn't capitalize on them.