Steelers set out to stop Rodgers but let Packers run wild

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Steelers knew they were going to need to play better than they had the previous two weeks defensively, on special teams and, especially, offensively if they were going to go into Lambeau Field and beat Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.

As it turned out, they were incapable of doing so, allowing the Packers to rush for a season-high 131 yards to make things far too easy on Rodgers in a 27-17 win over the Steelers here Sunday.

The thing was, the Steelers weren't necessarily all that concerned coming into this game about Green Bay's rushing attack. After all, the Packers (3-1) entered the game averaging 92.5 yards and just 3.6 yards per carry in their first three games.

"We were doing some things to minimize the passing, so we knew that would be a component of it," Mike Tomlin said regarding the ability of the Packers to control the game with their rushing attack.

"Although they did have a quote-unquote successful day running the football, I don't think that was the difference in the game. When you're playing somebody that has that kind of talent in the backfield at quarterback and on the perimeter, you make some choices. We knew they would be capable of running the ball some, but I didn't think it would determine the outcome, and I still don't."

The Packers running the ball might not have been the main reason the Steelers are 1-3, but it sure made things much easier on Rodgers.

When you're getting chunk runs like this one on a consistent basis, the defense is just consistently on its heels, not knowing if a run or pass is coming.

That made it easy on Rodgers, who was 20 of 36 for 248 yards and two touchdowns, while also running for a score. He wasn't consistently great in this game, but he was on third downs as the Packers converted 9 of 15. Four of those conversions came on runs, while the others largely kept Rodgers in third-and-manageable distances throughout the game.

The Steelers sacked Rodgers three times -- two of which came on third downs -- but they just couldn't get the Packers behind the chains enough to unleash their pass rush.

"Just trying to do too much. I think it starts with me. Just trying to make too many things happen," said linebacker T.J. Watt. "You’ve got guys down and you’re just trying to make a play. Sometimes, you’ve just gotta trust your teammates and I think that starts, obviously, first and foremost, with me. I think they had over 100 yards before the end of the third quarter, rushing alone. Any time they can have the run or the pass, it’s really tough to stop them."

And sometimes, even when they did get the Packers behind the chains, Rodgers was able to lean heavily on longtime teammate Randall Cobb. Rodgers lobbied management to re-acquire Cobb in training camp via a trade with the Texans. The Steelers would just as soon that the 31-year-old had stayed with Houston.

"He’s still a really good player," Rodgers said. "There’s a knack to playing in the slot. Davante (Adams) is an All -Pro, inside or outside receiver, but to have another guy in there who can open like that and just have the feel that he does, just gives us a lot of flexibility in the offense for sure.”

With Adams limited to six catches for 64 yards, Cobb caught five passes for 69 yards and both of Rodgers' touchdown passes. Four of his catches came on third downs, including a 23-yard catch-and-run in the first half.

But it was just as much this 25-yard catch in the third quarter on third-and-10 that all but broke the backs of the Steelers' defense.

Cobb's first touchdown catch came on third-and-10 in the first half. In this situation, it was third-and-7 at the Green Bay 28 on the opening possession of the second half with the Packers leading 17-10.

Get off the field there and the offense should get decent field position in a one-score game. Instead, this happened.

Those are killers. A perfect throw into good coverage that just wasn't good enough.

And that's the thing with the Steelers right now. They're close on a number of occasions. But they just not making the plays.

Terrell Edmunds was in position to knock that pass away. He didn't. Both Minkah Fitzpatrick and Joe Haden, two of the more sure-handed defensive backs on the team, got their hands on passes they couldn't intercept.

Against a quarterback the caliber of Rodgers, those are the mistakes you can't afford to make.

"We had opportunities," Tomlin conceded. "We got behind them. We didn't take advantage of it. We need to get off on defense. We didn't win enough third downs. We had a splash play on special teams to no avail. We'll keep working in all three phases. We compliment Green Bay. They played winning football and we did not."

Tomlin is obviously not happy with the team's 1-3 start. But he's also willing to stay the course, just as he said last week. They're not going to blow things up and start over.

"I'm concerned, but I still maintain the same position," Tomlin said.

• The special teams play to which Tomlin referred came at the end of the first half with the Packers leading 14-10.

The Packers sent Mason Crosby onto the field on fourth-and-10 with 20 seconds remaining in the half for a field goal attempt. Haden and Fitzpatrick lined up outside the left side of the formation and both easily went around tight end Robert Tonyan untouched.

But referee Scott Novak's crew called Haden for being offside -- largely perhaps because both he and Fitzpatrick got there too cleanly.

Former NFL official and current CBS officiating analyst Gene Steratore disagreed with the call.

It turned out to be a 10-point swing. Instead of the Steelers taking a 17-14 lead, the Packers lined up and kicked the field goal again to take a 17-10 lead of their own into the half.

Tomlin was asked how much the play affected the game.

"That's obviously," he replied. "That's a point swing."

How it would have affected the remainder of the game if that play had stood, we'll never know. But it was obviously a big moment. And it is something that should be able to be reviewed. It is currently not permitted to be reviewed.

• For the second consecutive game, turnovers that were turned into points was an issue.

Last week against the Bengals, Cincinnati turned a pair of Ben Roethlisberger interceptions into touchdowns. In this game, Roethlisberger was sacked early in the second quarter by Kingsley Keke and fumbled with Keke also recovering the loose ball at the Pittsburgh 23.

Three plays later, Rodgers threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Cobb.

"Any time you turn the ball over, it's going to be a potential game-changer," said Roethlisberger, who was 26 of 40 for 232 yards with a touchdown and an interception -- which came on the Steelers' final possession.

This season, the turnovers have been killers -- especially since the Steelers have forced so few of their own. They did have a fumble recovery in the third quarter, but they failed to score off the turnover, giving the ball back to the Packers on downs.

But opponents have converted the Steelers' turnovers into 24 points, while the Steelers have yet to score on any of their three turnovers forced this season.

• Najee Harris had his best overall rushing game of the season, gaining 62 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. He was only stopped for a loss on one of his runs.

That was a step in the right direction, but the Steelers are still searching for more consistency in their rushing attack.

"I thought we kind of started to get the run game going," Roethlisberger said. "We had some decent plays tonight. But there's still more out there. I told Naj, get physical. You're big. Be big, play big. Run through tackles. Don't avoid contact. Be scary. I got to play with Jerome (Bettis). He made contact and it was a game-changer when he ran people over. I keep trying to reiterate that to him."

Because of their overall offensive inconsistency, the Steelers just aren't able to strike any kind of balance between their rushing and passing.

They were just 4 of 11 on third downs in this game and failed on two fourth down conversions, one on a pass behind the sticks to Harris, the other behind the sticks to JuJu Smith-Schuster.

"We were running shallow crossing routes to kind of set picks for each other," Smith-Schuster said. "That was designed to run against man coverage and they played zone. I just tried to stretch out and get to the marker."

Obviously the Steelers can't dictate to the other team whether they're in man or zone coverage in those situations, but they have to have the ability to run something beyond the sticks. At the very least, they have to try to throw the ball beyond the first-down marker instead of dumping it down and hoping someone makes a great individual play.

• Roethlisberger clearly didn't have his best game in this one, overthrowing Smith-Schuster twice on what should have been touchdown passes.

He's struggling overall right now, but the overall protection was better in this game. He was sacked twice and hit five times. Rodgers was sacked three times and hit eight.

"That's on me, I'll take those," Roethlisberger said of missing Smith-Schuster. "Those are big plays that we need."

When you're not playing well overall, every little thing like that is magnified. And make no mistake, the Steelers aren't playing well offensively or defensively.

• On the positive side, the team did score its first touchdown on an opening possession of a game since last doing so at Baltimore last Nov. 1, a span of 13 games.

Harris had three carries for 16 yards and Roethlisberger finished the possession off with a beautiful 45-yard touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson working against Packers' Pro Bowl corner Jaire Alexander one-on-one.

"We’re not seeking comfort in terms of the outcomes of plays or sequences or games for that matter," Tomlin said when asked if that was something to take out of this game. "We own our performances."

• At 1-3, the Steelers are in a similar spot to the one they were at in 2013 when the opened the season 0-4. They won their next two games, lost two more, but rallied to finish 8-8 and just miss the playoffs.

"It’s a challenge for us. I think this is going to test us all," Roethlisberger said. "We need to look in the mirror, and we need to figure out what path we want to take. I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to come out tomorrow and give it everything I have and do the same thing this week. Get ready to go. I just hope and pray everybody else in the locker room does the same thing because I think it could potentially be easy to quit in a situation like this, and I don’t think we have that in this locker room. We have to get ready to go.”

Tomlin had a similar message.

"It's a disappointing outcome, but there's nothing mystical about it," he said. "Like I just told the team, we need more detail in our play. We've got to put them in better position to make plays, and then they've got to make more plays. We're all collectively in our circumstance together. We have to get better. Those are our intentions. We don't like where we are. More importantly about not liking where we are, it's about what we do about it as we move forward. We won't blink."

• Benny Snell got another carry for no gain in this game. He also was inexplicably on the field for a third-down play on which he and Roethlisberger failed to connect. His third play in this game came down by the goal line in the fourth quarter when he tried to leak out into the flat and -- fell on his backside.

If there was something else positive to come out of this game it was that after Snell was stopped for no gain on his one run -- on the opening possession of the game -- he didn't carry the ball again. And Kalen Ballage started to see more action.

The next step is for Ballage to simply replace Snell as the guy who spells Harris. Please, for the sake of everyone's sanity.

• It's hard to fault special teams play for this game. Of the team's three units, it's easily been the most consistent -- with the exception of rookie punter Pressley Harvin.

The Steelers were backed up deep in their own end on their opening possession of the second half and punted from their own 20. Harvin hit a JV kick of just 20 yards, giving the Packers the ball at the Pittsburgh 40.

Four plays later, Rodgers tossed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Cobb in the front corner of the end zone to give the Packers a 27-10 lead.

The rookie has to be better than that.