Without Watt, run defense looks as helpless as it did last year

CLEVELAND -- The Steelers could really use a player like T.J. Watt on defense.

Pittsburgh dropped their Thursday night contest with the Browns by a score of 29-17, and a lot of it was just as discouraging as the final score reads.

Even though Mike Tomlin stressed it from the very beginning of the short week, the Steelers were unable to stop Cleveland's running game. Nick Chubb carried the ball 23 times for 113 yards. Kareem Hunt added 47 more yards on 12 carries, and Jacoby Brissett topped everything off with 11 yards on three carries.

That's 171 yards on the ground. And that was all Tomlin needed to highlight to explain the outcome of Thursday night's game.

"I’d like to compliment Cleveland. They did what was required for victory, and you have to acknowledge that," Tomlin said. "I thought they controlled the line of scrimmage, particularly in the second half. If you can’t slow down Chubb, you can’t beat this group. We kind of knew that and we didn’t get it done."

There's no doubt the Steelers' inability to limit Chubb was a major factor in the loss. Any time a team can effectively run the football, they can control time of possession. That usually gives teams a good chance of winning football games more often than not, as long as they are able to also finish drives and protect the football.

The Browns did a little bit of everything, but a lot of it was due to Chubb's ability to slice through Steelers' would-be tacklers. Throughout the entire game, the defense had a hard time bringing ball carriers down cleanly. That's especially bad against a player such as Chubb, who is able to do a lot of things on the football field that others can't -- including breaking tackles.

The defense did a great job in containing Chubb on their first two drives. Then, this 36-yard scamper broke the dam and opened things up for the Browns' running game:

Chubb continued breaking tackles throughout the night, and runs like this one in the fourth quarter demoralized the defense -- very similar to the way New England pounded this defense on the ground late to secure a victory:

No other statistic can tell you more about how poorly the Steelers tackled than this one from NFL Next Gen Stats:

115 yards of 113 yards after contact. Remember, yards gained isn't counted until he passes the line of scrimmage. Yards after contact begins, well, at contact. The Steelers were able to get their hands on him, but just couldn't bring him down.

"I thought they controlled the game, man," Tomlin said. "They possessed the ball. Nick Chubb controlled the game ... He was running through arm tackles and things of that nature, getting yards after contact. It wasn’t good enough."

You may ask why Watt's absence means so much here. After all, isn't Watt known mostly for his pass-rushing ability? Of course he is, but how many times can you remember him blowing up a running play in the backfield? In fact, it's already happened this season. Just before his interception of Joe Burrow in Week 1, Watt hit Joe Mixon as soon as he received a handoff, dropping him for a big loss. 

But, Watt is also elite at setting the edge in the run game as well, and that part is very measurable in Thursday night's loss. 97 of Chubb's 113 yards were gained on the edges. He only gained 16 yards on eight carries in between the tackles.

Now, it's very possible this run defense has struggled over the past two weeks due to sheer exhaustion. The defense played over 100 snaps in Week 1 against Cincinnati. They played over 33 minutes against the Patriots last week, and the Browns possessed the ball for more than 36 minutes after a short week. At some point, even with a solid rotation of six defensive linemen, guys just run out of gas.

The Steelers won't have Watt for at least the next two games, and probably longer than that. The numbers don't lie. Since the beginning of last season, the Steelers are 0-6-1 when Watt misses all or part of a game due to injury. Yes, he's that impactful on the defense. Not just in rushing the passer. His presence alone forces offenses to play differently, and the Steelers have the freedom to run certain packages with him. They played with only two down linemen for virtually all of the Cincinnati game, and they held Mixon to 3.0 yards per carry.

This defense finished dead last against the run last season. Much of the focus in the offseason was put into preventing that from happening again. The Steelers have a couple extra days to rest before they host the Jets a week from Sunday. They better hope rest is all they need.

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Chubb wasn't the only part of the Browns' offense that terrorized the Steelers' defense. Brissett was cool, calm and collected in the pocket, and seldom threw a bad ball. Amari Cooper might have been the leading receiver for Cleveland, but Brissett hooked up with David Njoku nine times, and it seemed like every catch was a dagger.

Regarding Njoku's impact on the game, Tomlin said, "[That was] less of an issue than Chubb in the run game." Probably true, but Njoku helped the Browns extend drives throughout the night, and he also made a brilliant catch for the Browns' second score of the night:

• According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Steelers' defense used base personnel (four defensive backs) on 36 plays (51 percent), trying to contain the Browns' dominant rushing attack. In Weeks 1 & 2, the Steelers only used base personnel on two total plays (1 percent).

That explains a lot of why Brissett racked up 220 yards while completing nearly 68 percent of his passes.

• Unlike their loss to the Patriots, the Steelers weren't shut out in the sack department in Cleveland. Alex Highsmith recorded 1.5 sacks while Larry Ogunjobi added a half sack in his return to Cleveland as a member of the Steelers. Even so, it wasn't enough to rattle Brissett.

"We just got to ramp it up," Highsmith said regarding the team's need to apply more pressure. "We put in some time tonight, but at the end of the day, we know the kind of defense that we are, and we know that we have to communicate more pressure. We have to continue to be better."

• There was a scary moment in the third quarter when Jaylen Warren pulled off a huge gain on a shovel pass from Mitch Trubisky to put the Steelers deep in Cleveland territory. However, the play was called back on a penalty for an ineligible receiver downfield. 

On that play, Chukwuma Okorafor blocked Anthony Walker Jr. hard, sending him to the ground. Okorafor then made sure his assignment stayed on the ground by landing on top of him. Unfortunately, Walker's knee was injured on the initially block. Walker's leg was put in an aircast and he was carted off the field.

Regarding the decision to land on top of him after the initial block, Okorafor said, "I'm just playing football, man."

Okorafor drew a lot of heat on social media, and from yours truly about the play. After a few more looks at it, it really didn't look malicious, and there's no way Okorafor could have known his knee was injured on the initial block.

• Don't worry. We haven't forgotten about or are ignoring the offense's performance in this loss. Dejan Kovacevic is all over Trubisky and what the offense did -- and didn't -- do against the Browns.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Schedule
• Standings
• Statistics

THE INJURIES

Ahkello Witherspoon went down with a hamstring injury in the third quarter and did not return. I've got a separate piece on that. The players who were healthy but inactive: QB Mason Rudolph, LG Kendrick Green, WR Steven Sims, DE Isaiahh Loudermilk, LB Mark Robinson, LB David Anenih

THE SCHEDULE

The Steelers are back at Acrisure Stadium in Week 4 as they host the Jets in nine days for a 1:02 p.m. kickoff. Tomlin will address the media Tuesday.

THE CONTENT

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