Antonio Brown, not in a celebratory mood, put the Steelers upset loss to Tampa Bay in perspective one day later.
“We just lost to one of the worst NFL teams in our house. We blew the game. We feel embarrassed, we feel shame. Losing the game at the end is unacceptable.”
Where that leaves the Steelers in various NFL power rankings is immaterial, but there’s another of the league’s worst waiting for them Sunday in Jacksonville, Fla., with the idea that maybe they too can pick up their first victory.
The Jaguars dropped to 0-4 Sunday by losing at San Diego, 33-14. Rookie quarterback Blake Bortles, the third pick in the draft, made his first NFL start and completed 29 of 37 passes for 253 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
He has to be rubbing his hands together, eager to make his second start against a Steelers pass defense that has that Statue of Liberty look to it and — with apologies to Emma Lazarus — intones, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to run free through our secondary, your rookie quarterbacks, your journeymen, your second- and third-stringers. I lift my lamp beside the end zone.”
The Steelers rank in the middle of the NFL pack by allowing 239.5 yards passing per game. But that’s not the whole story. They have just seven sacks, also in the middle. They have just one interception, which is tied for fourth worst. And they really haven’t faced a top-tier quarterback. Joe Flacco and Cam Newton were the highest regarded they played.
Yet they made journeyman Brian Hoyer of the Browns and backup Mike Glennon of the Buccaneers look like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in the second halves of their games. Hoyer completed 15 of 20 for 173 yards in the second half of the opener to bring Cleveland back from 27-3 at halftime into a 27-27 tie before losing. Glennon was 16 of 31 for 245 yards and two touchdowns as he led Tampa Bay to its upset victory.
What happens when they must defend Andrew Luck of the Colts or Drew Brees of the Saints? Or maybe even Bortles this week and Hoyer again the following Sunday?
“We’ll see when we cross that bridge,” Troy Polamalu said.
Polamalu does not believe his defense is not good enough to stop NFL passing offenses the way they could not stop Glennon and Co. Sunday, or at least that’s what he said.
“I’m not concerned about that.”
Why not?
“Because we’re definitely ahead of where we were last year — record-wise and I would say defensive-wise. I feel like we have more potential. We have a good blend now of youth and experience. We just have to get the moving parts together.”
He points to their successes as a reason for his belief.
“What we lacked in the second half against Cleveland, what we lacked in the second half against Tampa is what we got in the second half at Carolina. Our offense made splash plays, our defense made splash plays. We just didn’t have that in the second half Sunday.”
Defensive end Cam Heyward, who had the only sack Sunday, agreed with Polamalu.
“I’m not going to worry about that at all. We have plenty of parts. And we have guys who can step up. I have complete confidence and faith we’re going to get the job done.”
Wing takes blame
Punter Brad Wing sat silent Sunday, fully dressed in his uniform, facing inward at his locker. Monday, he took the blame for a loss in which he had plenty of company.
“I feel pretty responsible for the outcome of the game,” Wing said of his 29-yard punt that gave Tampa Bay the ball at the Steelers 46 with 40 seconds left. “It happened in such a critical moment of the game. It was a pretty subpar performance. I take it personally.
“I don’t want to do that to the guys, a lot of guys around here work very hard during the week and it’s just unfortunate that I did that. I just hit it off the side, didn’t execute technically.
“It’s not that one punt that will define me, and I can’t let it. We’ll just work hard this week to bounce back.”
Penalties mount
The Steelers’ 44 penalties and 387 penalty yards each rank second most in the NFL, including the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of 15 yards against Antonio Brown after he caught an 11-yard touchdown pass to tie the score, 10-10, in the first quarter. He spun the ball to celebrate but then flopped to the turf, which is not permitted.
“I learned you can’t fall down when you have a touchdown,” Brown said. “Obviously the excitement is involved and you want to have fun but we have to be smart to minimize penalties and win the ballgame. I didn’t know it was a penalty.”
First Published: September 30, 2014, 4:00 a.m.
