Bills @ Steelers Film Room - We’re Sorely Missing Derrick Harmon
Screenshot via NFL+
I went back and rewatched the Steelers/Bills game a couple of times, and I’m just plain sad, folks. In my last post, I said that I didn’t have any positives that I took away from this game, and I stand by it. We’re a bad football team. Here we go:
Everybody has seen this one (above), but it was such a crucial play, that I feel like I have to include it. Roman Wilson (#10) actually torches this corner on a go route, but Aaron Rodgers (#8) misses him. No matter how many times I watch this play, I can’t help but think that Wilson should’ve worked his route closer to the sideline, but Rodgers would disagree, calling this a “shitty ball” after the game. If the QB wants to take ownership of this missed opportunity, then I’m good with that, especially considering he has been consistently inaccurate as of late. Regardless of who we feel should shoulder the blame here, it’s painfully obvious to anyone watching that the Steelers QBs and WRs haven’t been on the same page at all this season. Blow the offense the hell up.
Rodgers wasn’t great in this game, and hasn’t been very good lately, but oftentimes, there was just nowhere for him to go with the ball. Keep your eyes on Calvin Austin III (#19) on this play above. It’s 3rd down & 9, and the offense hasn’t done a damn thing to this point. Obviously, the play falls apart, and guys have to go out-of-structure - that’s no easy task..but what the hell is 19 doing here? Shahtaht to the Bills secondary, because they were absolutely locked in on this play, but they didn’t have to do a ton to guard 19. He basically runs around in a 5-yard-wide circle before Rodgers finally has to throw it and it falls incomplete. Meanwhile, I gotta watch George Pickens, seemingly always on primetime, set the league on fire. I hate it here. I appreciate the spirit with which Calvin Austin III plays, but this just ain’t it. In his last four games combined, 19 has 7 catches for 55 yards. He had 0 for 0 against the Bills. R.I.P. to his time in Pittsburgh. Also, this game script sucks. This series went: incomplete force-ball to DK on first down, a one yard run from the gun on second down, then this on third down. Punt. I figure Arthur Smith is a guaranteed casualty this Offseason, wouldn’t you think?
There’s a lot of things wrong with this play (above). The Steelers, in an effort to slow runs to the right, overloaded the left side of the defense (right side of the offense) often, including here, but the Steelers lost the rep despite winning the numbers game. It’s telling that Cook was willing to cut back to the right because of the number of bodies we have over there, but it was the correct call. Jackson Hawes inadvertently blocks T.J. Watt (#90) and Cole Holcomb (#55) at the same time. Kyle Dugger (#29) needs to be reported to the effort police in my humble opinion. He’s got help outside from Joey Porter Jr. (#24)...he just needs to shoot that gap. But, no. He makes no effort to work towards the ball or get through his blocker, and Cook just kinda runs right past him. Of course, the Bills scored a touchdown a few plays later and took a 16-7 lead. The tough thing about it is: individually, I love T.J. Watt, Cole Holcomb, and Kyle Dugger. But, again, this ain’t it. This looked like a dejected group on defense, especially towards the tail end of this game. It’s worth mentioning that, in this play, the Steelers had two down linemen with 5 linebackers on the field. They went with this personnel group often against the Bills, and obviously they ran all over it. I’ll let yinz be the judge of that decision, but we clearly need Derrick Harmon back in the fold ASAP.
And here it is. The infamous duo concept. The Steelers really lost this game, because they couldn’t figure this play out. The Bills ran this concept a whopping 26 times in this game, per Alex Kozora. You can’t see it in this example, but again, there’s Steeler bodies on the right/outside side of the play, because they were killing us all game long bouncing things right. The Steelers have two down linemen here. Look at the way the sea parts for their RB. I mean, I wouldn’t wanna do it, but I’m pretty sure I could get positive yardage running through that hole. This was the problem all game: three down linemen - bounce it right/outside and make the Steelers DBs tackle you. Two down linemen and overloaded defense to the right - we’re gonna part the red sea and the RB will have nothing but green grass in front of him. We knew it was coming and we couldn’t do anything about it. It was embarrassing.
The Bills averaged 4.9 yards per carry in this game, but the film makes it look much worse than that. I mean…they had 16 rushes for first downs. That is the definition of imposing your will.
I think back to the loss against the Seahawks earlier this season, and something I said after that game is haunting me as I sit here today: “Derrick Harmon needs to be a star out of the gate for this defense to be elite, and it’s unfortunate to put that on his shoulders at 22-years-old, but that is the reality of our situation.” I decided to do the math: so far this season, when Derrick Harmon plays, the Steelers give up 96.0 rushing yards per game. When Derrick Harmon doesn’t play, the Steelers give up 182.7 yards per game (stats via ESPN). He has already been ruled out for this week’s game in Baltimore. Godspeed.
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