The run defense was particularly abysmal. Chase Brown entered the NFL ranking in the bottom three in the NFL in yards per carry (2.7), rush yards per game (33.7), first downs per game (2.2) and 10-plus yard rushes (2) among 36 RBs with at least 50 carries. On Thursday night, he rushed for 108 yards, 9.8 yards per carry, four first downs and three totes of over 10 yards, including a long of 37.
“We just weren’t doing what we’ve been doing,” Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen said. “We weren’t being physical, we weren’t maintaining our gap. Everybody just got a job, and they just got to stick to that job. Starting with me, I got to be better. I had two chances to make a play, didn’t make the plays, and it turned into a big run, so I just got to get better. It’s that simple.”
According to Next Gen Stats, the Steelers didn’t have a single run stuff on the night. The inability to stop Brown from picking up chunk gains allowed Flacco to stay in unpredictable down-and-distance situations. The short second and third downs opened the ability to slant the Steelers defense to death. Pittsburgh also tackled poorly, missing 14 on the night.
The headline might be that Flacco at 40 — on the team for 10 days — diced up the Steelers defense, but in the meeting rooms, they’ll be more peeved about the lack of run-stopping ability.
“It’s not the secondary; that’s a cop-out,” Heyward said. “I think the front line, we got to control the line of scrimmage a lot better. I’m pissed off. We didn’t take care of our job … they were last in rushing, and the way we gave it up today that takes the cake. We got to stop the f—ing run. That’s as simple as that.”
The Steelers allowed 30-plus points in three games this season (Jets, Seahawks, Bengals). They’d only allowed 30-plus points in two games in 2024 (Week 13 at Cincinnati and Week 16 at Baltimore).
