Das Forum » Little excitement on the rare occasion they found themselves

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers insist they won’t miss the drama Antonio Brown provided on a weekly — and sometimes daily — basis. Missing the wide receiver’s record-setting production is another matter entirely.Dropped passes. No separation. with the ball in their hands and room to run. The post-AB era in Pittsburgh began with the group called on to replace him spending most of Sunday night’s one-sided 33-3 loss to the New England Patriots chicken-fighting with defensive backs as they struggled to create any sort of breathing room.“We’ve just got make more plays for (quarterback Ben Roethlisberger) https://www.thesteelerslockerroom.com/authentic-juju-smith-schuster-jersey ,” said Donte Moncrief, who caught three passes for just 7 yards in his Steelers’ debut after being signed in March , four days after Pittsburgh sent Brown to Oakland. “It starts with the whole receiver’s room, everybody on offense. We’ve got to be better.”Way better.Roethlisberger finished 27 of 47 for 276 yards and an interception, several of the misfires coming when Moncrief or a teammate would get one or two hands on the ball only to have a New England defender rake it away like a parent admonishing a child for playing with a forbidden toy.“They got away with some holds last night,” Steelers slot receiver Ryan Switzer said of New England’s press coverage. “But they play that, ‘You’re not going to call it every play’ (style) so they take their chances and they won more than they didn’t.”The Patriots didn’t just beat the Steelers, they provided a blueprint for how to keep Pittsburgh in check with Brown now working in New England.When the teams met last December, the Patriots double-covered Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster, allowing rookie running back Jaylen Samuels to run for 142 yards in a Steelers’ win. The threat of Brown gone Womens James Conner Jersey , New England dared Pittsburgh’s receivers to beat them one-on-one. They couldn’t, leading to the franchise’s most lopsided Week 1 loss in 22 years, all with the knowledge that Brown now works for the defending Super Bowl champions after agreeing to a one-year deal following his rapid flameout in Oakland.“I’m not specifically worried about anything relative to Antonio Brown, I’m worried about the guys in the locker room,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said after falling to 0-4 in New England when Brady is under center. “The quality of the execution and what we did or didn’t do. Antonio’s been off our team for a number of months. We moved on from that stuff in March.”And moved on to a new kind of drama in the process, one where the issues might not be off the field, but on it.WHAT’S WORKINGNot much. The defense still has never intercepted Tom Brady in Foxborough and Brady’s numbers in six home starts against the Steelers are hard to duplicate on a video game, let alone real life: 21 touchdowns without a pick.“I like to think everything just flew off and everything was wrong so we can say ‘That’s not going to happen again,'” defensive tackle Cam Heyward said. “But we did some things right. Not every play was minus, but I’m going to treat it like every play was.”WHAT NEEDS HELPThe offensive line. One of the league’s most experienced units T. J. Watt Jersey , one that features three Pro Bowlers, created very little push against New England’s defensive front. As a result, the running game never got going. The Steelers rushed 13 times for 32 yards, 7 of them coming on a scramble by the 37-year-old Roethlisberger.James Conner managed just 21 yards on 10 carries. Samuels ran it twice for 4 yards and offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner abandoned it after Pittsburgh failed to convert a pair of short-yardage situations in the second quarter. The Steelers instead went with five-receiver sets on a fourth-and-1 and a third-and-goal later in the game, coming up empty both times.Asked if he’d prefer either he or Conner to get a handoff in those situations, Samuels nodded.“That’s the mindset that we have but we can’t call the plays and we’ve got to go out there and execute whatever the offensive coordinator wants to call,” Samuels said. “Of course, running backs we want the ball downhill or just in our hands, period so we can’t control that.”STOCK UPDevin Bush racked up 11 combined tackles in his first NFL start, showcasing the speed that made the Steelers trade up to grab the inside linebacker with the 10th overall pick. While Bush did caught up in traffic a couple of times in pass coverage Jerome Bettis Jersey White , he was hardly alone in that department.STOCK DOWNMoncrief, who could very soon be challenged by James Washington for the No. 2 spot if he can’t bounce back quickly.KEY NUMBER1 — The number of times in Tomlin’s 12 seasons the Steelers have started 0-2. Pittsburgh began 0-4 in 2013 and missed the playoffs.NEXT STEPSHope the problems in the passing game that surfaced against New England were just necessary growing pains. Seattle (1-0) visits Heinz Field on Sunday after giving up 418 yards passing to Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton.Pittsburgh Steelers fans’ confidence plummets as team prepares for Monday Night Football The Pittsburgh Steelers and their 0-1-1 record have their fan base in a fit. After a horrendous tie in Week 1 vs. the Cleveland Browns, they followed that up in Week 2 by wasting a 37-point output by the offense and surrendering 42-points to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs at home.The players feel they can right the ship, and there are a lot of games left on the schedule, but the fans’ outlook is very short-sighted. In other words, all they see is the misery they find themselves in currently. For those who participate in the BTSC FanPulse questionnaire every week, you are consistently asked about your confidence level heading into that particular week’s game. Needless to say, there has been a steady decline each week. Well, to be honest, some might just call this a free-fall.Want to be a part of the SB Nation FanPulse James Conner Jersey White , a survey of fans across the NFL powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Steelers fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.The 2018 Steelers are an anomaly from what everyone thought coming into the season. Was the 13-3 season of 2017 a mirage? Or will the Steelers be able to right the ship and get back to their winning ways?Only time will tell, but with every passing week it is proving you truly never know what will happen in the NFL. As the Steelers search for a consistent winning equation, the fan base just longs for consistency across the board. Coaching, executing and overall performance. Just consistency. The Pittsburgh offense is talented enough to win a championship, and have put up nearly 30-points a game early in the season without Le’Veon Bell, but the defensive side of the football resembles a mixed bag of goods more than a Steel Curtain. Fans, rightfully so, feel if the defense can just hold a team to 21-points Womens Jerome Bettis Jersey , the offense should be able to handle their business. Where this team goes from here is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for sure, the Steelers are a team brimming with potential in many areas. Desperately in need of a win, and a signature win against a red-hot team at that, beating the 2-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football just might be the springboard the team needs to propel them to bigger and better things this season.