Dec 22, 2023 6 min read

Injuries have Steelers, defense in bad spot

Longtime coach Lou Holtz is credited with saying, “You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.”

For the 2023 Steelers, that’s probably not all that comforting.

When they were winning earlier this season, starting out 6-3, all we heard was that they were doing it with smoke and mirrors.

Now, with three losses in a row and four of their past five, the sky is falling. Critics have been quick to point out that this is who they have been all along. But that’s not exactly true.

Attrition at inside linebacker and safety have coincided with this losing stretch. The Steelers have lost inside linebackers Cole Holcomb, Kwon Alexander and Elandon Roberts for the season, or at least for stretches during this streak, while also being forced to play without safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick, Keanu Neal and Damontae Kazee at various times.

That’s their top three inside linebackers and top three safeties.

Add in playing the past 2½ games without Kenny Pickett and you have a recipe for disaster.

After having Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback for the better part of the past two decades, Steelers fans might have forgotten what it’s like to not have a franchise quarterback.

When you don’t have one of those, your margin of error is much more thin than when you do. And if injuries start to take place, as they invariably do, you’d better have quality depth.

The Steelers did have quality depth across the board going into this season. They had three quality players at both safety and linebacker.

Unfortunately for them, they needed to be four players deep at those positions.

• Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin didn’t have any choice but to turn to Mason Rudolph this week against the Bengals, even with Pickett very close to a return.

In 324 pass attempts this season, Pickett has thrown four interceptions and hasn’t lost a fumble.

In his 107 pass attempts while replacing Pickett, Mitch Trubisky had five interceptions and lost a fumble.

Say what you will about Rudolph – and people have said plenty – he has protected the football, other than a four-interception night in Cleveland in 2019, a game in which he played three quarters of the contest throwing to James Washington, Johnny Holton and Tevin Jones after first-half injuries to JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson. That game ended with Rudolph being clubbed over the head with his own helmet by Myles Garrett.

Toss out that game – one in which even Roethlisberger would have struggled throwing to those receivers – and Rudolph has 15 touchdown passes against seven interceptions in 17 career games, nine of them starts.

He’s not turnover prone. And he won’t try to play hero ball. He’ll just run the offense.

Rudolph might not necessarily win the Steelers this game, but he likely also won’t lose it for them.

• There’s been a lot of angst swirling regarding Tomlin not benching second-year receiver George Pickens for completely failing to block on a run to the 1 by Jaylen Warren in last week’s loss to the Colts.

Pickens didn’t help himself with his comments when asked about it, saying he didn’t block because he didn’t want to get rolled up on from behind and get hurt.

“George is a talented guy. But he’s growing and growing in a lot of ways in regards to football and life,” Tomlin said this week. “We don’t run away from that; we run to that organizationally when we draft guys. We are committed to being a component of their growth and development in all areas. He is very much a work in progress. And so it is continual. It’s not going to be one incident, or one meeting or one form of discipline that’s going to institute the type of change that we’re hunting. It is going to be continual.”

Tomlin is not to the point of benching Pickens, as some have suggested. That would hurt the team.

The bigger issue for Pickens is that he was called out for his actions before the team. And that costs you some respect in the locker room. He’ll have to earn that back. And you do that by making plays on the field and helping the team win, not sitting on the bench.

It might not be the way some might handle it, but that’s the way things go in life. When you coach a team, some players need tough love. Others need to be handled with a softer touch.

One of Tomlin’s strongest points is knowing how each player on his roster needs to be handled in these situations.

This week’s games

Bengals (minus 2) at Steelers: The Steelers have lost their past three games since their last win, a 16-10 victory over the Bengals. The Bengals, in that same span, have won three in a row, including two in overtime. They won’t have defensive tackle D.J. Reader or wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase in this game, but the Steelers are all banged up. At this point, it’s hard to pick the Steelers against anyone. But … the Steelers are 16-10 straight up as home underdogs under Tomlin. Still, there are too many backups playing for the Steelers. Take the Bengals, 20-17.

Browns (plus 2½) at Texans: Cleveland’s home-road defensive splits are very real. And the Browns are all kinds of banged up. Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud, isn’t expected to play again this week. Houston scrapped its way to an overtime win last week in Tennessee without the help of several injured starters. That’s not happening again this week. Take the Browns, 19-10.

Ravens (plus 5½) at 49ers: The teams with the best records in their respective conferences meet in a potential Super Bowl preview. The 49ers are rolling. The Ravens are coming off a big win in Jacksonville, but this is a different type of animal this week. Take the 49ers, 27-17.

Lions (minus 3) at Vikings: The Minnesota defense has played well after a slow start under defensive coordinator Brian Flores, but the Lions can wrap up a division title with a win in this one. Detroit hasn’t won a division title since 1993. Take the Lions, 26-16.

Last week: 3-2 ATS; 3-2 straight up

Overall: 43-30-2 ATS; 48-27 straight up

Dale Lolley hosts The Drive on Steelers Nation Radio and writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.