Eagles take flight over Steelers
Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is tackled during a game against the Eagles Sunday.
The Eagles’ Jordan Hicks hits the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger after a pass Sunday.
The Steelers’ Antonio Brown is brought down by the Eagles’ Rodney McLeod during a game Philadelphia Sunday.
Steelers’ wide receiver Markus Wheaton cannot hold onto the ball as he battles the Eagles’ Malcolm Jenkins during a game, Sunday.
PHILADELPHIA – Thirty points has been a magic number bandied about by the Steelers the last two seasons.
They weren’t, however, talking about that being the magic number of points to give up.
Philadelphia exploded for three touchdowns in the third quarter, including a 73-yard catch-and-run by Darren Sproles, to hand the Steelers a 34-3 defeat Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
It was the worst loss by the Steelers under head coach Mike Tomlin, surpassing a 34-7 loss at Baltimore to open the 2011 regular season.
“We lost just about every element of that matchup,” said Tomlin. “It was a poor performance by us, and when I say us, I mean all of us. It starts with me. They outcoached us. They outplayed us. They were better fundamentally, tackling and so forth. We were highly penalized. We didn’t get it done and they did.”
As Tomlin said, it was a total and complete beatdown by the Eagles (3-0), who got 301 yards passing and two touchdowns from rookie quarterback Carson Wentz, much of it coming on screens and short passes.
“It was thorough,” said Steelers safety Mike Mitchell. “I’ll say that. It’s a bitter pill for us to swallow.”
But swallow it they must.
“We just got our (butts) kicked,” said defensive end Cameron Heyward. “Period.”
The Steelers (2-1) quickly moved the ball down the field on their opening possession, converting a pair of third down plays along the way. But Markus Wheaton, playing for the first time this season after sitting out the first two games with a shoulder injury, had a critical drop in the back of the end zone on third down and the Steelers settled for a field goal attempt.
“I dropped it,” said Wheaton. “Unfortunately, it didn’t end up like I wanted it.”
Chris Boswell’s 36-yard attempt was blocked by defensive tackle Bennie Logan and the rout was on.
By the time the Steelers got on the board, with a 40-yard Boswell field goal in the second quarter, it was 10-3.
That would be as close as Pittsburgh would get the rest of the game, as Wentz, who was 23 of 31, put on a short-passing clinic.
“We’ve got to do a better job of running to the ball on the screen plays,” said Heyward. “We didn’t do that and it hurt us.”
A week after allowing Cincinnati running back Giovanni Bernard to catch nine passes for 100 yards and a touchdown, the Steelers again permitted a running back to do much of the damage against them. Sproles caught six passes for 128 yards, 73 of which came on a pass from Wentz early in the third quarter.
Facing third-and-8 on the opening possession of the second half, Wentz scrambled to his right and took off towards the line of scrimmage. Linebacker Ryan Shazier, who was in coverage on Sproles, froze at the first-down marker as Wentz approached. That was enough for Sproles to slip behind Shazier and turn a 15-yard catch into a 73-yard touchdown, as he wove through rookie defensive backs Artie Burns and Sean Davis inside the 10 to score and give the Eagles a 20-3 lead.
“I thought he had passed the line of scrimmage,” said Shazier. “It was a good play by him.”
The Steelers, meanwhile, continued to struggle on offense, failing to generate any kind of running game. Pittsburgh rushed for just 29 yards with DeAngelo Williams, the NFL’s leading rusher entering the game, gaining just 21 yards on eight carries.
“We couldn’t get the running game going early,” said Steelers Pro Bowl guard David DeCastro. “And then, the score kind of took us out of it completely. Then, they were pretty much able to just tee off.”
The Eagles felt they frustrated Pittsburgh’s offense.
“Towards the end of the third quarter, we could tell they were getting frustrated,” said Philadelphia cornerback Nolan Carroll. “Their bread-and-butter stuff wasn’t working. They couldn’t run the ball. We knew that. So we knew all we needed to do is try to suffocate Big Ben (Roethlisberger) and not let him really throw the ball down the field. I think we did a good job of that.”
Philadelphia sacked Roethlisberger four times, three of which came in the second half. Fletcher Cox got to Roethlisberger late in the third quarter at midfield, forcing the game’s first turnover and set up Philadelphia’s final score.
After taking a 27-3 lead on a 1-yard run by Wendell Smallwood, who rushed for 79 yards on 17 carries, the forced fumble by Cox was recovered by Brandon Graham to set up an 8-yard run by Kenjon Barner for a 34-3 lead.
“They were mixing up some things,” said Roethlisberger, who was 24 of 44 for 257 yards and an interception. “They counted on their front seven to get after us, especially their front four. It’s a little skewed because we had to get so one dimensional and they could just tee off on the pass.”
In addition to the loss, the Steelers were handed a number of injuries in the game.
Shazier aggravated a knee injury in the first quarter but later returned. Fellow inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons was sent to the hospital at halftime to have a shin injury checked out. But he was in the locker room following the game and seemed OK.
Safeties Robert Golden (hamstring) and Mitchell (knee) also were shaken up, while guard Ramon Foster (chest) and receiver Eli Rogers (toe) left the game.
“Those injuries are not the reason why we didn’t perform,” said Tomlin. “We had 11 (players) on the grass on every snap. The 11 on the grass didn’t get it done. We accept responsibility for that.”
Odds and end zones
Antonio Brown caught 12 passes for 140 yards for the Steelers. … Davis, who replaced Golden at strong safety, led the Steelers with seven tackles. … The Steelers failed to record a sack for the second time in three games and have just one sack this season. … The Steelers are now 0-9 in Philadelphia since 1965 and 9-28-2 all time there.