Nov 6, 2016 4 min read

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The Steelers are not in a good place right now.

You probably didn’t need me to tell you that, but they’re going through a rough patch. And a lot of the reason for it is from growing pains by their two prized rookies, Artie Burns and Sean Davis.

Burns broke the Cardinal rule in Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Ravens by leaving his feet in an attempt to knock down or intercept a pass.

My high school basketball coach had a rule. If you jump out to steal a pass, you’d better get it because if you miss, you leave the rest of your defense exposed.

The Steelers have a similar rule in that they don’t like players to leave their feet in an effort to jump a pass because it leaves you exposed on the backside if you miss.

That should especially be the case when the guy you’re playing man-to-man against is Mike Wallace.

Burns tried to jump inside on a slant and left his feet.

That left Mike Mitchell all by himself to try to bring Wallace to the ground. He failed, as well, but only because Burns’ miss started a chain reaction.

As for Davis, Baltimore running back Buck Allen told special teams coach Jerry Rosburg that Davis, the wing man on Pittsburgh’s punt coverage team, was leaving early and not really paying much attention to him.

Allen made the Steelers and Davis pay for that early in the fourth quarter, going hard after punter Jordan Berry and blocking a punt that was returned for a score.

Two big plays attributed to mistakes by the rookies that led to 14 points.

@ It became painfully obvious early in this game that the Steelers were going to be unable to generate much of a rushing attack against the Ravens.

And with this offensive line and running back, that just shouldn’t happen.

Maurkice Pouncey was in and out of the game with a dislocated thumb, but that’s no excuse for an offensive line that is supposed to be as good as the one the Steelers have to not control the line of scrimmage better.

@ The Steelers blitzed more in this game than they had at any time this season. That meant more man coverage – see above – but it also showed they felt they could fluster Joe Flacco.

That worked to a large degree. Flacco looks like a shell of himself right now, especially when pressured.

They weren’t blitz happy, but Keith Butler picked his moments well.

@ The run defense also was much better in this game. The Ravens hit some runs on their opening series, but after that – nothing. They finished with 50 yards on 29 carries. If you’re looking for a silver lining, there it is.

@ “It’s not a time to panic. We’ve got four losses. We can win every game. There’s not an opponent that we feel like we can’t beat. We’re going to keep moving forward.”

Those words were spoken by Le’Veon Bell.

The Steelers might feel like they can beat any opponent. But the reality right now is that they aren’t doing so – especially on the road.

@ Ben Roethlisberger was not very sharp for three-plus quarters in this game but finally found some rhythm when the Steelers went to the no-huddle.

I thought they should have done so earlier, but the Steelers, for whatever reason, try to play things close to the vest against the Ravens. They just refuse to open up their offense against Baltimore, like they expect the ghosts of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed to somehow return to the field.

@ All of this being said, if Sammie Coates comes down with the ball in the end zone with 4:09 remaining in the game and the Steelers trailing 21-7, I think Pittsburgh wins this game.

He didn’t and the Steelers finally finished that possession off by turning it over on downs.

@ Both teams were highly penalized in this game, with Pittsburgh getting 13 and Baltimore drawing 10.

That’s way, way too many but the Steelers entered this game 27th in the league in penalties despite having 10 their last time out against New England.

@ Three-game losing streaks aren’t fun. And they often lead the fanbase to start calling for people’s heads.

But if the franchise QB hits some open receivers – he missed some guys in this one badly – in the first three quarters, the Steelers win this one going away.

The Steelers have to figure out what’s ailing Ben Roethlisberger on the road.

Under offensive coordinator Todd Haley entering this game, Roethlisberger had 32 TDs and 25 interceptions on the road. He has a 65-20 split at home.