PITTSBURGH — The Steelers’ offense had a hot preseason, scoring five touchdowns on five drives. But so far, against the 49ers, they have shown nothing to carry over that success. Pittsburgh gained only two yards in the first quarter and did not register a first down. An ugly display allowed the 49ers to jump off to a big lead.
Kenny Pickett made a bad decision to push the ball down the football field on a corner route against Charvarius Ward, who covered Diontae Johnson. The ball was underthrown, but Ward was in lockstep coverage either way. Ward ended up intercepting Pickett. Then, on the first drive of the second quarter, Pickett nearly threw an interception to Fred Warner. A holding penalty of Chuks Okorafor, a false start on Isaac Seumalo, and a Drake Jackson sack pushed the Steelers back again. Overall, they -3 net yards through four drives.
The stats show it out. Pittsburgh’s offense has been atrocious on all fronts. Multiple pressures, penalties, a lack of rushing yards, and bad decisions from the quarterback all highlight the Steelers’ struggles so far in this game. Matt Canada will get plenty of backlash, as he should for the team coming out this flat offensively, but Pittsburgh’s execution of any concept called is subpar.
The Steelers’ defense does not look much better. Brock Purdy and the 49ers offense are dicing the team up and down the field on top of everything. But Pittsburgh’s offense was supposed to be the unit that the Steelers saw improvement from, but instead, they look as bad as they did last year at any point.
San Francisco boasts one of the most talented teams in the NFL this year. Make no mistake: the talent on the roster is one of the best in the NFL. It’s a barometer of where the Steelers are, and as a young team, it seems they are rattled a little bit on the offensive side of the football.
The execution starts up front; then it goes to the quarterback. Those two factors are massively hurting the Steelers. So far, the 49ers front is crushing them along their offensive line. Pickett, as a result, is rattled and out of it. There is no simple solution to whatever the Steelers need to do moving forward in this game. In other games, they can find success. But right now, the talent overload seems to have the Steelers on skates all around, especially on offense.
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