The Pittsburgh Steelers failed to get the job done on both sides of the ball during the 34-17 Week 16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, which prevented the Steelers from clinching the division.
On offense, quarterback Russell Wilson committed a pair of crucial turnovers, both of which were massive momentum killers. On defense, the Steelers had no answers for the Ravens’ rushing attack, and tackling was an issue, also.
After the game, Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen didn’t mince words about his unit, according to Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“Guys gotta take a long look in the mirror and get better,” Queen said. “If you’re supposed to be in a certain position, you’ve got to be in that f****** position. It’s that simple.”
“Games just late in the year, you got to be on one stream,” Queen added, per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “You got to be on one accord. Everybody got to be doing their job at a high level. If you’re not doing your job at high level, then s*** going ugly real quick with the teams that’s coming up.”
Queen didn’t just blame everyone but himself, though, as the linebacker admitted the miscommunication issues the defense had start with him as the green dot.
Star edge rusher T.J. Watt admitted that the defense had issues stopping Baltimore’s ground game, which was abundantly clear to anyone watching.
“Ninety-eight yard drive just can’t happen. I don’t know if we even got off the field on third down much tonight,” Watt said. “I don’t think we had any three-and-outs tonight. We had a tough time.”
Watt also thinks Pittsburgh’s defense needs to start with more urgency.
“We need to start faster, man,” Watt admitted. “We have to tackle. We have to play gap sound. We have to rely on our brothers in run defense. We just have to do things that make defenses good, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
The Steelers’ defense has been a bright spot for much of the season, but Pittsburgh won’t go far if the unit plays like it did on Saturday. We’ll see if the unit responds on Wednesday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
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