The Steelers' 31-28 loss to the Saints was a tough battle between two strong teams with Hall of Fame quarterbacks, both of whom showed out with huge performances. But Drew Brees struck at weaknesses Keith Butler's defense had shown, even before this season.
Let's dig deep ...
TWO-MINUTE DRILL
• Where scheme beat team: An elite quarterback can exploit the slightest flaws. Brees threw one touchdown pass, but he made several plays to keep drives alive, and the key was his recognition of the disguised packages Butler schemed for the game.
Butler's plans were effective the previous week against Tom Brady, and the Saints were blanked on half of their first 10 drives. The secondary-heavy formations, which the Steelers have used more often this season, were part of the success, but eventually Brees found weaknesses.
Watch how Brees recognized one of the Steelers' attempts to mask their man coverage of the third quarter:
He was able to pick out that Sean Davis was assigned to cover Alvin Kamara, and that Davis was backed off Kamara to give the look the Steelers are in zone defense. But when Kamara hit his wheel route, Davis was unable to get to his spot and gave up a huge gain.
Those are moments where the subtle attention to detail can win games.
The play of the game for the Saints came when the Steelers had everything lined up in their favor on a 3rd-and-20 on their final drive:
Similar to how Brady ripped the Steelers with a 34-yard pass to Julian Edelman to get the Patriots in scoring position on their final drive, Brees found Ted Ginn running down the middle of the field. The key was to split the Steelers' zone scheme in the middle of the field.
The Patriots were in a 1st-and-15 on the Edelman play, but Brees took a similar advantage to freeze the Steelers' safeties and exploit an open spot on his conversion. Watch how the progression of routes opened up Ginn. The Steelers appeared to be in Cover 4 with Morgan Burnett being the only underneath cover man. The Saints had No. 89, tight end Josh Hill, run a go route to clear out the deep safeties. As Davis stuck with Hill, Ginn ran his deep in route past the sticks and into the space opened up by Davis following Hill.
That's no fluke. That's a well drawn last chance of a shot against a deep zone defense they expected the Steelers to run. It's a great call, but it also exposes a weakness the Steelers had just shown against the Patriots and even earlier when Andy Dalton hit A.J. Green on a deep pass to tie the Steelers late in an Oct. 14 victory over the Bengals.
Because of that, it might have paid to go with a conservative man coverage scheme to prevent such mixups. The zone did work on the big fourth-down stop against the Patriots, but it came back to bite them.
Part of the problem is that Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin haven't given Butler any ballhawks through the draft. Tomlin emphasized improved tackling all training camp and the team has made major strides on that front, but a defense relying on its defensive backs to make big plays needs defenders who can actually make a play on the ball. Joe Haden is the only member of the unit who consistently displays good ball skills, so it may take another investment or two to help the Steelers' defense make more plays in these situations.
Blame for shortcomings in coverage is to be shared between Butler for the schemes, the players for not capitalizing on more mistakes and Tomlin for the increased emphasis on such a plan to highlight the secondary.
• All about the tackling: Missed tackles were a main problem of the Steelers in 2017, as Pro Football Focus revealed with their number-crunching on that team:
Last season, the #Steelers missed a tackle on 16.1% of run plays (31st in NFL).
They added sure tackling veterans this offseason in S Morgan Burnett and LB Jon Bostic, who ranked 1st and 8th respectively at their positions in tackling efficiency. https://t.co/R2sUJejvPY
— PFF PIT Steelers (@PFF_Steelers) July 19, 2018
Because of that, our commitment this season is to keep a close eye on this facet.
Tackling was an issue in the first half, but that turned around after the initial drive of the second half. The biggest culprit was undoubtedly Davis with three misses across the field. His three missed tackles tied for the most of any player this season, but it also sticks with a theme. This is the fourth time a player has missed three tackles in a single game. Two other times, that player was Davis, once it was T.J. Watt.
Having reliable tacklers like Terrell Edmunds and Hilton help keep shorter passes in check. But Jon Bostic deserves praise for making five tackles in just 18 plays without missing a single one. His only problem is his liability in coverage.
• Top matchups: Each week we review the most important matchups and how they impacted the game.
• Steelers' defensive front vs. Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara: Sure, the Saints scored three rushing touchdowns, but their ground game wasn't effective unless it was inside the 5. They combined for 18 carries and 58 yards, a 3.22 average. I expected this to be a big reason why the Saints won, but it wasn't. Advantage: Steelers.
• Matt Feiler vs. Cameron Jordan: Cameron Jordan called out Roethlisberger during the week and on a season with 12 sacks, he was up against backup Matt Feiler. Jordan did have two quarterback hits, but only two tackles and no sacks. That was a huge matchup advantage I had slated to the Saints, but Feiler neutralized him all game. Advantage: Steelers.
• Drew Brees vs. Steelers' secondary: After a strong week against Tom Brady the Steelers had to face another future hall of fame quarterback in Drew Brees. The defense broke up eight passes and recorded an interception on Taysom Hill, but Brees still had 39 attempts for 27 completions and 326 yards and the game-winning touchdown. The secondary made it a tough fight and seemed to get burned on some questionable calls, but Brees came out on top. Advantage: Saints.
Had a big play or a decent game 
Very impressive, multiple big plays
Elite performance
Gave up a big play without redemption 
Total performance was a disappointment
Horrible, inexcusable
QUARTERBACK: A
Once the Steelers went into a two-minute offense late in the second quarter, we got to see some vintage Roethlisberger.
Ben Roethlisberger:
It took him almost an entire half, but Roethlisberger turned it on to give the Steelers a shot. He completed 33 passes on 50 attempts for 380 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Roethlisberger missed some early opportunities to build a lead when open receivers were overlooked, but he never committed the fatal mistake of an interception and was a field general in the second half. He was the definition of elite on Sunday.
RUNNING BACKS: B-
The rookie made plays while the veteran made a critical mistake.
Jaylen Samuels:
Twelve carries for 53 yards is a solid day against the NFL's top ranked run defense. His 4.4 yards per carry average was a result of smart run calls to catch the Saints off guard once the Steelers' passing game started to pick up. He had a mean stiff arm in space against Vonn Bell, and looked every bit as tough a runner as he did against the Patriots.
Stevan Ridley:
Three carries for 4 yards and a fumble at the absolute worst time. It was his second of the season, and most likely his last in a Steelers' uniform unless he's needed due to injury.
OFFENSIVE LINE: A
The Saints' defensive front was one of the league's best, led by Jordan and a tough rookie defensive end in Marcus Davenport, but Roethlisberger was only sacked once and had plenty of time all game.
Matt Feiler:
Feiler's shutdown of Jordan was a great sign of improvement. He had struggled against other premier pass rushers this season, but seemed to come into his own with his performance. As much as I expected the team to miss Marcus Gilbert, Feiler has done a fine job filling in.
David DeCastro:
Solid as always in the middle in pass protection, but could've done more to help in runs up the middle.
Maurkice Pouncey:
Like DeCastro, Maurkice Pouncey deserves credit for the pass protection up the middle. Several twists were used by the Saints to confuse the Steelers' line and it never did.
Ramon Foster:
The eldest member of the offensive line is a big part of the communication aspect in pass protection. This might be his last ride with the team, but he's always been reliable.
Alejandro Villanueva:
Deserved his Pro Bowl nod and should get All-Pro considerations. Marcus Davenport had one tackle all game and never sniffed Roethlisberger.
WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS: A-
Against an aggressive secondary, the Steelers went to their top playmakers and ripped off a ton of yards.
Antonio Brown:
It seems like every time somebody think Brown is falling off, he reminds everyone that he's the best in the game with a performance like this. Caught 14 of 19 targets for 185 yards and two touchdowns. He was followed around the field by Marshon Lattimore, the 2017 defensive rookie of the year and Pro Bowl conrerback. But it didn't matter, Lattimore even had help from safeties almost every play and he couldn't keep up.
Watch Brown's release off the line on the 20-yard touchdown. It's so quick that he's gotten inside leverage on Lattimore while being too fast for the safety to ever help. Roethlisberger's trusts Brown to beat it and fires a perfect laser:
That's truly special.
JuJu Smith-Schuster:
His fumble ultimately cost the game, and it spoiled what was shaping to be an elite performance. His 11 catches on 15 targets for 115 yards kept the offense going all game. He looked to be in pain from his groin injury suffered in practice on Friday, but was toughing through it and making plays. Plenty of his receptions came on plays where he adjusted his route against the varied coverage packages the Saints employed all game.
While his performance as a whole was solid, the fatal fumble takes away from it.
Vance McDonald:
A huge 49-yard reception helped the Steelers get in position for their first field goal in the game.
James Washington:
After a strong showing against the Patriots, James Washington failed to get open enough and wasn't the playmaker the Steelers could have used to break open the Saints' defense as they focused on Brown and Smith-Schuster.
DEFENSIVE LINE: B+
The Saints' ground game featured two dynamic backs in Kamara and Ingram, but the ground game was limited to success in the red zone. Would have received a higher grade had they not allowed two touchdown runs in the red zone.
Cam Heyward:
Three tackles and dominated his gap most of the game. Maintained his rush lane to keep Brees from exploiting it when the pocket broke down. Also swatted an underneath pass.
Stephon Tuitt:
Was just as important as Cam Heyward, and kept the interior of the pass rush maintained most of the game. Added a sack to make his season total to five.
LINEBACKERS: B
Mixed performance that helped against the run and brought solid heat off the edge, but struggled in coverage.
T.J. Watt:
His twelfth sack of the season and a big performance in a big game. Had three tackles and looks to be developing more consistent pass rush techniques. Watch how he wins the edge with a solid rip move. He dips his shoulder under the tackle's arms and brings his inside arm up on a strong rip to maintain leverage and disengage:
The Steelers haven't had an outside linebacker record at least 12 sacks since Lamarr Woodley in 2009. Watt's steady improvement is very encouraging that he could become a legend for the franchise.
Bud Dupree:
Two tackles and a quarterback hit, but Bud Dupree's best part of his game was how he pinched his side in run defense. He maintained his edge well as he has in the second half of the season. He's still not the prime pass rusher, but he's become reliable in his assignment to not give up the edge.
Jon Bostic:
Only 18 snaps and made five tackles. Steelers primarily use him in run defense and he played a solid part in keeping the Saints at a 3.0 average yards per carry.
Vince Williams:
Five tackles and helped against the run. He's helped with communication in the middle of the field, but still isn't the prime cover linebacker against sharper route runners.
L.J. Fort:
After several strong showings, Fort hasn't been as impactful in the middle of the field. While he's a good athlete and when he's in position he has a good chance, there are too many times when he takes a bad angle in coverage.
SECONDARY: C
Not a horrible performance against an MVP candidate in Brees, but not enough plays were made in the end.
Joe Haden:
While facing two questionable calls, Joe Haden was going to battle with one of the NFL's best receivers in Michael Thomas. He didn't have a bad game, but he also didn't have the game-changing moments when challenged. Haden is still the MVP of this defense.
Coty Sensabaugh:
Coty Sensabaugh did his normal act of not giving up big plays over the top, but the return of Ted Ginn proved helpful to the Saints. His speed forced Sensabaugh to play even more conservative than normal, allowing for underneath routes that allowed his day of five catches for 74 yards.
Sean Davis:
He made a huge interception and an equally huge hit that drew a dropped pass from Thomas. But his three missed tackles and late adjustments in coverage balanced it out to prevent him from having a huge day. Still a good game considering the turnover and the huge hit, but he needed to complete his performance.
Terrell Edmunds:
Not bad in space with four tackles and none missed. He was able to cover ground and help against the run. He still doesn't look lost in the moment as a rookie, which is a good sign moving forward.
Mike Hilton:
Six tackles on 37 snaps and looked good tackling the underneath passes. Would receive a higher grade, but he had an opportunity at an interception and Brees swatted it away.
Morgan Burnett:
After a rocky start and middle to the season Morgan Burnett has come up with big plays in back-to-back weeks. Though the Steelers didn't win, he made some veteran plays to keep the defense from giving up big plays. Watch how he defends this wheel route from Keith Kirkwood.
Kirkwood is just inside of Taysom Hill, and runs behind him to create space between him and Burnett. This has beaten Steelers defenders in the past, but Burnett navigated through the traffic while keeping good footwork and made a solid play on the ball:
THE ROAD AHEAD
The Steelers no longer control their own fate, but they cannot afford to fall asleep against the Bengals. Cincinnati may be the basement team of the AFC North, but the Steelers have shown in their loss to the Raiders that a loss on any day is possible.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers at Saints, New Orleans, Dec. 23, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS