How good are the 2019 Steelers? Good enough to be 4-1 at this point.
How bad are they? Well, they're actually 1-4.
That's the harsh reality staring this team in the face right now after Sunday's latest defeat, 26-23 in overtime to the Ravens at Heinz Field.
This is a team talented enough, even without Ben Roethlisberger, to hang with anyone not, apparently, named the Patriots. They've shown that in their three losses since the opener, losing those three games to the Seahawks, 49ers and Ravens by a combined nine points.
The latest loss showed just how thin of a line it is on which the Steelers are trying to walk.
This game was lost not so much on JuJu Smith-Schuster's fumble in overtime -- though that certainly didn't help -- as it was on the Steelers' first two possessions.
After Johnny Holton returned the ball 13 yards to the Pittsburgh 11 on the game's opening kickoff, the Steelers came out intent on getting the ball to Smith-Schuster to open the game.
That's actually not a bad idea considering Smith-Schuster had been pretty quiet since Mason Rudolph took over at quarterback. But the Ravens were ready for it, as Smith-Schuster was tackled for just a 2-yard gain on first down and was then stopped for a 4-yard loss on an inside pass on second down. A false start by Maurkice Pouncey then backed the Steelers up even more, making it third-and-16. An 11-yard pass to Vance McDonald couldn't convert that, and the Steelers punted from their own 16.
That gave the Ravens the ball at their own 41 for their first possession, which is already nearly in Justin Tucker field-goal range. That's what the Steelers allowed for a 3-0 Baltimore lead.
Then, on the Steelers' second possession, Ryan Switzer returned a high-hanging kickoff from his own 2 out to the 26 for what would have been much better starting position had Ola Adeniyi not been penalized for holding.
Instead, the Steelers took over at their own 12 and decided that would be a good time for Jaylen Samuels to throw his first "real" career pass. Yes, Samuels was credited with "throwing" three passes last week against the Bengals, but those were all flips behind the line of scrimmage. This was an actual attempt at a pass -- on the move -- that was intercepted by the Ravens inside the Pittsburgh 20.
Even then, the Steelers had an opportunity to hold the Ravens to a field goal, but Mark Barron was called for a defensive hold one play after the Ravens had been called for a holding penalty of their own to give Baltimore a free first down after facing first-and-20. Thing was, Barron's "hold" came while Lamar Jackson was scrambling out of the pocket.
It would be the first of several interesting penalty calls in this game that adversely affected both teams.
This one gave the Ravens a first down at the Pittsburgh 11 and, after Stephon Tuitt was rightly called for roughing the passer for hitting Jackson late along the sideline, it led to a touchdown.
Just like that, it was 10-0 before the Steelers had a first down. And it had only taken the Ravens gaining 63 yards to do it.
You can't spot teams 10 points. You certainly can't spot teams 10 points when you're playing without your starting quarterback. And you definitely can't do it against good teams. Despite a bad defense, the Ravens are still a good team.
But so are the Steelers, despite their 1-4 start.
Bill Cowher used to say there's a fine line between winning and losing in the NFL. And right now, the Steelers are walking on the wrong side of that too often.
• Smith-Schuster and James Conner are taking heat for some key fumbles. And that's fine. They're professionals. You have to take the bad with the good. They have to do a better job of holding onto the football, especially late in games.
But those pointing out how many games those two have cost the Steelers with fumbles in the past two seasons -- while not being wrong -- are discounting how many games those two players also have helped the team win. If the games on the bad side of the ledger start to outweigh the good ones, that's when you're in trouble as a player.
Smith-Schuster and Conner handle the ball a lot. And if they want to continue to do so, they need to hold onto the football.
• So where does this team go from here?
First up will be to Los Angeles to play the Chargers. Before you start with all the "Steelers never win on the West Coast" stuff, realize the Steelers are 8-6 all-time on the road against the Chargers. Sure, those games were in San Diego. Last time I checked, though, San Diego sits along the Pacific Ocean.
But can the Steelers go to Los Angeles and beat the Chargers with Devlin Hodges at quarterback? They can if they just allow Hodges to be himself and don't make things too cute. After all, the Chargers just lost to a decimated and previously winless Broncos team at home.
The great thing about Hodges from what we saw of him in the preseason and again on Sunday is that he's playing with house money. He wasn't drafted. He wasn't even signed as a free agent after the draft. He earned a spot with the Steelers via a tryout at the team's rookie camp.
And then the Steelers released him at the end of the preseason, only bringing him back after Josh Dobbs was traded. At that point, he was just added to the practice squad, because Roethlisberger was still playing. A week later, Roethlisberger was injured and Hodges was signed to the active roster.
So, again, he's not even supposed to be here right now, let alone being in real NFL games. He's got nothing to lose and everything to gain. And that shows in his play.
It's very much the way Dobbs played last preseason. When the Steelers selected Mason Rudolph in the draft, it was assumed by most Dobbs would be the odd man out. But he played in the preseason as if he had nothing to lose and wound up playing great, beating out Landry Jones for the No. 2 job.
Hodges wouldn't be the first rags to riches story to play well. He also wouldn't be the last QB to come in off the street and stink things up. His attitude, however, appears perfectly suited for this. He has no fear because he's already been through many of the downs of an NFL player, from not getting drafted, to getting released.
"Absolutely," he replied when asked if he's fearless. "That is something I do every day, come in and compete. Just let it hang loose and throw it."
• It's a shame Hodges' first opportunity to play had to come at the expense of Rudolph.
That was a vicious hit he took from Earl Thomas, and if Thomas had been ejected for that helmet-to-helmet shot, nobody in the NFL who wasn't wearing purple and white on Sunday would have complained.
In fact, it's a relatively ridiculous thing that Thomas' hit is penalized the same as, for example, Adeniyi's roughing the passer penalty in the fourth quarter. By letter of the law, Adeniyi's penalty was roughing. He hit Jackson below the waist. But he also all but gently laid him to the ground with a form tackle.
Thomas will be fined for his hit on Rudolph, who was released from the hospital Sunday night after evaluation for a concussion, but automatic ejections should be more readily on the table.
• People trying to place this loss at the feet of the defense must have watched a completely different game than the one taking place in front of my eyes. I saw a defense that all but shut down what had been the league's top-rated offense coming into this game, holding the Ravens to 200 yards under their average. Not 20 yards. Not 100 yards. No, 200 yards.
This stop came with the game tied at 20-20, which would have been 20-13 had the Steelers' offense not all but handed the Ravens a touchdown with the ill-fated Samuels pass. And it gave the Steelers the ball back with great field position, with which they kicked a go-ahead field goal.
The defense wasn't going to completely shut the Ravens down. That's a good offense. Jackson is dynamic as a runner and is dangerous as a passer. It's why the Ravens entered this game averaging 7.0 yards per play. Against the Steelers, the Ravens averaged 3.8 yards per play. That wasn't their rushing average. That was what they averaged every time they ran or passed it. That's outstanding.
It says here if the Steelers play that kind of defense the rest of the way, they'll win more than their share of games.
Can they recover from this 1-4 start the same way the 1976 team did, overcoming that record to rattle off nine-straight wins? Well, the defense isn't anywhere near that good. But it's really good in today's NFL. And looking ahead at the schedule, it only includes four more teams that having a winning record:
One of those is the Ravens. We saw Sunday they weren't markedly better than the Steelers.
This defense is flat-out nasty and only getting nastier by the week.
• The Steelers are getting skewered for not keeping Diontae Spencer, and I get it. The return game isn't good and hasn't been good in quite some time. But sometimes you have to tip your cap to the other team, as well.
The Ravens have one of the best kickers -- if not the best kicker -- to ever lace up a pair of football cleats in Justin Tucker. And he was placing the ball high and just short of the end zone, forcing the Steelers to return the ball with the Ravens' coverage guys already hitting the 25-yard line.
He's good, folks.
He did make one mistake and kick the ball 2 yards deep into the end zone on the game's opening kickoff. And Holton made the mistake of bringing it out of the end zone.
Spencer, by the way, is averaging 7.0 yards per punt return after five weeks on 10 returns, so let's not get carried away with how good he is at it. He also has returned one kick for the Broncos. It was a 60-yard return, but he's not the full-time kick returner there any more than he would be for the Steelers. That's just not his thing at 170 pounds.
I get that you want somebody, anybody, else to be returning kicks and punts. But I also don't think the Steelers made a mistake in releasing Spencer, who had issues holding onto the ball in OTAs and other practices.
• Conner and Samuels combined for 16 carries for 57 yards in this game. That's 3.6 yards per carry. That's not good enough, especially against a defense that had been allowing 4.9 yards per carry coming into this game. But the Steelers also have to go with a running game and stick with it. Sixteen attempts just isn't enough.
• For the second game in a row, the Steelers were 3 of 9 on third downs. And that increased their season average on third downs. Things have to get better there, right? Maybe not. We're five games into this season. Those early-season issues are reaching the point where they become season-long trends.
• Mike Tomlin absolutely made the right call in deferring the kickoff to open overtime.
His defensive unit had taken control of Baltimore's offense after the first three possessions. The Ravens had seven possessions after they scored to take a 17-7 lead. They resulted in two three-and-outs, three interceptions and two field goals. And a field goal wasn't going to beat you in that situation. Even if the Ravens moved the ball enough to get a Tucker field goal, the Steelers would still get a possession and a chance to match or beat it. But if the Steelers took the ball and were forced to punt, a Tucker field goal would beat them. And Tucker has range out to 60 yards.
So why not trust your defense to get off the field -- which it did -- and get the ball back for your offense with better field position -- which happened -- and a chance to win the game with a field goal of your own?
There was some risk involved if the Ravens scored a touchdown, but they hadn't really come close to doing that on their final 42 plays before overtime began. In fact, the Ravens averaged 3.4 yards per play on those 42 plays after scoring their second -- and final -- touchdown.
• Walt Anderson's crew ruined what could have been an otherwise fun game to watch -- regardless of the result.
If you're an NFL fan, you don't want to see 22 penalties called in any game. The Steelers and Ravens entered this game both in the top five in fewest penalties called against them. So, we're to believe they suddenly forgot how to play the game cleanly?
Anderson's crew went into that game averaging 16.5 penalties called per game, which was nearly two more than the league average. They apparently wanted to make sure they maintained that pace. It was atrocious. And it affected both teams adversely.
The best officials are ones you don't notice. Anderson's crew was way too big of a part of this game. Nobody's paying their hard-earned money to go watch Anderson and his group of flunkies throw flags around like they're doing rhythmic dance.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. Ravens, Heinz Field, Oct. 6, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS