Kovacevic: Well past time the Steelers' playmakers start making plays

CLEVELAND -- Eleven offensive plays of 25-plus yards. Five defensive takeaways.

Both rank third-lowest in the NFL.

Try distilling everything to date that should've represented a shortcoming for these Steelers, and it tends to be heaviest in the trenches: The offensive line was expected to struggle because of inexperience, and the defensive line's been diminished by injury. Other facets have been affected, for sure, but it's all begun on the lines. One side hasn't blocked well enough, and the other hasn't tackled well enough.

In the same breath, I feel quite comfortable saying this of the semi-critical meeting here today with the Browns, 1:02 p.m. kickoff at FirstEnergy Stadium: It's well past time for the playmakers to ... you know, make plays.

As in, big plays. Splash plays. Game-changers.

As in, how about something, anything from Chase Claypool in that category, huh?

If he's not making big plays, he might as well be wiping down the bus seats. And so far, he hasn't: He's needed 42 targets to total 22 catches, which means in part he isn't coming up with enough of the combat variety. He's got three catches of 25-plus yards and one rush of 25 yards, which means he's come up big four total times on the 257 times he's lined up for a snap. And he's got one touchdown, which means ... um, he's got one touchdown.

That ain't it. And it sure sounded like he heard all about that through the bye week.

"It's been talked about and addressed," Ike Hilliard, the wide receivers coach, was saying a few days ago. "We'll continue to work and more of those plays will come. He's too talented individually and he's counted on by everybody in this building, including himself, to make those plays, and he will."

Will he?

He was asked a couple days ago how that'll change, and he replied: "In the scheme, in our offensive play calls, in my playmaking ... the combination of those three," he said. "Sometimes, the defense doesn't let us do a splash play. As long as we get the right look, we'll go make plays."

Huh?

If the first step toward addressing a problem is acknowledging it ... again, that ain't it. Maybe instead use that size, that strength, that breakaway speed instead of worry about Matt Canada's call or the defensive alignments. Besides, the Steelers haven't faced a defense doing anything special to prevent splash in more than a year now. Count the men in the box for proof.

"I think we can get a lot of mismatches if we move me around, and I think they've been doing that, so it's good," Claypool continued. "It makes the defense work a little harder. It doesn't make it so easy for them to pin down where I'm going to be every play."

OK, so the Browns will be missing Denzel Ward from their secondary and, truth be told, that should be a way bigger deal than their much more broadly discussed choice of quarterback. But it might not be if Claypool and/or Diontae Johnson don't make a difference, regardless of the defense.

How about just making a difference?

How about making plays?

How about something from the other side of the ball, as well?

Oh, T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward are making play after play after play. But there's next to nothing of the kind coming beyond the front. Both inside linebackers, Devin Bush and Joe Schobert, have shown to be allergic to the ball-carrier and the ball alike. And the secondary ... I'm not yet grasping what's fair to expect of Joe Haden at age 32, but I'm plenty sure when it comes to prime-of-his-career Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Minkah's been on the field for 358 defensive snaps, an average of 70 per game, and he's got one pass defensed, one forced fumble and not a thing else. Smart in coverage, yeah. Sound tackler ... for the most part. But he's provided less splash than a Michael Phelps lap in the Sahara. No picks despite getting his hands on at least four different passes, and no fumble recoveries.

That also ain't it.

Like Claypool, if Minkah's not making the big play, he isn't making much of anything happen. Yeah, he's a threat over the middle, and teams still steer clear of him. But that only adds up to flipping a field if the rest of the secondary's following up, and it isn't.

So, how about making plays?

"There's plays that I've missed," he was saying late this week. "The last couple games, plays just didn't come, that happens. It doesn't really eat at me, I know that they're gonna come. I just gotta make the plays that do come. I should have three right now."

Interceptions, of course.

"That eats at me more than the ones that might not come or may come in the future. I just gotta catch what comes to me, make the plays that come my way, just keep doing my job. I was just talking to Coach T."

Mike Tomlin, of course.

"I just gotta keep being in my position, keep doing what I do out there on the field and flying to the ball, and plays are gonna come my way. I don't worry, anyway, but he's a coach and he knows his players. He said it to me because he's coached guys like me before. He doesn't want me to do anything extra or over the top, which I won't, but he was just putting an emphasis on 'Just do your job. They'll come.' "

How about today?

• Rain's passing through these Lake Erie shores this morning and, though it'll dissipate by kickoff, the winds under the grey skies will amp up to 18 mph and ... well, whatever. Make plays.

No, really, one commonality, in particular among the offensive players on this team, is that they'll freely discuss what the circumstances do and don't give them. That can be weather. That can be strategies. That can be personnel.

Make plays.

No, make big plays. Because these little ones, even on the rare occasions they get strung together for a long drive, aren't getting it done. And they absolutely, positively won't get it done in games that'd be even more important than this one.

• Not to suggest this isn't important. In fact, I'll go so far as to nearly designate this a do-or-die.

The AFC's playoff picture as this is being typed has the Steelers as the first team on the periphery at 3-3. And yeah, I know there's a long, long way to go, but I also know that the AFC North's other three teams are ahead of them, the Bengals and Ravens both at 5-2, and these Browns at 4-3, and falling two games behind the entire divisional pack with most of the divisional play still ahead and all kinds of desperation looming on all fronts ... nah, no thanks. 

Conversely, consider being 4-3. And a three-game winning streak. And the Bears and Lions being next, both at home. And more time bought for the O-line to mature, for the passing offense to click, for Stephon Tuitt to return. Polar opposite.

Go ahead and take a look:

• Of course, for the offense to make more big plays, that's got to begin with Ben Roethlisberger. I didn't mean to omit him above. Just seems so obvious.

The Steelers can opt to play against Cleveland's formidable defensive front, or against its awful secondary. Doesn't seem like that'd be a tough choice, but one can never tell with the Ben/Canada approach to simply taking whatever the defense gives. If I'm the Browns, I'm not altering anything from the John Harbaugh blueprint, and I'm stuffing eight or nine in the box until forced to do otherwise. But that doesn't mean Ben and his receivers can't blow that up by throwing downfield.

These don't need to be bombs, either. Eric Ebron's injured, which means Tomlin won't feel the need to put him out there, and that opens up a whole lot more snaps for Pat Freiermuth. That could be awesome. If he's utilized. Same goes for hitting Claypool or Johnson on slants.

But don't just glance at where the safety is, shrug and check down. 

• It's not right omitting Najee Harris from the playmaker list, either. Yeah, I've loved him as much as anyone, but he's got 11 carries of 10-plus yards, none of 20-plus. The O-line's blocking isn't the issue at the next level. Break one.

• The Steelers' defense will be -- and should be -- focused on stopping the run. That's a normal reaction to getting gashed the way they did by the Seahawks, and it's even more understandable given that the Browns' O-line made some no-name look like Gale Sayers a week ago.

But focusing and scheming can be separate things. Keith Butler's got far more to gain from bludgeoning Baker Mayfield than he does in helping grown men tackle. As such, the pass rush needs to do whatever possible to get to the backfield while containing the scramble -- exactly how they've forever contained Lamar Jackson -- and the interior guys need to ... tackle! If Chris Wormley and Isaiah Buggs can't tackle, then put people on the field who'll try!

• Starting Mayfield over Case Keenum, with Mayfield barely able to budge his left, non-throwing arm, makes no sense.

Watch this:

Zip, indeed. But a closer look at this video and others from that session show Mayfield to be tucking his left arm under him like a broken wing. That twice-torn labrum is one hard hit away from something way worse.

Why start him, then?

To avoid controversy?

Please.

• Speaking of avoiding controversy, let's now engage in a deep discussion of all the potential ramifications of Melvin Ingram being really mad at the Steelers.

OK, all done.

• Between being in this city and all the silliness earlier in the week about Tomlin taking a college job, I'm reminded of a talk I once had with an NFL player about the occasional fun speculation about how No. 1 Alabama would fare against those Cleveland teams here that'd go 0-16 or 1-15. And the player burst out laughing, as I knew he would.

"Are you kidding?" he'd answer back then. "The Browns would destroy them. Those college kids wouldn't make it out of that game alive."

Nope. There'd be nothing but body bags.

Maybe it's a final vestige of the days when college football was more popular than the NFL -- think 1960s -- but there are still sports fans who seriously think these are comparable levels. They aren't. Not for the players. Not for the coaches. One is the majors, and the other's the minors. And believe me, that's how people at the top level feel when they've made it to this level.

So yeah, Tomlin was well within his rights to be insulted. He's invested a quarter-century of his life and his time away from family to make it at the top level. And for anyone to wonder if he'd accept a minor-league job ... wow.

• On a similar note: Someone I know and admire recently hailed Pitt's quarterback, Kenny Pickett, as "the best athlete in Pittsburgh right now."

My God. No.

Pickett's the fifth-best quarterback in the city at the moment, behind Ben, Mason Rudolph, Dwayne Haskins and the current version of Josh Dobbs who's walking around in a sling. And that's to say nothing of a few other athletes such as T.J., Cam, Minkah, Najee, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Reynolds, Ke'Bryan Hayes ... I can't even continue this because I'd list nearly everyone on all three of our major-league rosters.

Equating college football with the NFL is insanity. Complete insanity.

• Thanks for reading!