LAS VEGAS -- It's a motion-based Renaissance painting in dark mode.
About as dark as it gets, actually.
It's Najee Harris trying to run inside left tackle, it's the defense descending on him like a sea of sneakers over an already-squished lantern fly, and it's the Steelers' offensive line capitulating in every conceivable way, almost as if in concert:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSvideos) September 24, 2023
Just for fun, upon pressing play up there, pick a different player to track with each viewing. Left to right, start with Allen Robinson acting as if he'd skipped this play in the book, then conceding the eventual tackle. Then slide to Darnell Washington tripping over Dan Moore, which might've been Moore's fault for backing up. Then Moore gets a slight push on his man but disengages as if the dude's got COVID and a half. Then Isaac Seumalo outright avoids his man even though this is supposed to be the critical block. Then Mason Cole sprints out to the second level ... only to wonder why he did. James Daniels pulls to the right, barely gets a paw on his man. Chuks Okorafor pulls a Cole and ... I don't know, goes out for a pass or something.
Do. Not. Skip. This. Exercise. If only because it's way too much fun.
I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it. Every player on the screen screws up except Kenny Pickett, and all he had to do was hand the ball off. Almost as if it were schemed up to be synchronized catastrophe.
And yet, this, my friends, might be the very reason why these Steelers, and this oh-so-offensive offense, will at least commence their recovery tonight against the Raiders -- 8:20 p.m. kickoff -- at Allegiant Stadium.
I'm legit serious.
See, here's the thing: Almost no one associated with this offense -- save the obvious and excruciating exception of Matt Canada -- has a history of being anywhere near this bad. Not the first-round quarterback. Not the first-round running back. Not the line assembled through an eight-figure investment over only two years. Not the receivers. And if all that occurs out here in the desert is the offense finding a figurative oasis of water, maybe their own water will start finding its own level again.
I mean, setting aside the eminently deserved criticism of Canada and his capabilities, good luck making the case that the Steelers are this far behind the rest of the NFL offensively:
RBSDM.COM
Come on. Those are the Solomon Islands over there to the left.
They're that far behind now, for sure. Data doesn't lie. But I'm talking about over 17 games. I'm talking about when the various individuals involved begin ascending toward nothing more than career norms, which is my main point here.
Like this: Only 74.6% of Pickett's passes have been evaluated as catchable, per Sports Info Solutions. That's the worst in the NFL, and it's a painful 9.8% plunge from his 2022 percentage. It's also, in the less tangible sense, not at all like him at any stage of his football life. Not as a rookie. Not at Pitt. Not anywhere.
He'll be accurate again. Because he just will. No matter what else happens around him. No matter how clueless Canada remains.
Like this: Harris has 16 rushes for 74 yards and an average of 4.6 per carry. That's ... not terrible but not what's needed. Within that, though, he's averaging 3.0 per carry after contact. Which is fifth-highest in the league. Which suggests he'd fare a lot better if he wasn't being bumped in the backfield every other snap:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSvideos) September 24, 2023
He'll get those yards again. Because he just will. No matter what else happens in front of him. No matter how clueless Canada remains.
Like this: That leaky line's already allowed 35 quarterback pressures through two games. That's the most in the league, as well as the second-most allowed by any team through two games since the stat was first tracked in 2018. Which is quite possibly the weirdest showing of any facet of this team, considering most of these same guys were vital to that 7-2 finish last season in which the running game averaged 146.4 yards.
They'll block again. Because they just will. No matter what else happens behind them. No matter how clueless Canada remains.
It could happen tonight. The Raiders aren't the 49ers or the Browns defensively. Nor are they close. But more relevant, I'd say, neither are the Steelers close to what they've shown offensively to date. The participants themselves are overdue. Almost all of them.
Now, about that coordinator ...
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
Allegiant Stadium, on the edge of Las Vegas' Strip, Saturday afternoon.
• I don't believe in 180-degree turns at 180 mph, but I do believe there's a bottom at hand with more than a few of these players. I still don't see any scoring bonanza, but it's possible -- and ideal? -- that the players could again put some daylight between their own execution and that of their coordinator. Only way a change could come. Presuming it could.
• Re-emphasizing from above, just to be mean: The only one who's part of this process who's never done a damned thing in the NFL is Canada. The rest have, to varying degrees, and they've got no excuses tonight. Including Canada's plan. Routine execution can overcome a lot.
• Repeat of a repeat, also just to be mean: This is Mike Tomlin's fault that this coordinator's still here. He doesn't run the company, but Art Rooney wouldn't get in his head coach's way if his head coach wanted a better coordinator.
• Who'll stop Maxx Crosby? He'll align almost always on the left side, as T.J. Watt does, and that'll make him Chuks Okorafor's responsibility. Which ... isn't comforting. Okorafor can do anything, but he's not always locked in enough. If Crosby serves that function for him, awesome. But if Crosby beats Okorafor early and/or often, Okorafor can get visibly frustrated and let past plays compound for him. Sounds like a job for Darnell Washington, if anyone's asking me. Even if it's just chip-and-go.
• Josh Jacobs has 48 yards on 26 carries for the Raiders, and he's still my chief worry. That'll apply for every Sunday that Cam Heyward misses until it's proven otherwise. Heck, I already forgot the name of the Cleveland back who cut back for 69 yards, but it wasn't Nick Chubb.
• More Joey Porter Jr. is on the way, as I reported in Friday Insider. But that won't do. More Broderick Jones, please, at either tackle spot. He's ready. And he's a real risk to outdo either starter, if I'm being blunt, without being all that ready. I loved Dan Moore's preseason by the same amount I've not loved his regular season.
• It's about time for Minkah Fitzpatrick to be great.
• I've typed -- and erased -- the word 'Oakland' a half-dozen times already in this column. All due respect to how Sin City's embraced the Raiders and, well before that, the eventual Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights, but it's beyond shortsighted of the NFL to abandon heart-and-soul fan bases like what they had in the Bay Area (bear in mind the 49ers stealthily left San Francisco for Santa Clara well to the south), like what they had in San Diego, even what they had in St. Louis. All so they can keep cramming multiple franchises in Los Angeles.
• And Jacksonville somehow keeps the Jaguars? After nary a word of complaint for having to share their team with London?
• Insane part is that the Raiders' longstanding faithful -- and I'm talking from Oakland -- will be here in force. You know, the ones with the creepy masks and leather and spikes and all that? They were driving down to L.A. during the Raiders' years down there. To them, the Raiders are just the Raiders, wherever they happen to be. They're ... different.
• The Ravens could be without as many as eight injured players today against the Colts. The Browns, of course, don't have Chubb today against the Titans. The Bengals have Joe Burrow listed as questionable tomorrow against the Rams. And by evening's end here, the Steelers could be 2-1, tied for first in the AFC North, with a few wrongs having been righted. Not predicting. Just saying.
• Thanks for reading this. I'll have not one but two columns from the game tonight.
