EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Even a double dose of Duck couldn’t save the Steelers.
Devlin “Duck” Hodges was pulled from the game three series and two interceptions into Sunday’s almost must-win against the Jets at MetLife Stadium in favor of Mason Rudolph, only to return once Rudolph was injured.
It resulted in what could be a devastating 16-10 loss that could keep the Steelers home for the new year.
Advertisem*nt
The Steelers need to beat the Ravens and the Texans have to beat the Titans, or the Steelers, Titans, Jaguars and Raiders have to lose for the Steelers to get into the playoffs as the second wild-card team.
If the Steelers find themselves out of the playoffs for the second consecutive year, they would be eligible for the critically acclaimed show “Hard Knocks” on HBO next training camp.
“Man, we are done with what other people are doing,” T.J. Watt said. “It’s time to and it’s been the whole season, time to focus on us and figure and find ways to win football games. This is the Pittsburgh Steelers. We love everybody in that locker room and we believe in everybody in that locker room.”
The Steelers travel to the Ravens next week, who will likely play without Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram. The Ravens already clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
So, here are the grades for the Steelers’ effort against the Jets:
Quarterback
Can the Steelers catch a break at quarterback? Apparently, not this year. Just when it looked like the Duck era was over and Rudolph returned to being a first-round-grade quarterback, a heap of Jets players fell, pile-driving Rudolph’s left shoulder into the MetLife Stadium turf, ending his day. It was highly anticipated that Hodges wasn’t going to get many opportunities to fail because of the importance of the game. He lasted only three series — two of which ended in interceptions that forced Mike Tomlin to turn back to Rudolph. It was an easy decision with Hodges throwing a floater into triple coverage for the first pick and into another triple coverage in the end zone two drives later. Hodges’ five interceptions over his last 26 attempts were enough for him. Rudolph played pretty well considering he hasn’t been on the field for a month. Rudolph went 14 of 20 for 129 yards and the only touchdown of the game. He didn’t look rusty at all. He was getting rid of the ball quickly, he was making the right decisions and, for the most part, was delivering his throws accurately. Hodges’ second time around wasn’t as bad. He completed 50 percent of his passes for 32 yards but failed to put any points on the ball. The third-down throw to James Washington in the end zone was a big-league toss that Washington needed to secure. But once again and for the second consecutive week, the quarterback play wasn’t good enough.
Grade: D-plus
Advertisem*nt
Running backs
The Steelers weren’t going to run the ball for a ton of yards against the Jets. It just doesn’t happen often, but at least the Steelers gave it the old college try, which was good enough. They had 25 attempts for 75 yards, but James Conner’s thigh injury in the first half complicated the Steelers’ ability to run. Conner had a 15-yard gain and averaged 5.3 yards per carry before getting injured. After that, it was going to be an uphill battle. The offense quickly found itself down 10-0 and then had to rely on Benny Snell and Kerrith Whyte the rest of the way. It had only three first downs rushing, so that was an issue once again. Jaylen Samuels was able to help out in the passing game a little but managed only 4 catches for 32 yards. The game proved once again that they don’t have the horses right now to be a consistent running team.
Grade: C-minus
Wide receivers
JuJu Smith-Schuster was a non-factor, which was surprising because he spent the majority of the game in the favorable slot position. Smith-Schuster didn’t have a target until late in the first half and finished with two catches for 22 yards on four targets — one of which he dropped and the final fourth-down play he said he should’ve made. While Smith-Schuster didn’t produce, Diontae Johnson has turned into the team’s No. 1 wide receiver as he put up 8 catches for 81 yards, including an end-of-the-first-half 29-yard touchdown reception. What has continued to be impressive about Johnson is his ability with the timing out routes at the sideline. Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown were the best ever at doing that. Johnson isn’t at that point yet, but he’s been pretty good at it. He’s definitely put together a good couple of games that make you feel good about the future at the position. Washington had 5 catches for 41 yards, but he has to be kicking himself for not wrestling the potential winning touchdown from Jets safety Marcus Maye. Even though Maye made a nice play, it’s a ball Washington has to catch, especially in that situation. Still, I know the quarterback situation was less than ideal, but the Steelers need their stars to come up with plays, and in this case, Smith-Schuster came up short.
Grade: C
Tight ends
Yet another underwhelming performance out of the tight ends. Vance McDonald returned from missing last week with a concussion to finish with three catches for 9 yards. Nick Vannett had his longest catch of the season with an 18-yarder, but the two weren’t part of the offensive game plan again, which is a shame. McDonald could help the Steelers out offensively, but for some reason, he’s never targeted that much for that to happen.
Grade: C
Advertisem*nt
Offensive line
It’s not stepping out of line to say the offensive line has not played up to its potential for most of the year. Everybody knew it was going to be tough sledding with this front seven as well as a Gregg Williams defense attacking a rookie quarterback. But there were a couple of times when the Jets had a defender running free (Quinnen Williams one time) at Hodges. When Mike Munchak was the offensive line coach, players were rarely running free. Whether that is coaching or that’s just because of inexperienced running backs picking up their assignments is unclear. Whatever it has been, it happened a couple of times against the Jets. Hodges and Rudolph were sacked four times. Throw in a botched snap or two by Maurkice Pouncey and B.J. Finney stepping on Rudolph’s foot to cause a negative play and a shoulder injury and it wasn’t a banner day for the group. Pouncey hurting a knee just made it worse.
Grade: D
Defensive line
On paper, it looked great — 85 yards rushing, 2.7 yards per carry, five rushing first downs, solid games by Cam Heyward and Javon Hargrave. However, something was a little off. The Jets were able to run the ball a bit better than the numbers suggest, especially early in the game. Heyward injured an elbow, which didn’t help. But overall, it was a reliable but not stellar performance. The Steelers switched around their personnel a little at times, flipping Tyson Alualu to nose and Hargrave to the left end. They would also place T.J. Watt in between the nose and end during a certain look, which worked really well against Le’Veon Bell once when he lost 11 yards on a run. But the pressure just wasn’t there from the defensive line, which has been something outside the norm. Heyward finished with seven tackles and Hargrave six but they combined for only two quarterback hurries.
Grade: B
Linebackers
A relatively quiet day from Watt and Bud Dupree, despite them having a sack each. Watt did have the critical sack/forced fumble/fumble recovery of Sam Darnold that led to the Steelers’ only touchdown and Dupree fell into one, but the pressures weren’t there. That was surprising with such a bad Jets offensive line. Darnold got rid of the ball very quickly, preventing much of a disruptive pass rush. On the inside, Mark Barron had seven tackles and a key pass breakup down the field on a third down while Devin Bush continued to thrive in his role of covering receivers out of the backfield who try to get to the flat quickly. With a lot of base played, Vince Williams didn’t see much action at all. When teams give up 16 points and hold a team to 259 yards of total offense, that’s a good day. But the group has conditioned us to expect domination on a weekly basis and it just wasn’t that. Still good, but not great.
Grade: B
Secondary
It wasn’t a banner day for the secondary. It allowed five pass plays of 15 yards or longer as Darnold went 16 of 26 for 183 yards and a touchdown. There were a handful of breakdowns starting on the first series. The Jets went up-tempo on the first series that prevented the Steelers from making switches. Then Darnold hooked up with Robbie Anderson from 23 yards away down the seam between Terrell Edmunds and Joe Haden, which was Haden’s responsibility. Edmunds was trailing and Haden was responsible for over-the-top coverage. He was late getting there and Darnold dropped a perfect pass into Anderson for the touchdown. Later, there was a blown coverage that allowed tight end Trevon Wesco to catch and run 32 yards. Even Minkah Fitzpatrick got into the mistake club. He was called for pass interference that went for 14 yards that kept the opening touchdown-scoring drive alive. It’s hard to totally batter the secondary giving up 16 points, but there can’t be miscommunications that lead to big plays. Especially with what kind of offense the Steelers are putting out there.
Grade: B-minus
Advertisem*nt
Special teams
It was a ho-hum performance out of the special teams. Chris Boswell made his only field goal attempt and Jordan Berry was up and down. He had a long of 59 and three of his seven punts were downed inside the 20 but he averaged under 40 yards. The Steelers were called for an encroachment penalty that resulted in a first down early in the fourth quarter with the Jets set up to punt that ended up being harmless. The Steelers lost only 90 seconds before the Jets punted it back to them. Another boo-boo was Jordan Dangerfield’s holding call on Johnson’s 30-yard punt return; however, that was a very questionable call.
Grade: C-plus
Coaching
I give Tomlin a lot of credit for yanking Hodges only after three series. Sure, it looked like a no-brainer, but to put Rudolph into the game after not playing for a month wasn’t much better of an option. It worked. The move kept the Steelers in the game and they very well could’ve won it if Rudolph didn’t injure a shoulder. To take a shot at the end zone right before the half was a gutsy call knowing that there were only nine seconds left and anything but a throw to the end zone would’ve resulted at the end of the half. Punting it late in the game on their own 20 was the right decision. It cost them only 32 seconds and three timeouts, but that got them 20 yards. All things considered, it was a good coaching performance by Tomlin.
Grade: B
Overall grade: C
(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
Mark Kaboly is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Pittsburgh Steelers. He joined The Athletic in 2017 and has covered the team since 2002, first for the McKeesport Daily News and then the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Mark, the president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America, has covered the Steelers in three Super Bowls (XL, XLIII, XLV). Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkKaboly
