Steelers trying to fix defense that has wilted in 2nd half of back-to-back losses

When he combed through tape of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game Sunday night in Buffalo, coach Mike Tomlin noticed a lack of physical play by his team, a theme he addressed without prompting at his weekly news conference two days later.

Defensive captain Cameron Heyward probably didn’t need a rewind to come to the same conclusion. He saw it play out late in the second half of the Steelers’ 26-15 loss at Bills Stadium.

After an interception stalled a chance for the Steelers to chip into an 11-point deficit, the Bills took over at their 29 with 7 minutes, 11 seconds left in the game. Thirteen plays and four first downs later and with the ball resting inside the Steelers red zone, the game was over.

“I see that as them imposing their will,” Heyward said.

“I see it as we need to get off the field, and we didn’t.”

The sequence was emblematic of the second half for the Steelers. They stayed on the field too long, and they gave up touchdowns on multiple possessions, including one to start the third quarter.

The Bills scored on three of their four possessions before running out the clock on the drive that consumed nearly half of the final quarter. And they did it against a defense that was on the field for 21 minutes, 40 seconds after intermission.

The scenario was a virtual repeat from the previous week when the Steelers blew an 11-point halftime lead and lost 23-17 to Washington to snap an 11-0 start. Washington scored on four of six possessions — two touchdowns, two field goals — while erasing a 14-3 deficit. The Steelers defense played 17:37 and, again, gave up a touchdown on the opening possession.

Where Washington got all four of its third-down conversions after halftime, Buffalo got five of its seven in the second half.

“We have to get them out on third down and give ourselves a chance, give our offense a chance to win the football game,” defensive coordinator Keith Butler said. “That was the thing I would have liked to have seen a little bit better. Of course, we’re not always going to do that. In that critical situation, I wish we would have done that and coached a lot better, made the plays we needed to make at the end to get the ball back to our offense.”

Before the two-game losing streak, the Steelers hadn’t yielded a touchdown — and allowed only three points overall — on the opening drive of the second half. Washington used a 14-play, 82-yard drive to score a touchdown that trimmed their deficit to 14-10. Buffalo, aided by a pick-6 late in the first half, took the opening kickoff and went 68 yards in eight plays for a touchdown that gave them a 16-7 advantage.

“When presented with those opportunities, we have to get off the field when we can,” Heyward said. “Don’t give up touchdowns, give up field goals to keep us in the game. There might be some mishaps and there might be some miscommunication, but we have to bounce back from it.”

The Steelers will get their next chance Monday night at Cincinnati. It is the first time since the Steelers played at Jacksonville on Nov. 22 that they will be operating under normal practice conditions. Their preparation was halted multiple times during the thrice-delayed game against Baltimore, and short weeks followed in the run-up to the games against Washington and Buffalo.

The Steelers even got the benefit of a bonus day this week, which could give inside linebacker Vince Williams (reserve/covid-19 list) a chance to return. Cornerback Joe Haden (concussion) also should be back for a defense that remains ranked third in the NFL despite the absence of Devin Bush and Bud Dupree to season-ending injuries.

“I hope so,” he said. “We’ve got some good players on this defense. We have a lot of good players. They play well. They play together. The biggest thing about them is they’re a good team defense. We have to continue to do that and hopefully get after the quarterback a little bit more and stop the running game as much as we can in this game.”

The Steelers continue to lead the NFL with 45 sacks despite getting to Bills quarterback Josh Allen just once, and that was on a strip sack. And despite remaining tied for the NFL lead with 25 takeaways, the Steelers couldn’t disrupt the offensive flow after halftime in either of their defeats.

“We have to understand where we fell short,” Heyward said. “Coming off two big losses, it’s how do we respond? We have to get back to what made us a good defense in the first place. It’s getting off the field on third down, getting our pressures, our sacks and turnovers as a defense. It’s our offense putting up points. If we do that, we’ll be successful on Monday.”