The Pittsburgh Steelers entered Thursday’s matchup as 5.5-point favorites on the road against a 2-4 division rival, the Cincinnati Bengals, who had lost four straight. However, Cincy had traded for Joe Flacco just over a week earlier to start against one of his old nemeses. And boy, did he get the last laugh against Mike Tomlin and company.
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Flacco threw for 342 yards and three TDs with no turnovers and led the Bengals to a thrilling 33-31 upset victory. It was all the more dramatic since Tomlin had given a fiery response when asked about another division rival, the Cleveland Browns, trading Flacco to the Bengals when they were clearly in need of a QB.
In the end, the trade likely cost Tomlin, who is 11-12 all-time against Flacco in his regular-season career, a chance to get to 5-1. That said, while Flacco is a more fun story, the most impressive performance of the night came from All-Pro wideout Ja’Marr Chase, who nabbed a franchise-record 16 receptions on 23 targets for 161 yards and a score. And no doubt, that dominant outing exposed every weakness in Pittsburgh’s secondary.
Emmanuel Acho, now speaking on his own YouTube show after losing his show on FS1 earlier this season, says that Pittsburgh should be “embarrassed” by the performance. He especially berated the Steelers’ defensive leaders.
“Mike Tomlin, eventually, you gotta humble yourself. Teryl Austin, defensive coordinator, you gotta humble yourself. Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, ya’ll gotta humble yourselves. It was not yall’s day,” Acho said.
“Ja’Marr Chase is absolutely a dog, he’s one of them ones. Patrick Queen needs to run to the sideline and say, ‘Coach, call one double, send me to double-team Ja’Marr Chase. I don’t want to sit here in the hole and try to guard Iosivas. I don’t want to guard Chase Brown on the check-down. Send me right now to Ja’Marr Chase at the snap,'” he continued.
Why Acho thinks he has the right to speak so disrespectfully about these guys is beyond comprehension. And his strategy was also a very strange one: how does putting a linebacker on a receiver with 4.4 speed help anything at all?
If Pittsburgh wanted to do something different, they could have switched to more zone coverage and perhaps put a safety spy on Chase. Or they could have brought one of the safeties down to guard better against the slants that Chase was killing Pittsburgh with all night long.
That approach would have allowed the cornerback to play off and outside leverage, thereby also negating Chase’s downfield speed and the deep outs and digs that were a thorn in the Steelers’ side.
But even then, if you commit so much man-power to one player, you give the other guys more space. And it’s not like Chase was a one-man show. Tee Higgins also had several big plays as he went for six catches, 96 yards, and a TD. The aforementioned Andre Iosivas had 49 yards, including a massive 37-yarder late in the game. Tight end Noah Fant also tallied over 44 yards.
So they weren’t even double-teaming Chase, and the supporting cast still had big nights across the board. That points to much more deep-rooted and complicated issues than simply doubling one player. Telling a future Hall of Fame coach and several All-Pro CBs to “humble” themselves was certainly a choice. But Acho’s analysis of the defensive issues was even more wacky.
Arguing that changing one thing about that Pittsburgh Steelers performance would have made a difference is short-sighted analysis, lacking in depth, considering how complete the domination was of this defensive unit. We didn’t even talk about Chase Brown rushing for 108 yards on 11 carries against that porous run defense or T.J. Watt and the pass rush disappearing for much of the game.
Unfortunately for Steelers fans, Mike Tomlin has a lot more work to do than simply “humbling” himself and calling for a simple double-team. Wholesale changes to the defensive strategy might be needed.
