If you are looking for positives, the Pittsburgh Steelers can take from Sunday’s 27-13 loss to the Eagles, good luck. Those are going to be tough to unearth, seeing as how the team held onto the ball for only about 20 minutes, had just one touchdown drive, and could only manage a piddly 163 yards of offense with a laughable 56 of that on the ground.
During this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of 105.9 The X and TribLive says there is little encouragement to be found in advance of Saturday’s AFC North divisional showdown against the Baltimore Ravens.
The 10-4 Steelers hold a one-game lead on the 9-5 Ravens with the head-to-head tiebreaker currently in hand. A victory for Pittsburgh on the road next week would sew up the division crown.
But Madden is pessimistic coming off of Sunday’s performance in Philly, despite the Steelers winning eight of their past nine against the Ravens.
“There was nothing about this loss in Philadelphia that led me to believe they’re going to rebound by going to Baltimore on Saturday and winning — acknowledging that the Steelers are the Ravens’ bogey team,” Madden said. “The Steelers really didn’t play well at all. I can’t define any area where they were above average, and they were below average in a whole lot of areas.”
In some cases, the box score doesn’t tell the story of a game. Madden says the Steelers’ trip to Philly on Sunday does.
“They got two turnovers in the first half and only got three points out of those, which is not the way to win on the road against a superior opponent,” Madden said. “Then, of course, they were within one score (20-13) when Najee (Harris) fumbled in the second half, and the game just went to crap after that.
“I think it was incredible that the Steelers ran just 11 offensive plays in the second half. I keep looking at these numbers, it’s depressing. The Eagles had three drives in the second half of 13, 13 and 21 plays. The Steelers defense simply could not get off the field.”
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Madden says that, from what he has been reading and seeing since the loss, a lot of fans are in denial about how lopsided the game truly was.
“Despite the loss, I hear people saying, ‘Oh, they played pretty good.’ They did not play pretty good,” Madden laughed. “Even despite them driving with Najee’s fumble, with a chance to tie the game, I never felt the Steelers were in danger of winning that game.”
At least the Steelers did manage to clinch a playoff spot by virtue of losses by the Dolphins and Colts on Sunday. But Madden isn’t finding comfort anywhere in the playoff bracket. If the Steelers slide into the playoffs as just a wild card, they’d probably have to travel to Houston or Baltimore — or, less likely, Kansas City or Buffalo — in the first round.
“I might pick them at Houston. If they lose at Baltimore (Saturday) and then have to go back to Baltimore (in the playoffs), I would pick Baltimore in a playoff game,” Madden continued.
Also, during the podcast, Madden and I get into some of Mike Tomlin’s coaching decisions, the absence of George Pickens, T.J. Watt’s injury, the Penguins and more.
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