In this week’s “3 & Out” column, we look at how the weaknesses of this current Steelers team were exposed by Dallas in a last-second, 20-17 loss on Sunday night.

Failure to mesh

It came down to a final play on Sunday night. 4th-and-goal from the Pittsburgh 4-yard line, 0:26 remaining, Steelers leading by four, Dallas needing a touchdown to win the game. The Cowboys ran a common route concept — Mesh — one that you’ve probably seen the Steelers dozens of times over the years. Mesh features two receivers crossing each other in the middle of the field at about five yards depth. Against man coverage, the idea is for one of the crossers to rub off the defender covering the other crosser. Against zone, the crossers either run away from coverage or sit down in a hole just past the mesh point. The route forces a defense to communicate quickly and can create confusion if defenders are not crisp in their decisions to either run with receivers or switch off in coverage.

The Steelers elected to played zone coverage on this crucial snap, which meant they had to be certain of their switches. Receivers CeeDee Lamb and Jalen Tolbert were the crossers for Dallas. When Lamb, who was coming from the left, went inside, corner Joey Porter Jr. passed him off and picked up the slot receiver running to the back corner of the end zone. Nickel corner Beanie Bishop passed the slot receiver to Porter and locked on to Lamb. So too did safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who was squatting about four yards deep in the end zone. Both began to run with Lamb.

From the other side of the field, Donte Jackson passed off Tolbert to DeShon Elliott, who chased Tolbert towards the mesh. As Tolbert and Lamb crossed paths, Elliott hesitated, as though he was expecting help on the other side. Bishop, who was running with Lamb, seemed to realize he should provide that help. But his reaction was too late. The intersection of bodies at the goal line forced Elliot to go over top of Tolbert, which created enough space for him to break free. Elliott was able to close ground and contest the throw from quarterback Dak Prescott, but Tolbert held on for the winning score:

DAK FINDS TOLBERT IN THE FINAL 30 SECONDS 🔥🔥

COWBOYS WIN!#NFL @NFLAUNZ pic.twitter.com/Y9JEz1hWLE

— ESPN Australia & NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) October 7, 2024

I’m not positive Bishop was supposed to pick up Tolbert on the other side of the mesh rather than run with Lamb. But when you watch him in the Twitter clip above, it sure looks that way. Bishop appears to sink too far inside with Lamb, find Tolbert late, then work fecklessly back outside to help on him. He winds up in No Man’s Land, covering air, as Tolbert scores the winning touchdown.

The Steelers did a great job plugging holes in their lineup this off-season, but they left a couple unfilled. One was at slot corner, where they released veterans Chandon Sullivan and Patrick Peterson, who manned the position in 2023, and never found an adequate replacement. They have settled on Bishop, an undersized, undrafted free agent from West Virginia. Bishop is a tough player who is easy to root for, but he’s also been picked on heavily the past two weeks. Against Dallas, he was beaten down the seam on several routes and often appeared confused in coverage. That’s been a theme for the Steelers so far this season. With new pieces at corner (Bishop and Jackson), safety (Elliott) and linebacker (Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson), it has taken longer than hoped for everyone to get their assignments straight. Whether it was Prescott shredding the defense for 352 passing yards on Sunday, or Joe Flacco looking far too comfortable against them last week in Indy, the Steelers have been exposed on the back end the past two weeks.

The defense won’t be able to rely on multiple red zone turnovers (fumble recovery, interception, blocked field goal) like it got against Dallas to keep opposing offenses from scoring. They’re going to have to get stops in the middle of the field. That starts with better play from their slot corners and straightening out their communication issues in the secondary.

Failure to receive

The other area where the Steelers seemed thin entering the season was at the wide receiver position. Pittsburgh appeared to acknowledge this by being a player (or perhaps getting played) in the Brandon Aiyuk drama. Reports that link them to disgruntled Raiders’ receiver Davante Adams suggest they remain aware.

That does little to solve the present dilemma, however, which is that they’re not good enough on the outside for this offense to be anything more than middling. Pittsburgh’s receivers caught eight passes on Sunday night for just 66 yards. That’s an average of 8.25 yards per catch. By comparison, the tight ends caught six passes for 50 yards (8.3 ypc) and the running backs caught two for 35 yards (17.5 ypc). It’s been said time and again that Arthur Smith’s offense does not need an elite receiving corps because of the way he spreads the ball to his tight ends and backs. But the receivers can’t average less yards-per-catch than those other groups for the offense to click. It simply needs explosive plays from them to open the box and stretch a defense. The Steelers get those plays from George Pickens on occasion. Otherwise, they are limited to dink-and-dunk routes that must be executed consistently to move the chains. Pittsburgh lacks that consistency, and struggles to finish drives as a result.

For those who argue that Justin Fields regressed at quarterback against Dallas, and that Fields shares in the blame for the poor performance of the passing game, I agree. Fields missed on some throws, was indecisive on others and held the football too long at times. But, while I haven’t seen the All-22 film yet for confirmation, it sure looked in real time as though there weren’t many open targets downfield for Fields to choose from. Bryan Anthony Davis, who was at the game Sunday night with a bird’s-eye view of the field, said as much on our “Here We Go” podcast on Monday. Fields certainly shoulders some of the blame. But it’s hard to pin too much on him, or to suggest another quarterback would have been better, when guys simply weren’t open.

Fixing this problem is tricky. I don’t love the idea of trading for Adams because his cap hit balloons to about $36 million next season. The Steelers will need money to pay either Fields or Russell Wilson next year, so doling out that sort of cash to Adams, who will be 32 years old in December, seems silly. They can look to swing a trade for a lesser receiver, but it will be hard to find a willing partner at this point in the season. On the current roster, 3rd Round draft pick Roman Wilson seems to have recovered from the ankle injury that set him back in training camp but is yet to be activated. Pittsburgh promoted Brandon Johnson from the practice squad instead for the Dallas game, meaning Wilson is either not fully healthy yet or behind a practice squad player on the depth chart. There doesn’t seem to be an easy fix, which means the current group will have to find a way to improve until the team can figure out its next move.

Superman

Lost in the doom and gloom on Sunday was perhaps the play of the year for the Steelers. I’m sure you’ve seen it, but if not, here’s the setup: Steelers leading 17-13, Cowboys with 2nd-and-goal at the Pittsburgh 1-yard line, 0:35 remaining. Everyone and their mother knew a run was coming, including Steelers’ linebacker Elandon Roberts, who at the snap of the football did this:

That’s a gut-punch loss. Lots to dissect tomorrow. But for now, this is the play of the year for the Steelers. Elandon Roberts. What a warrior… pic.twitter.com/QoCaWbpZCo

— Kevin Smith (@KTSmithFFSN) October 7, 2024

Everything about this play was remarkable. The timing. The positioning of his body, as he actually managed to beat running back Rico Dowdle to the spot and knock him backwards. The violence of the hit, which was so impactful it jarred the football loose. If a Steeler had been in the backfield to fall on it, or if Pittsburgh had been able to hold on 4th down, we’d be talking about this play for years to come the way we marvel at Troy Polamalu’s incredible one-handed scoop interception against the Chargers or Ryan Clark knocking out Willis McGahee against the Ravens. That play was full warrior mentality by Roberts, who knew what Dallas would run and did everything in his power to stop it. Roberts is a Steeler through-and-through, and his effort on this play was legendary, even if the final result was unsatisfying.

And Out…

While the Steelers and Cowboys play just once every four years, and shouldn’t be considered rivals because of it, there is something special about matchups between the teams. The first football game I ever remember watching was Super Bowl X, where Pittsburgh beat Dallas 21-17. I have the loved the Steelers, and hated the Cowboys, ever since.

Baltimore is Pittsburgh’s primary rival, and Cincinnati and Cleveland are rivals by default. But for pure dislike of an opponent, I’ll take the Cowboys as the team I most enjoy beating and most despise losing to. Which, of course, made the outcome on Sunday suck that much more.