From the moment the 2024 NFL schedule came out in May, the Pittsburgh Steelers knew what was coming in December.
Eleven days. Three games. Two of them on the road. All against playoff contenders.
There's a reason coach Mike Tomlin runs one of the more physical training camps in the league, to prepare his team for gauntlets such as the one the AFC North leaders currently find themselves in.
“That’s why we tackle in Latrobe every day that we have pads on,” the NFL's longest-tenured coach said.
Maybe, but when the first test arrived on Sunday on the other side of the state in Philadelphia, all that work at Saint Vincent College didn't seem to matter.
The Eagles spent three-plus hours bending the Steelers to their will in a 27-13 victory, controlling the ball for 40 minutes, including a 21-play clock-draining masterpiece in the fourth quarter that took them from one side of Lincoln Financial Field to the other and sent Pittsburgh back home with plenty to work on and little time to fix it.
The Steelers (10-4) have all of five days to recover and reset ahead of a visit to rival Baltimore, where a win would clinch a division title that seemed remote when the season began. Yet for all of Pittsburgh’s progress over the past three-plus months, the Eagles laid out a blueprint on how to give the Steelers a taste of their own medicine.
Philadelphia controlled the line of scrimmage from start to finish, though the Eagles were also abetted by an opponent who made the kind of mistakes it had largely avoided all season.
The Steelers couldn't take full advantage of two early Philadelphia turnovers, punting after the first and settling for a field goal after the second thanks in part to a personal foul penalty against wide receiver Calvin Austin III for a dust-up in the end zone in which Eagles cornerback Darius Slay wasn't disciplined despite video evidence showing him throwing a punch. The defense spent most of the last three quarters on skates while Philadelphia did whatever it wanted whenever it wanted, helped by missed tackles and missed assignments.
Tomlin acknowledged the coaching staff didn't fare much better. Whatever beef — real or imagined — between Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and wide receiver A.J. Brown vanished amid a series of chunk plays while Brown and Devonta Smith broke wide open.
And during a season in which Tomlin has been aggressive at nearly every turn, he became reticent during decisive moments. He bafflingly let more than 20 seconds bleed off the clock late in the first half after T.J. Watt sacked Hurts to force a punt. Tomlin later opted to kick the ball back to Philadelphia with just over 10 minutes left instead of going for it on fourth-and-7 at the Pittsburgh 46 and the Steelers down two touchdowns.
“I’m comfortable with the process that we went through at the time in terms of how we played that situation,” he said.
It backfired. The Steelers never got the ball back to remain winless in Philadelphia since 1965. While Tomlin said afterward it was just a loss and cautioned against getting overly “dramatic” about it, his team also missed an opportunity to prove it was ready to play with the league's elite.
Perhaps even worse, no one — save perhaps for Watt — even looked particularly ready for the fight. Bouncing back on short rest to face their biggest rival is a daunting task.
If the Steelers want to be considered a legitimate threat in the AFC come mid-January, they better be up to it.
What's working
All the turnover drills put together by secondary coach Grady Brown and the rest of the defensive staff. Watt executed another textbook punchout when he knocked the ball out of Hurts' hands in the first quarter. A forced fumble on a punt a short time later pushed Pittsburgh's turnover total to an NFL-best 30 on the season.
What needs help
The passing game without injured wide receiver George Pickens. Russell Wilson threw for a season-low 128 yards without his top target and his longest completion came on a 31-yard pass to Austin on a flea-flicker. If you're resorting to trick plays, it means the regular ones aren't working.
Stock up
Pickens and safety DeShon Elliott.
Their absences have only heightened their value. If the talented but volatile Pickens wants to present a compelling argument for why he deserves a lucrative extension in the offseason, he should just play the tape of how tepid the offense looks without him. Same for Elliott, whose physical play and tackling prowess were sorely missed.
Stock down
The secondary said it was eager for a “five-star matchup” with Brown and Smith. Sure didn't look that way. The Eagles tandem pretty much got wherever they wanted whenever they wanted.
Injuries
Tomlin is optimistic Watt (ankle) will be able to play against Baltimore after he left late in the fourth quarter. The status for Pickens (hamstring), Elliott (hamstring), defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi (groin) and backup quarterback Justin Fields (abdomen) is more uncertain.
Key number
12 — the times the Steelers have made the playoffs under Tomlin after Indianapolis' loss in Denver assured Pittsburgh of reaching the postseason. That ties Hall of Famer Chuck Noll for the most playoff appearances by a coach in franchise history.
Next steps
Try to lock up their first division title since 2020 by sweeping the Ravens, who have dropped eight of their past nine to Pittsburgh.
