Steelers lose opener, Pouncey in 16-9 setback
Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) gets sacked by Tennessee's Jurrell Casey (99) on Sept. 8, 2013. Roethlisberger is hoping his return to Philadelphia is not as painful as his last game there when the Eagles sacked him eight times in a 15-6 loss on Sept. 21, 2008.
Roberto M. Esquivel|Herald-Standard
Steelers wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery scores the team’s only touchdown late in the fourth quarter during Sunday’s game against Tennessee at Heinz Field.
Steelers running back Isaac Redman (33) fights for extra yardage against Tennessee during Sunday's game at Heinz Field.
Steelers safety Troy Polamalu puts the breaks on Tennessee running back Jackie Battle during Sunday's game at Heinz Field.
Steelers cornerback William Gay (22) breaks up a pass intended for Tennessee wide receiver Nate Washington (85) during Sunday's game at Heinz Field.
Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sander (88) makes a leaping catch late in the fourth quarter against Tennessee Sunday at Heinz Field.
Roberto M. Esquivel | Herald-Standard
Injured Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey is carted off the field during Sunday’s game against Tennessee at Heinz Field.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger kneels before an injured Maurkice Pouncey, who was injured early in the game against Tennessee Sunday at Heinz Field.
Pittsburgh Steelers running back LaRod Stephens-Howling (34) tries to avoid getting tackled by Tennessee Titans linebacker Zach Brown (55).
PITTSBURGH — The Steelers’ 16-9 loss to the Tennessee Titans wasn’t their worst loss of the day, not by a long shot.
Also lost, probably for the season, were Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey and starting linebacker Larry Foote to injuries that will require surgery.
“Obviously, a disappointing opener,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said in the aftermath. “There is enough misery to go around in all three phases. I won’t accept it. This team better not accept it. We’ve got some work to do. We sustained some injuries in the game, but really not an excuse. The guys that played had opportunities. We didn’t play well enough.”
The game opened with a bang for the Steelers, but went straight downhill from there.
The first Steelers points of the season were scored former WVU star Darius Reynaud, of all people. The Titans return man fielded the opening kickoff outside the end zone and backed up to kneel down, resulting in a safety and a 2-0 lead for the Steelers.
Who says kickoffs are no longer exciting in the NFL?
Once it got on the field, the Steelers offense was moving nicely when disaster struck. Pouncey went down and out when teammate David DeCastro rolled up the back of his leg. Kelvin Beachum replaced Pouncey.
Tomlin noted post-game that Pouncey suffered injuries to his MCL and ACL ligaments and will need surgery to have them repaired. Later, Foote suffered a torn bicep that also will need to be surgically repaired, likely ending his season. Also injured for the Steelers were one of three healthy running backs, LaRod Stephens-Howling suffered a knee injury and cornerback Cortez Allen sprained an ankle.
Pittsburgh marched to a third-and-1 at the 5-yard line, but Isaac Redman never really got a handoff from Roethlisberger and fumbled into the end zone, where Moise Fokou recovered for Tennessee.
“We had a miscommunication in terms of personnel,” Tomlin said.
“There were supposed to be two tailbacks in the game,” said Redman. “I was going to fullback to get the dive. We got to the line of scrimmage and realized we didn’t have the tailback in the game. I looked to sideline to see if we could flag Felix (Jones) on, but the play clock was running and we didn’t have time. I just told David Johnson to go and line up at tailback.
“We snapped it. It was kind of slow coming back from center, still working with a new center. It’s a quick-hitting play and we messed up the quarterback-running back exchange.”
“I thought about calling a time out because we had the wrong personnel in. The play was going to Isaac the whole time. He was in and he knew the play, so I didn’t feel it was necessary to burn a time out. I have to make sure I get him the ball, point blank. I take the heat on that one.”
Redman’s next fumble, early in the second quarter, led to the Steelers debut of Felix Jones with 7:39 remaining in the first half, but Roethlisberger was intercepted by Alterraun Verner on a throw behind Emmanuel Sanders and Tennessee took over at the Steelers’ 49-yard line.
Redman wouldn’t play again until the waning moments of the game.
“Coach T said it doesn’t change how he has faith in me when I came to the sidelines,” Redman said. “He just said to get it together and they were going to still dial my number up some time in the game.”
Jackie Battle put Tennessee ahead on a 3-yard TD run 44 second before halftime. The play capped a 12-play, 49-yard drive that included a fourth-down conversion and a third-down conversion. Eleven of the 12 plays were runs.
The Steelers offense couldn’t get out of its own way in the first half, with Redman fumbling twice and Roethlisberger throwing an interception. The ground game averaged 0.8 yards on 10 rushes before the break. The running game finished with 32 yards on 15 carries for a 2.1 average.
“We just didn’t get enough going with any of the running backs,” Tomlin said. “The game circumstances dictated that we do certain things, no huddle and so forth.”
Overall offensively, the Steelers were not very good at all.
“Our quarterback was getting hit some. It wasn’t a clean pocket,” Tomlin said. “Obviously, we had Kelvin beachum in there at center. We needed to be able to run the ball to stay on schedule. We weren’t able to do that.”
Beachum was supposed to play a lot of tight end in this game because he is a strong run blocker, but when he moved to center, it changed the dynamic of the entire offense.
And the second half didn’t open any better, as the Steelers went three-and-out, then Shamarko Thomas drew a holding penalty on a punt return that dropped the Steelers back to their own 9-yard line. That drive ended with an 8-yard sack and Tennessee took over at the Pittsburgh 45-yard line.
From there Jake Locker passed the Titans into scoring range and Rob Bironas kicked a 26-yard field goal to extend the Titans lead to 10-2. He completed 3-of-4 passes for 43 yards, including a 25-yarder to Delanie Walker on third-and-15 and a 14-yarder to Nate Washington on third-and-13.
The clincher was a 44-yard Bironas field goal with 6:01 remaining that made it 13-2 that capped an 11-play, 62-yard drive.
It was followed by a 12-yard kickoff return by Marcus Wheaton that carried to the 7-yard line. That drive ended, of course, on a sack and punt, which was returned 27 yards to the Steelers 17-yard line by Raynaud. Bironas’s third field goal followed to put Tennessee up, 16-2.
The Steelers generated 75 of their 195 total yards on their final possession, which ended with Roethlisberger passing to Jerricho Cotchery from 4 yards out for the meaningless touchdown.
“That was the problem,” Roethlisberger said. “We did it late and we couldn’t do it early enough. It was little things here and little things there. We just never quite got it going.”