It's about getting better: Coach Mike Tomlin's message to his team was simple after the Steelers 35-25 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night at Acrisure Stadium.
"I said it's not a lot to talk about," said Tomlin. "We've got to get better. We've got to get better in a hurry. So, we say very little when we win. We say less when we lose.
"It's all about getting back in the lab and getting better."
The Steelers dropped their second straight, giving up more than 400 yards for the second time in as many weeks, including 360 yards passing by Packers quarterback Jordan Love.
"We're not winning enough possession downs on defense," said Tomlin. "We're simply not. I thought the two third-down conversions in the third quarter, field-flipping type plays, were significant plays. They were catalysts for drive engineering, the two touchdown drives in the third quarter.
"I thought we had them in advantageous third-down circumstances for us and they converted. Not only do they convert, but they had chunk plays. You're not going to win football games like that."
The offense wasn't able to convert in critical situations, settling for four Chris Boswell field goals.
"We just simply have to get a lot better in a lot of areas, in all areas, but some really specific areas that are critical to winning," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "We can't settle for field goals versus good people, and that was kind of an issue throughout.
"We got behind the chains somewhat, so we got into scoring territory, be it a penalty or a lost yardage first play on first down, and it was uphill from there, and we settled for field goals too often. You're just not going to win close ball games when you're doing that."
And when it came to penalties, the Steelers were once again 'highly penalized' in Tomlin's words, with six for 65 yards.
"I thought we were highly penalized for the second week in a row," said Tomlin. "It hadn't been us, but it is us. So, we certainly have got to address that, and we will.
"We've got a big game coming up here in a short period of time. We've got to get in and look at this and make the necessary adjustments and alterations to what it is that we're doing and the effort to change the outcome of this thing.
"We've just got to be better in all areas, and it starts first with the positions that we put players in. So, it's coaches, it's players, it's all of us. We own it. We'll be better. We have to be."
Rodgers was 'disappointed': Quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed 24 of 36 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns on a night he was playing against his former team.
Like his coach, he got straight to the point on his feelings about the loss.
"Disappointed," said Rodgers. "Disappointed that I didn't play better, that we didn't play better, especially in the second half."
The Steelers had a 16-7 lead going into the half, getting the ball to start the half.
When asked about what changed in the second half, Rodgers gave his assessment.
"I just feel like we had some discipline issues and some penalties that were unnecessary, and then we aren't going to win a lot of games when we're so bad on third down," said Rodgers. "(Chris Boswell) bailed us out on four incredible kicks, but when you're playing good teams, you need to score touchdowns, and we stalled out in the high red zone.
"We had too many penalties, too many negative yardage plays. Then I wasn't accurate enough on third down, and we weren't creating enough space.
"We'll look at the film, and we'll get better, and we got a good team coming next week."
The Steelers face the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. The Colts are 7-1 and in first place in the AFC.
With back-to-back losses, the Steelers are going to need to turn a quick turnaround to get back on track this week.
"Well, just an honest assessment," said Rodgers of what the team needs to do to get back on that track. "I think setting feelings aside and being okay with criticism, any position, any player, and being honest about what we need to do to improve.
"Then we can't beat ourselves. I think in the three losses there's been times we've had opportunities, and we've hurt ourselves with turnovers or just negative plays, so we got to cut those out.
"We got to get on the same page on offense and defense and keep the faith."
Time to resolve the issues: The Steelers defense talked all week about stopping the run against the Packers, but what hurt them the most on Sunday night was the passing game.
Jordan Love threw for 360 yards, with tight end Tucker Kraft on the receiving end of seven passes for 143 yards, including a 59-yard reception, and two touchdowns.
"I thought their tight end was significant," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "His run after, we talked about it during the week. We didn't do a good enough job of minimizing that. That probably was the catalyst of it."
Linebacker Patrick Queen was asked what the defense needs to do to stop their issues against defending tight ends.
He didn't hold back.
"It's going to be resolved," said Queen. "It's going to be resolved this week."
Queen said the key for the defense is everyone simply doing their job, focusing on the assignment and getting it done.
"I think it just comes down to understanding situations, doing your job, and doing it at a high level," said Queen. "Just playing with a sense of urgency.
"I think when you understand the situations, and understand the formations, at the end it's the details that are the keys. I think that's the part that we got to be better at.
"When it's man-to-man …. it's man-to-man. You got to eat. I think we've got the best guys to cover in the world. I think we've just got to go out there and do it.
"We just have to lock in on the details, do what we do, and just be better."
The best way to go about correcting the issues is carrying over what they are doing in practice to the games.
"We do it at practice," said Queen. "I think when you get to the game and something goes left, you kind of get a little timid or whatever you want to call it from that. I think you've just got to hone in, lock in, and just be ready for the next play and the next play and the next play. Just keep going.
"It's a warrior's game. Things aren't going to always be perfect, but you've got to battle back.
"I think sometimes when you get beat, you kind of get frustrated. Especially, maybe you knew the situation or maybe you just got beat man-to-man. Whatever it is I think when it comes to that, you kind of get frustrated as a human, and as a player, because you want to be great. You're competitive.
"Every guy on our defense is competitive and doesn't want to lose a rep. We just got to hone in on the details and be better. Just be honed in. Just have a sense of urgency and be physical, be fast, be aggressive."
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