Chalk Talk: Mike Mitchell was out of the picture

Steelers' radio broadcaster Tunch Ilkin does a fantastic job in the booth every week, on his radio talk show, and also in his weekly Chalk Talk video-breakdowns of key plays every week on Steelers.com.

Mike Mitchell is on far left of screen, moving toward
Travis Benjamin, who is being trailed by Cortez Allen and
Troy Polamalu in the big circle in the center of the screen,
while Jordan Cameron, in the small circle near the
40-yard marker, make his way to the far sideline.

Following Sunday's game against the Browns, Tunch took a look at the key 45-yard pass play to Cleveland tight end Jordan Cameron immediately following Pittsburgh's botched field goal attempt early in the second quarter.

The Browns set up the Steelers for this misdirection play by their previous commitment to the run (including prior games); their earlier play calls in this game; the three tight-end formation; effective play-action; the movement off the line of scrimmage; and the absolutely perfect execution by Brian Hoyer, Jordan Cameron, Travis Benjamin and everyone else in a Cleveland uniform. Flawless execution on a well-schemed play.

On the Steelers' side of the ball, eh, confusion reigned, and the execution was, shall we say, less than perfect.  In his excellent review of the video, Tunch points out the position of several Steelers and says, "I am not sure who was supposed to be covering him (Jordan Cameron)."

That's because it looks like there were 10 defenders on the field. Why? Safety Mike Mitchell was so far downfield and moving in the wrong direction to boot that he was literally out of the screen on the video. You'll see at about at the 2:33 mark of the video, Mitchell's shadow shows up on the far left of the screen, though, so we know he was actually on the field.

Mitchell just wasn't anywhere near where the ball ended up -- he was moving to the complete opposite side of the field away from Cameron -- along with fellow safety Troy Polamalu and cornerback Cortez Allen. With those two already covering Benjamin, why was Mitchell also going there? And why did leave his side of the field completely wide open? What was he thinking?

Not good judgment or instincts, apparently, on the part of Mitchell.

Lots of wide-open pasture for Jordan Cameron.
Mike Mitchell, meanwhile, is to the far left of the screen , moving in the opposite direction

Again, to review: It was first and 10 at the Steelers' 47-yard line. Cleveland sets up in a three tight end formation, giving the appearance of a running play, with wide receiver Travis Benjamin split wide right. Jordan Cameron is the near tight end off the left tackle. As the ball is snapped, the line flows right, but Benjamin streaks downfield on a slant post while Cameron meanders sneakily on a cross in the opposite direction across the back of the line behind the linebackers. Cameron pivots and makes his way downfield along the right sideline. He gets wide open. Why?

Because, if you look at Tunch's video, in the pre-snap formation, Mike Mitchell had lined up 20 yards downfield on Benjamin's side, where Cameron ended up. As the soon as the ball was snapped, Mitchell immediately started dropping back even further and moving to his right. In other words, he followed Benjamin, who was streaking across the field toward the far corner, providing unneeded backup to both Cortez Allen and Troy Polamalu, who were also in trail.

Despite all the attention, by the way, Benjamin was still wide open, and Hoyer could have hit him just as easily as Jordan. That's because neither Cortez Allen nor Troy Polamalu could keep up with the speedy Benjamin, and Mitchell was nowhere near him, either.

By the time Hoyer released the ball, Mitchell was so far downfield, about 40 yards, he was completely out of the picture. His shadow was still there, on the far left side of the screen, so you could see that he was moving in the direction of Benjamin -- and completely in the opposite direction of Cameron.

And that's how Jordan Cameron got so wide open. A breakdown in the Steelers' secondary, and to our untrained eye, it looks like Mike Mitchell should have stayed on his side of the field and at least tried to close some ground to cover the wide-open Jordan Cameron.  Had he been over there, Mitchell might have at least stopped some of the yards after catch. That 45-yard completion completely turned the momentum of the game, and it was all downhill from there.

You can watch Tunch's entire "Chalk Talk" video of the play at this link. It's instructive, revealing and ultimately dismaying. As Tunch said, "After that, it was Katie bar the door."

Mistake City

Justin Brown's early fumble set the tone.

Three turnovers and nine penalties are no way to win a game.

Neither will scoring just two field goals. And neither will allowing 157 yards rushing, or allowing the other team a glaring time-of-possession advantage (35:08 to 24:52), which may explain in part why running back Le'Veon Bell got only 11 carries.

For the night, the Steelers tried just 18 runs vs. 36 by the Ravens. Guess who won? Ravens, 26-6.

A Costly Early Fumble
The first of the three turnovers, Justin Brown's early fumble at the Baltimore 15-yard line, killed any fledgling momentum the Steelers had on their opening possession and let the Ravens off the hook. Brown's fumble quashed a 14-play drive that felt a little off-kilter the whole way and was actually kept alive by a ticky-tacky roughing the passer call on the third play of the game, way back at the Steelers' 11.  David Decastro's subsequent penalty for being too far downfield nullified a 19-yard pass play to Heath Miller. Antonio Brown got racked hard on a 23-yard catch but held onto the ball.

Two plays later, however, Justin Brown's fumble ended the drive and galvanized the home crowd. Justin Brown wasn't hit particularly hard -- he just had the ball poked out while getting tackled. Breathing new life, the Ravens marched right down the field to take an early 7-0 lead, assisted greatly by cornerback Cortez Allen's 38 penalty yards.

Down goes Roethlisberger.

Worrisome Trends
The Steelers' nine penalties for 75 yards on the night came on the heels of last week's 11 penalties against Cleveland, and that's not a good trend. "Obviously."

Oh, and the Steelers allowed the Ravens 157 yards on the ground after giving up 183 yards rushing to Cleveland. That's as alarming as anything we've seen so far in 2014. If Dick LeBeau's defense is going to keep allowing teams to run the ball, it's going to be a long, torturous season.

A Soft Middle
On defense, too, the Steelers should have foreseen Joe Flacco would be going to his tight ends over the middle of the field. The Ravens love to do that, if they can, and against a Steelers defense starting a rookie inside linebacker (Ryan Shazier) and a new safety (Mike Mitchell), the Steelers should have seen it coming. And the Ravens took what the Steelers gave them. All night long. It was reminiscent of the 2011 season opener in Baltimore, when Joe Flacco went to Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson all day during a 35-7 beatdown of the Steelers.

In Thursday night's 26-6 loss, it was Pitta and Owen Daniels doing the damage, with Daniels scoring two touchdowns. Daniels used to play for Gary Kubiak, Baltimore's new offensive coordinator, and the Steelers did not account for him. Inexcusable.

The middle of the field was there for the taking. It makes you wonder why the Steelers' offense didn't try the same strategy against a Ravens defense also starting a rookie inside linebacker (C.J. Moseley) and a pair of young safeties. Then again, the Ravens have two legitimate receiving tight ends in Pitta and Daniels. The Steelers have only Heath Miller, who is great, but they simply do not have two legitimate receiving tight ends.

Sacked.

Getting Pushed 
Around Up Front
Pittsburgh's defensive line and offensive line got pushed around too much. On defense, once again, Cam Thomas did next to nothing, and an aging Brett Keisel seems to have the youngest legs on the line.

The entire offensive line failed to get much of a push vs. the Ravens in the running game, and we're still trying to figure out why the Steelers gave  contract extensions this year to Maurkice Pouncey and Marcus Gilbert. Neither did much to provide a surge in the running game, and Gilbert got tossed around in pass protection. Again.

Gilbert also committed a costly false start on 3rd-and-four at the Baltimore 36 in the second quarter. That hurt. It put Roethlisberger in 3rd-and-nine, and the Steelers couldn't convert. Brad Wing punted to the Baltimore 11 and, on the next play, Joe Flacco kneeled on the ball to end the half.

Gilbert allowed two sacks and it sure looked like he was responsible for no help at all on the hit to the sternum Roethlisberger took on the third play of the first series. That hit was penalized unjustly; otherwise, Gilbert might have been "credited" with allowing another sack.

Steve Smith, running free through the secondary.

Major Questions 
About the Secondary
Speaking of mystifying contract extensions, Cortez Allen certainly hasn't looked like a shutdown corner the first two games, or even a competent one. He didn't even look good in the pre-season games, yet the Steelers awarded him with the questionable contract extension on the eve of the season opener.

Allen struggled again vs. the Ravens, committing a 15-yard face mask penalty on the first play after Justin Brown's fumble, committing pass interference on a deep pass, and failing to corral an interception early in the fourth quarter. Two plays after the bungled interception, Justin Tucker kicked a field goal to make the score 23-6, effectively putting the game out of reach.

Allen wasn't the only one to commit a facemask penalty. Safety Mike Mitchell also committed one, and he added an unnecessary roughness penalty later for good measure. He hasn't done anything in the first two games to justify being signed to big money. Based on what we've seen so far, he stinks.

All in all, it was a disjointed, sloppy and ugly effort by the Steelers. And a well-deserved loss. They went into Baltimore with a chance to send the Ravens reeling, and they blew it.

Not that it helps, but Mike Tomlin summed up the entire night pretty well during his opening statement of the post-game news conference:

"Obviously a disappointment for us, a lot of self-inflicted wounds are going to prevent you from being in football games. We turned the ball over too often, we were highly penalized, particularly, on the drives that they were able to manufacture and produce points. We were highly penalized defensively. Those two things are a lethal combination. When you turn the ball over, and you’re highly penalized, and you’re extending drives, you’re going to lose football games like that, and we did tonight."

Next up: At Charlotte, N.C., vs. the Carolina Panthers, at 8:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 21. As of this writing, more than 4,000 tickets remain available, starting at $100 a ticket. It should be exciting.

"It's time to put the hay in the barn"

Holy cow, last night's wannabe Steelers-wannabe Panthers sham pre-season finale scrum was dreadful to watch. There were lots of empty seats, but anybody who actually sat through that charade should have been paid to watch it, not the other way around. It's amazing the NFL gets away with it.

Antwon Blake struggled vs. the Panthers.

It's hard to read too much into the performance on the field. A lot of the guys who played won't be in NFL uniforms next week. The guys in Steelers uniforms last night got beat by guys like Philly Brown and Fozzy Whitaker. Let's get real.

The next round of cuts shouldn't be too hard in most cases. It's time to end the Mike Adams experiment. And, do Steelers really need more than two quarterbacks on the active roster to start the year?

There are other concerns, of course. These new free-agent signees won't get cut, but to be honest, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls don't see what Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin saw in off-season additions Cam Thomas and Mike Mitchell.  Neither has shown much this camp or in the pre-season games. With Brett Keisel's recent arrival, where does Thomas fit on the defensive line? The run defense has looked awful all pre-season, and Thomas was supposed to bolster it. He's looked slow, fat and a pushover. Mitchell may be able to hit, allegedly, but he can't tackle, apparently; and he takes bad angles in pursuit -- which he seems to be doing a lot (chasing down guys already past him).

Not encouraging.

After the game, Coach Tomlin said, "We’re very much still a team in development like all teams are.  I think you’re kidding yourself if you think you’re a finished product this time of year. We’re going to continue to put the hay in the barn."

Let's hope this team somehow gels before the season opener vs. Cleveland at Heinz Field. Last year, the Seelers lost the season opener at home vs. Mike Munchak's Tennessee Titans, and then proceeded to lose the next three games.

The Steelers weren't ready to start the season last year, and they don't look ready now. It's time to put the hay in the barn.

Weighing in ...

Lance Moore

Once again this year, Steeler Nation has watched NFL free agency come and go (mostly now) with bated breath only to be frustrated by lack of cap space and a series of mostly underwhelming additions and unsurprising subtractions.

Safety Mike Mitchell is the only roster addition we can say with confidence is an upgrade. Mitchell succeeds the inimitable but aging Ryan Clark, who became suddenly slow during a 2013 season in which the defense surrendered a gazillion plays of 20 yards or more.

Jessica Burciaga, who is supposedly
Lance Moore's girlfriend

At wide receiver, Lance Moore replaces Emmanuel Sanders -- not Jericho Cotchery, as most people seem to conclude from the timing of Moore's signing coinciding with Cotchery's lamentable departure. We're not sorry to see Sanders gone; we are sad to see Jericho no longer in Black 'n Gold.

Hampered by injuries last year, Lance Moore had only 37 catches for the Saints, but he tallied an average of 63 catches a year for the previous three seasons. The Steelers hope he regains that form to replace Sanders, who had 67 catches last year for the Steelers (740 yards; 11.0 ypc). Sanders also had more than few drops, and too many of those at crucial times. Sanders came up small in the biggest moments; clutch, not so much. The Steelers should have let Sanders go to New England last off-season, and we said so at the time.

As for the Moore-Sanders comparison: Similar body type; similar physical attributes; similar speed -- the main difference is Moore is three-and-a-half years older than Sanders, and on the north side of 30. Plus, reportedly, he has a stunning girlfriend (and maybe Sanders does, too, for all we know).

If Moore doesn't return to form, and even if he does, the Steelers are looking for 2013 third-rounder Markus Wheaton to step up his game in a big way. We have high hopes for Wheaton, who was injured much of last year and made next to no impact. If neither Moore nor Wheaton pan out this year, the Steelers will be in trouble. There is nobody else, unless 2013 fringe rookies Derek Moye or Justin Brown develop, or somebody out of the blue. Or a draft choice.

As for the other moves, they're underwhelming and appear to be for depth, which is not a bad thing, just not very exciting. Glaring holes remain on defense, especially on the defensive line and at cornerback. There's room for improvement at inside linebacker, too. (C.J. Moseley, anyone?)

Next Up at Running Back: "The Winnebago"?
Running back remains a big concern, and maybe LeGarrette Blount will sign; maybe not. Nicknamed "The Winnebago," Blount's size makes Steeler fans hope for the arrival of the next Jerome Bettis ("The Bus"). More realistically, Blount may be closer to Najeh Davenport ("The Dump Truck"). Like Davenport, Blount has some history he'd no doubt prefer people would forget.

The Draft
Wide receiver and cornerback remain the top two target areas for the draft. We're guessing corner, if either of the top two (Justin Gilbert or Darqueze Dennard) are available.  Wide receiver, otherwise, probably, unless an absolutely can't-miss offensive tackle or impact defensive lineman is available. The needs are many, and they are great.

If North Carolina tight end Eric Ebron is available, we'd consider him in the first round. We don't think the Steelers will, but Joey Porter's Pit Bulls would. The Steelers have four tight ends on the roster and probably figure they're set for the time being. Heath Miller's still very good, but a player like Ebron could be a difference-maker, especially in the Red Zone. At 6'4, 250, Ebron would be a monster slot receiver.

In any case, the Steelers need immediate help at corner, wide receiver, the defensive front seven and running back.  Probably in that order.