Gerry Dulac: Steelers haven't had the ball long enough to do anything with it

Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Nov 12, 2025

Published in Football

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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers have this annoying little problem on offense.

They don’t run enough plays, they don’t compile enough yards, they don’t make a lot of splash plays and their most productive wide receiver has been the one who plays the least.

Otherwise, they have no issues.

It was on full display in Sunday night’s 25-10 loss against the Los Angeles Chargers in what was just another example of the Steelers significantly allowing more plays to the opponent than they get to execute.

The opponent has run more plays than the Steelers in every game this season, and it was especially true against the Chargers, who ran 19 more plays (69 to 50) in SoFi Stadium. The Steelers average the fewest plays in the league (55) — 7.5 fewer than last season — while allowing the opponent an average of 69 plays.

Coach Mike Tomlin said the 14-play disparity can be concerning.

“On some level it is, on some level it isn’t,” Tomlin said at his weekly Tuesday news conference. “For example, if you’re taking the ball away a bunch like we did a couple weeks back and you’re giving the offense a short field, it can alter your time of possession.

“Or, like our last outing, if you’re not converting on third downs, it could be a negative thing. I’m largely not over-concerned with that in general, but how we are coming to that is a bigger discussion for me.”

Tomlin said the lack of plays and possession time has had an effect on Jaylen Warren, who was one of the lone bright spots in Los Angeles. Warren had 14 carries for 70 yards and two catches for 21 yards against the Chargers. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers said afterward they have to find more ways to get him the ball.

Tomlin said “that’s what happens when you don’t win enough possession downs,” referring to the Steelers not converting a third down until the midpoint of the fourth quarter and finishing just 2 of 11 overall. But that’s also what happens when backup Kenneth Gainwell plays more snaps (27) than Warren (24).

“We win more third downs, we’ll get Jalen more touches,” Tomlin said. “It’s as simple as that. Jalen was having the trajectory of a good day in L.A., but we didn’t convert enough third downs to feel it.”

The Steelers haven’t topped 300 yards offense since they had a season-high 396 in the first meeting against the Cincinnati Bengals, a 33-31 defeat. And their recent two-game total of 446 yards is the second-fewest two-game total in the past six years.

But there is hope for the return match against the Bengals, who have allowed an average of 39 points and 491 yards in their past three games.

“You’ve got to possess the ball in an effort to score,” Tomlin said. “And if you’re not doing a good enough job on possession downs, you need to have some big-play splash. And we didn’t really have either.”

Part of that is because the most productive wide receiver the past three games is the one who has played the least.

Roman Wilson (seven) doesn’t have more catches than Calvin Austin (11) and DK Metcalf (10) in that span, but he has more yards (113) and touchdowns (two) and two of the three longest pass plays.

“From a planning perspective and a playing perspective, all of us involved, coaches and players, we didn’t do a good enough job positioning the others to be impactful and the others didn’t make enough plays,” Tomlin said. “That’s just the reality of it.”

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