First Call: Merril Hoge rips Steelers' route running, tight end blocking; Steelers' wild-card path deemed NFL's most difficult

Thursday’s “First Call” has unkind critiques of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ tight ends from a former player. The NFL rule book is about to get more complicated. The Steelers’ playoff road is rated as the most slippery in the league.

And Marc Andre-Fleury discusses his long-term future.

That sounds bad

Former Steelers running back and ESPN film analyst Merril Hoge was on WDVE Wednesday morning. He had some colorful things to say about the Steelers’ pass catchers.

He was especially tough on fan favorite Pat Freiermuth.

“They might be the worst group of route runners in the NFL,” he told the “‘DVE Morning Show.” “Half the time, they quit on routes. The pick that (Mitch) Trubisky threw. … Freiermuth makes a move and just quits. He’s supposed to break it inside, and he just quits.”

In recent weeks, Hoge was critical of George Pickens and his lack of maturity. But this time, he really dug into the tight ends — not just their skills in the receiving game, but also their blocking.

“Our tight ends look like two turtles (mating) when you’re blocking. Because you’re not blocking anybody,” Hoge described. “I’m watching tape, and it’s, like, what are they doing?”

Freiermuth had just six catches for 47 yards the past two games. Darnell Washington had one catch for 12 yards in that stretch. He has yet to have more than one catch in a game all year.

Tough road ahead

NFL.com’s Kevin Patra took a look at all the teams that are attempting to grab a wild-card slot. Among them, he determined the Steelers to have the toughest path.

Between now and the end of the regular season, the Steelers play at the Colts (7-6), are at home for the Bengals (7-6), are in Seattle to play the Seahawks (6-7), and wind up in Baltimore against the Ravens (10-3).

“Pittsburgh doesn’t own the toughest remaining strength of schedule in the league,” Patra said. “But the circumstances surrounding the Steel City’s club make it the most difficult of this bunch.”

Patra went on to mention Kenny Pickett’s injury and the struggling Steelers offense, which is averaging 16.2 points per game, the third fewest by a club with a winning record in the past 40 seasons, per NFL Research.

“Mike Tomlin’s team has relied on the defense to create game-altering plays, which, stunningly, it has done at a higher rate than should be expected,” Patra continued. “But the formula is breaking down as the defense deals with a multitude of injuries and fatigue from needing to be perfect to carry the offense.

“The final four weeks sees the Steelers facing four clubs, each clawing for playoff position, including three road tilts and two rivalry games. After losing back-to-back home games to 2-win teams, do the Steelers have it in them to right the ship? If they do, particularly with (Mitch) Trubisky under center for at least one more week, it might be Tomlin’s most masterful job to date.”

What? “Masterful”? Oh, puke!

Yet another national media guy fawning over Tomlin attempting to put out a fire his own coaching mediocrity helped ignite. That narrative will never die.

But Patra is right about one thing. The schedule combined with the Steelers’ ineptitude will make Pittsburgh’s playoff trek extremely tough.

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None of this is good

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent spoke at the league owners meetings, and anyone who prefers football the way it was originally intended to be played will hate everything they said.

Goodell is really gung-ho on getting the hip-drop tackle outlawed.

“I think we all should work to get that out of the game,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said via ProFootballTalk.com on Wednesday. “You see it escalated the number of times it occurred this season. The injuries could be very devastating. We saw that also: It’s not just happening at the NFL level; it’s happening at other levels. It’s something that we have to work very hard to get that removed this spring.”

Of course, absent from that description was any clear definition of how a “hip-drop” was going to be defined, what the penalty for a hip-drop will be, or any data on how often those calls will interrupt the games when no one is injured.

At least Vincent attempted to speak a definition into existence. “It is to grip; it’s to rotate and drop. Those three things show up on that play.”

Gee, to me, that sounds like … a tackle. I’m sure there won’t be any gray area or disputed calls in important moments on flags for this play.

Why not make defense even harder to play? It’s not tough enough to do legally as it is?

Vincent also called kickoffs “dead, ceremonial” plays. Returns are happening at just a 20% rate according to PFT. So look for them to disappear entirely or be modified beyond recognition.

And Goodell says he hasn’t taken a position on the Philadelphia “Tush Push” quarterback sneak play. But whatever stance he does take on legislating it, I expect it to be an overcomplicated half-measure that doesn’t outlaw the play, but also creates an opportunity for more penalties and controversy.

Because that’s what Goodell’s administration has done with its own rule book for years now.

Fleury’s future

After beating the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout Wednesday, the Penguins next play Saturday in Toronto. They don’t play at home again until Monday, when the Minnesota Wild are in town.

That could mean Marc-Andre Fleury’s last appearance in Pittsburgh. The former Penguins goalie is 39 years old, and many have wondered if this will be his last NHL season.

Appearing Monday on 105.9 The X, Fleury said that decision has yet to be made.

“I’m not sure. I don’t know,” Fleury told afternoon host Mark Madden. “I told myself I would wait until the end of the year to make a decision. I didn’t want to be talking about it all the time. I just want to have a regular season and make a decision at the end of it.”

This is Fleury’s 20th year in the league. He is four games away from 1,000. He is also four wins (548) away from passing Patrick Roy (551) into second place all-time. Martin Brodeur holds that record with 691.