PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers didn't beat the Washington Football Team on Monday, and coach Mike Tomlin agrees that his team didn't deserve to win.

For the second week in a row, the Steelers failed to move the ball in short-yardage situations, and their run game was nonexistent.

"I live by the coaching creed, 'If you can't get a yard, you don't deserve to win,'" Tomlin said Tuesday, one day after the Steelers suffered their first loss of the season. "That was the case for us in this game. We had several sequences where we had an opportunity if we gained a yard, it was significant in terms of the development of the outcome of the game, but we were unsuccessful."

Not only did the Steelers fail to score in a five-play sequence from the 1-yard line, but later the Steelers also couldn't put points on the board when they had a third-and-1 from Washington's 28.

Ben Roethlisberger threw an incomplete pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster on third down, followed by an incompletion on a wheel route to rookie Anthony McFarland, who had just five catches prior to Monday night.

Averaging just 1.5 yards per carry, the Steelers had only 21 rushing yards all night and lacked the physicality that's become a signature of many Pittsburgh teams.

"If you can't get a yard in our game, you don't deserve to win," Tomlin said. "That's the nuts and bolts elements of football, the physicality element of football. We didn't meet that challenge, so we have some work to do in that area."

For the second straight week, the Steelers were without center Maurkice Pouncey and lead running back James Conner.

Benny Snell, who played the most of any running back with 33 snaps, had eight carries for five yards, while McFarland had four carries for 15. Conner is expected to be activated in time for Sunday's game in Buffalo, a source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, and Tomlin said Pouncey also has a chance to return.

But in his usual fashion, Tomlin didn't give excuses for his team's performance.

"If you're a legit unit, if you're a unit that has the goods, you can absorb irregularities in schedules, players -- significant players -- missing and so forth and still rise up in those moments," Tomlin said. "That's our charge as we prepare for this next game. ... We've lost fluidity since we missed some of those guys.

"To be quite honest with you, that pisses me off because we have to be the type of group that endures regardless of who is available. That's how we construct this group, not only in terms of our acquisition of players but just development of mentality and personality."

Compounding the offensive failures were seven drops by Steelers receivers and tight end Eric Ebron, giving the Steelers a league-high 31 drops this season.

Wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who leads the league with nine drops, had three Monday night, while Ebron had two. Tomlin was harsh when asked about the drops on Tuesday.

"They can catch the ball or they can get replaced by those who will catch it," Tomlin said. "It's just as simple as that. As I have often said, I expect guys to make routine plays routinely. When there is a pattern of that not happening, then we have to look at who we are throwing the ball to.

"The coaching of catching the football for those who are employed to do it at this level is not something that I have a lot of patience for, it's not something that any of us have a lot of patience for. Those guys' job is to catch the football, particularly routine ones. Where there's a pattern, you should expect to see less opportunities."

Part of the problem wide receiver James Washington said stems from not focusing on the catch itself.

"I feel like a lot of us are kind of thinking about next move instead of just catching the ball first," Washington said. "That starts with the person. I know the group of guys we have that will focus in."