It’s still very early in the season and teams are still trying to find their identity and round into form. One of those teams trying to find their identity and round into form is the Pittsburgh Steelers, and on both sides of the football.
Through the first three weeks of the season, the Steelers are 2-1. They won a shootout in Week 1 and then won an ugly defensive battle in Week 3. In all three games, the defense has had issues with communication, tackling and getting off the field on third downs, while the offense has struggled to run the football and consistently put together drives.
Pittsburgh has an ideal identity that it tried to build the roster toward, that being a physical, smashmouth team on both sides of the football. And yet, through three weeks they haven’t come close to that identity.
They’re still trying to get there. But the most important thing that they’re doing while trying to find themselves is they’re finding ways to win games in September football. It’s better to learn lessons while winning, rather than losing and making matters all that much worse.
The Steelers very well might be a playoff team when all is said and done, but they have one clear weakness that needs cleaned up, and in a hurry: the run game on both sides of the football.
“We can make this one quick: The Steelers are second-to-last in yards per carry (2.8) and 19th in opponent yards per carry (4.3),” CBS Sports’ Zachary Pereles writes of the Steelers’ biggest weakness. “Both Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell have negative rush yards over expected, but the run blocking has been middling at best. Somehow, the Steelers are 2-1 (credit the Patriots’ five-turnover Week 3), but it hasn’t been pretty.”
The Steelers’ run game has largely been a mess. Despite investing heavily in its offensive line with draft picks and free agency, Pittsburgh hasn’t been able to get out of neutral in the run game up front.
They showed some signs of progress in Week 3 against New England though, especially on the first two drives of the game. Warren ran for 33 yards on seven carries on the first drive. Things slowed down from there, though. But it’s largely just one block away at times from really hitting the big play in the run game.
The Steelers need to get more physical offensively, run downhill and have the right mentality up front. The right mentality can go a long way.
It’s the same thing on the defensive side of the football, too. Players have talked about it being out of a gap by six inches here or there, slow to get off of a block, and more. But it was all brushed aside as minor things that are correctable and can be cleaned up quickly.
To the defense’s credit, after getting gashed by the Jets and Seahawks in the run game, it bounced back in a major way against the Patriots. New England running backs ran for just 74 yards on 22 carries. That’s 3.36 yards per carry. That’s a major improvement.
Guys won up front, got off blocks, played assignment sound and worked together as a unit. That it took until Week 3 is a bit frustrating, but the group is starting to come together. If the run defense can correct itself entirely, that could bode well for the Steelers as teams might have to become one-dimensional.
Clean up the communication issues on the back end and get some guys back from injury, and the highest-paid defense could find another level and really start to perform like many expected it to.
