There’s some criticism being thrown on the Steelers defense for performing poorly this season, as they have not lived up to expectations.

While the criticism is fair, I feel those expectations were unfair of a team full of inexperienced players, which include rookie Artie Burns.

Coming into the 2016 NFL Draft, the Steelers had the longest streak in the league of not selecting a cornerback with their first round pick. There was a collective sigh of relief as Pittsburgh chose Artie Burns with the 25th overall pick, ending that streak and giving fans hope that a 30th worst pass defense would improve this year.

However, that hasn’t worked out.

Why?

Simply, that’s not how it works: at least not so fast.

The Steelers defense is still undergoing a youth transition, one where all three top draft picks (Burns, 2nd round pick Sean Davis, and 3rd round pick Javon Hargrave) are playing a significant amount of time. It’s very rare that any rookie has an immediate impact in the NFL, let alone three. The transition from college to the NFL is a difficult one, where many players don’t pan out or last very long in the league.

The cornerback position is an especially hard role to play, given the stacked deck of rules that plague defenders these days. Regardless, Burns has had an up-and-down year so far, but shows a lot of promise. (I know that’s hard to say after Dez Bryant torched him, but then again, it’s Dez Bryant – oh did you see him push off?)

Looking ahead, the Steelers have 7 more games, all with capable “Wide Receiver 1” talents that Burns will continue to earn his keep playing against. While the Steelers are settling for allowing Burns, and Ross Cockrell, to play a side rather than follow a man (akin to Richard Sherman in Seattle) there are still some intriguing matchups in the games to be played.

Let’s preview those potential matchups.

T. Y. Hilton

Hilton has been targeted a ton this season. Of the 9 games he’s played, he’s only been thrown to less than 9 times twice: 6 and 8 times, both in his last two games (Kansas City and Green Bay).

Against the Chiefs, Hilton was held to only 1 catch on 6 targets, for 20 yards. Several times (4) this season he’s also been held to under 50 yards receiving, and has 4 touchdowns on the season.

Hilton’s biggest games came against, surprise, weak secondaries: 8/174/1 against the Chargers, 10/171/1 against the Bears and 7/133/1 against the Titans.

Since his single catch game was against KC’s Marcus Peters, Burns will have to contain Hilton better than others have this season, which isn’t impossible.

Odell Beckham Jr.

This could be Burns’ biggest test of the season, against the Giants version of Antonio Brown.

Beckham has been targeted in the same regularity of AB, or Hilton (mentioned above) but hasn’t had nearly the same success this season as in years past. One of his best games came against another AFC North opponent on Monday night, when Beckham put up 10 receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown against the Bengals.

He also had an 8 catch game for 222 yards and 2 scores against the Ravens.

However, OBJ has had his own struggles this season, only putting up two 100 yard games, and failing to score until New York’s fifth game of 2016. Overall he’s scored in 4 of the Giants 10 games, with two multi-TD games in which he had 2 touchdowns each.

He’s still a dangerous talent that must be respected, but again, is a player who could be shutdown given the right opportunity.

Sammy Watkins

I should put an asterisks next to this, because Watkins is eligible to practice, but has yet to be cleared to do so. If he comes off of IR to play this season, he could do so by the time the Steelers face the Bills in December.

In two games this season, Watkins has been held to a total of 6 catches for 63 yards and no touchdowns. This follows a 2015 60 catch season, where he totaled over 1,000 receiving yards and put up 9 touchdowns.

Watkins is capable, but the deciding factor could be Bills QB Tyrod Taylor, who has 10 touchdowns to 3 interceptions in 9 games this season. The quarterback has been sacked 23 times thus far, and has had only one game (Jets) where he threw 3 or more touchdowns, while throwing none in 3 games as well.

Mentioning Taylor is not only important for the type of play Watkins could aspire to, but also his replacement: whomever Burns may face, I expect his maturity level by this time to be capable of handling the task in this game.

A. J. Green

In Week 2 Green was held to only 2 catches, on 8 targets, for 38 yards (with a 21-yard long). Burns wasn’t as entrenched in the defensive scheme just yet, playing 42% of the unit’s overall snaps.

Green has been a Steelers killer in the past: in three games last season, A.J. put up 11/118/1, 6/132/1 and 5/71/1 against the Steelers.

Pittsburgh will game plan to stop Green, who’s having a solid season, minus his game at Heinz: the only one where he failed to register at least 4 receptions and 50 yards.

Green currently has 66 catches for 964 yards and 4 touchdowns, averaging 7 catches and 107 yards per game.

Whomever covers Green in this game, will have their hands full.

Mike Wallace or Steve Smith Sr.

Joe Flacco has had a miserable season with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 9-to-9 in as many games.

That makes this a favorable matchup for Burns, whom I would assume is tasked with guarding Wallace as he did in game one: where yes, he did whiff on the Ravens longest pass play in their history, but also didn’t have much in safety help behind him.

Wallace finished the game with 124 yards, with 95 of those coming on that lone touchdown play: he only caught 3 other passes.

That’s been his M.O. ever since entering the league with the Steelers: a deep play threat. Many felt that Wallace became more rounded since joining Baltimore, but his numbers are otherwise pedestrian. He has two games over 100 yards receiving (the other is the Jets) and only 2 games where he caught more than 4 passes thrown his direction (10 against the Jets and 7 against the Redskins).

It’s possible the Steelers put Burns on Steve Smith Sr. instead, but Smith hasn’t been any more effective in the games in which he’s been healthy: two games with more than 5 catches, both 8 catch games, against the Jaguars and Raiders. In those games, Smith registered his two biggest yardage games of 87 and 111 yards.

Either way, this game is being played on Christmas Day, at Heinz Field, in front of a national TV audience. The spotlight will be on Burns, and should he learn via valuable experience against the likes of Beckham Jr. and Green, by this point he could shutdown either Ravens receiver.

Terrelle Pryor & Corey Coleman

The Steelers play the Browns twice on their remaining schedule, so I’m going to include both of their “top” receivers in this category.

Pryor is the current receiving leader for Cleveland, though Coleman was drafted to be that guy, before missing time with an injury.

Pryor has been reliable for the Browns, catching at least 5 passes in 7 of his last 8 games: an incredible feat, given the quarterback carousel that has seen six different players under center this season (including Pryor!)

Coleman has played in 4 games this season, and hasn’t had a major impact in most of them (after all, the Browns haven’t won a game). One game that jumps off the charts is his 5 catch, 104 yard game against Baltimore, in which he also scored 2 touchdowns. That was with Josh McCown at quarterback, and whomever is calling the plays in the huddle when the Steelers face the Browns will be anyone’s guess. That will be the true measure of how well the receivers play against Pittsburgh’s secondary, and what kind of challenge Burns may face in either game. (It’s highly possible that he faces two or more quarterbacks at this point as well, since Robert Griffin III could return in time for the final game of the season.)

Conclusion

I’m remaining cautiously optimistic about Burns’ future. He’s still a raw rookie learning the nuances of professional football. Given the picture we have of him already, it’s been mostly big plays: Jarvis Landry, Mike Wallace, and Dez Bryant, since Burns started playing more (roughly 2/3 or more of the defensive snaps).

Is it all on Artie? Is he the weakest link in the Steelers four game losing streak? Or simply a victim of growing pains, covering talented players, or both?

Only time will tell, but fans should realize, this is what you asked for when you wanted the Steelers to draft a cornerback in the first round and play him.