Steelers offense set to explode over next four games
What’s that you say? The Steelers offense finally gelling?
It sure appears that way, and it took some time for a number of reasons. The slow start can be attributed to the annual “preseason” ritual actually being played out in the first few weeks of the regular season. Gone are the days of grueling training camp practices (thanks, CBA) and owners and coaches alike are reluctant to allow their superstar players to make their millions sitting on the bench with injuries, so they sit out camp days, preseason games and the lot.
The situation is a little worse considering the Steelers were missing a plethora of their starters for camp and the preseason. JuJu Smith-Schuster got a slow start after starting training camp with an injury. He also went into concussion protocol following a tackle in Pittsburgh’s first preseason game.
Martavis Bryant wasn’t fully reinstated for camp, then we found out he wasn’t full reinstated for preseason and regular season games. Each took another hurdle to jump through by the league to allow the receiver to play. He missed valuable practice time due to the NFL dragging their heels on his full reinstatement.
Le’Veon Bell was a complete no-show for camp. Ben Roethlisberger was hurt for portions of camp or had days off, and with his immediate backup Landry Jones also nursing an injury for almost all of the preseason, the few players left to practice and play were catching passes from fourth-round draft pick Joshua Dobbs and camp arm Bart Houston.
Let that sink in as far as repetition, timing, and rapport are concerned: Dobbs and Houston running the first-team offense. No offense to either player, but they are far from being Big Ben. (Nor is Landry, but he’s at least had time in the system to be able to competently run the full complement of Todd Haley’s playbook.)
The next thing we have to understand, that while on paper some of the teams the Steelers have faced don’t appear to be top-flight NFL teams, they are in fact solid defenses. Chicago, Jacksonville, and Cleveland are perennial basement dwellers but are far from being the worst pass defenses in the league. In fact, four of Pittsburgh’s opponents to date (Jacksonville, Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Chicago) are ranked in the top ten of NFL defenses for passing yards per game average. The Jaguars are ranked second while the Bengals are ranked third.
Add in a 12th-ranked Vikings defense and even the lowly Browns under new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams are sitting in the middle of the pack at 15th, and the Steelers have been more than challenged when throwing the ball this season. The worst pass defense the Steelers have faced so far has been Kansas City, who is near the bottom at 28th.
Taking it one step further, the Jaguars and Ravens are first and third in opposing quarterback rating. The Bengals rank seventh while the Vikings rank ninth in the same category.
That’s a tough hill to climb when four-to-five of your first seven games have been against premium defensive talent, at a time when you’re still trying to gel as an offense.
Therefore I believe the Steelers offense is primed for a breakthrough over their next four games. In fact, the steady climb has already started in their last two matchups:
The #Steelers offense averaged 331.8 total YPG through the first 5 weeks.
They have averaged 429.5 total YPG over the last 2 weeks.
— Zach Metkler (@CoachMetkler) October 22, 2017
One of those two games was against the aforementioned 28th-ranked Chiefs pass defense. The Steelers have a date with similarly weak pass defenses starting this Sunday with the 22nd-ranked Detroit Lions, before going on a bye to prepare to play the 31st-ranked Indianapolis Colts, who just lost star rookie safety Malik Hooker for the season.
The 19th-ranked Tennessee Titans and 16th-ranked Green Bay Packers are on deck following those two games, which will work one of two ways: the Steelers either get on track in a big way against the Lions and Colts and continue that momentum against the Titans and Packers.
Or they don’t.
I tend to believe the schedule favors an offensive explosion. Both the Lions and Colts play in a dome for teams within driving distance for Steelers Nation. Either game could be a home away from home game. A bye in the middle gives them rest before returning home for a Thursday night game with the Titans, and then a mini-bye to host the Packers on Thanksgiving weekend.
Those intangibles factored into weaker than usual defenses should have Pittsburgh primed and ready to blow down the doors heading into the final stretch of the 2017 season. Now all that’s left is for them to go out and do it.
