Category: 2021 Steelers season

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Ben Roethlisberger says there's a lot of new in this offense, says it's taken some extra studying for a guy who's been in the same offense for a while:

"You'll see nothing that you've seen in the past."

— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) June 1, 2021

Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers offense became monotonous and predictable and eventually caught up to the team late in the season. But the addition of new offensive coordinator Matt Canada promises lots of changes and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger backed that up when he spoke to the media on Tuesday.

According to Roethlisberger, this season’s offense will be “nothing that you’ve seen in the past.” The Steelers couldn’t get former offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner out the door fast enough when the season was over and if you had any doubts about just how bad he was, look at the fact he is still unemployed.

Canada was brought in last season to be the team’s new quarterbacks coach but everyone understood the long game. Canada was the head coach at the University of Maryland and his philosophy is much more in line with the modern NFL than anything Fichtner ever did. The key will be getting the team up to speed as Roethlisberger noted it is taking extra study time to work everything out.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeCIIVLcB_k

Outside linebacker Alex Highsmith was pressed into starting duty as a rookie in 2020 when Bud Dupree tore his ACL. His performance was strong enough to give the Pittsburgh Steelers coaches confidence in him to be the opening-day starter opposite T.J. Watt.

But many NFL draft pundits weren’t so convinced and many had edge rusher among the team’s top draft needs, even going so far as to mock an edge to the Steelers in the first round. Highsmith said this motivated him to work even harder in the offseason.

My thoughts? Whatever it takes. Highsmith has some big shoes to fill so anything he can pull from to help get him there is fine by me. Highsmith only got one sack in his five starts and the Steelers did very little to address the position in the offseason aside from sixth-round pick Quincy Roche.

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Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers were able to hold off the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens for the AFC North thanks to their 11-0 start. It was all for nothing as the team collapsed down the stretch and their season culminated with a 48-37 loss to the Browns in the first round of the playoffs.

NFL Network has ranked the most vulnerable reigning division champs and to no one’s surprise, The Steelers checked in at No. 2 overall and the most vulnerable in the AFC.

We saw a precursor to the changing of the guard taking place in this division in the playoffs, when the Browns rolled to a stunning 48-37 victory over a Steelers team that crumbled following an 11-0 start to the 2020 season. Cleveland returns the majority of a team (with some key additions on defense) that looks like a bona fide Super Bowl contender, led by reigning Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski. And let’s not forget about the Ravens, who continue to enjoy superpower status under Lamar Jackson and could look even more imposing in 2021, with pass catchers Sammy Watkins and Rashod Bateman rounding out the offense. As for Pittsburgh, Ben Roethlisberger still has good football left in him at age 39 — but I worry about that offensive line (which returns only one proven starter, David DeCastro) and a defense with suspect depth.

In a highly competitive AFC North, it is all about getting better every season. Are the Steelers a better team right now than they were last season? This is highly debatable but you can certainly see where the Browns and Ravens improved their rosters this offseason. The Steelers have a brutal schedule ahead of them and repeating as AFC North champs feels like a longshot.

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First off, I am not asking if the 2020 season of the Pittsburgh Steelers was a failure. It absolutely was. An abject failure on all fronts. After starting the season 11-0, the team fell apart down the stretch and took a beatdown in the first round of the playoffs.

But compared to other NFL quarterbacks, was Roethlisberger’s season a failure?

First, the numbers. Roethlisberger started 15 games, only sitting out the final week of the season when playoff seeding was decided. In those 15 games, Roethlisberger threw for 3,803 yards, 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Roethlisberger completed 65.6 percent of his passes and finished with a 94.1 quarterback rating.

The one number that does stand out as the biggest negative is yards per attempt. Thanks to a non-existent run game and questionable offensive line the passing offense was relegated to an almost horizontal passing game with very little vertical threat.

But I’m passing the question off to all of you. Cast your vote and tell us how you would characterize Roethlisberger’s 2020 season.

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