Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
These six Steelers disappointed us more than any others last season.
Depending on who you ask, the Pittsburgh Steelers 2023 season was either a surprising success as the team overachieved or a miserable playoff failure. This is just more evidence that the season was a bit of both, thanks to terribly inconsistent play by many on the roster. Here are the guys we found the most disappointing from the 2023 season.
The Steelers defense didn’t grade out great but it’s been much better than the offense.
As we went back in and went over the Pittsburgh Steelers first five games, it took some digging at times to get to the good through the bad and just plain weird. We started off our grades by going with offense and it was because we wanted you to have the bad news first. Things aren’t great on defense but there are some real bright spots through five games.
The fact the Steelers are 3-2 after how poorly the team has played might be the biggest surprise of the season so far.
Five games into the 2024 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers are sitting at 3-2 and on top of the AFC North. As we have gone back and gone over each game during the bye week, here are our five biggest surprises from the first five games.
Cast your vote and tell us who you blame for the Steelers poor play so far this season.
If you just look at the record, things aren’t so bad for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sitting at 2-2 isn’t so bad when you consider how many teams are worse. But if you have been paying attention you understand the Steelers are not as good as their record.
Two close wins against bad football teams and two blowout losses to good ones. That’s not a good football team. And it isn’t just the offense despite all the negative attention that side of the football has gotten. The defense has been miserable as well.
Knowing this, where do you lay the blame? The “Fire Canada” crowd is strong and growing. But even the players are saying it is on them to play harder and play with more heart. Running back Najee Harris was blunt when he said don’t put it on the coaches.
[crowdsignal poll=12837080]
Cast your vote and tell us where you place the blame for how awful this team is playing right now.
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The Game Day predicts a 7-10 finish for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Mike Tomlin’s first losing season as head coach.
Sometimes when you read a post on social media, your first thought is that it was done solely to get reactions. This is one of them.
The Game Day predicted every team’s record for the 2023 season and has the Pittsburgh Steelers finishing 7-10 — Mike Tomlin‘s first losing season in 17 years as head coach. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and while it could’ve been even more drastic, 7-10 is still ridiculous.
They have Pittsburgh starting off with a three-game losing streak to the 49ers, Browns and Raiders, followed by a victory over the Texans and a loss to the Ravens before the early Week 6 bye. 1-7 in their first eight with a post-bye .500 record.
Mike Tomlin's first losing season 👀 pic.twitter.com/SVctXt9gj9
— The Game Day NFL (@TheGameDayNFL) September 7, 2023
Anything can happen. Realistic Steelers fans don’t expect them to dominate as they did in the preseason, but this is a different team than 2022. They’ve made upgrades to many of the position groups, Kenny Pickett looks to have improved his technique, and even Matt Canada called some solid plays in their three-game preseason. It’s homerism to think they’ll finish 13-4, but improvements should be enough to win them at least two or three more than their 9-8 finish last season.
Maybe there’s a Browns fan behind this prediction — getting swept by Cleveland but splitting with the Ravens and Bengals.
The post will likely show up on the Freezing Cold Takes account come January.
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Let’s get bold with some predictions about the Steelers this season.
After a busy and productive offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers finally start the regular season this week preparing to take on the San Francisco 49ers. After everything that went on in training camp and the preseason, it’s hard not to get excited about this team’s potential. So here’s one bold (or maybe not so bold) prediction for every positional unit heading into the season.
Will the Steelers improve on their 9-8 seaon in 2022?
Now that we’ve had time to really study the Pittsburgh Steelers through training camp and the preseason, we are updating our game-by-game predictions for all of the Steelers schedule.
Pittsburgh made some big changes to their roster during the offseason and the starters in all three phases played excellent in preseason. In 2022, the Steelers rallied in the second half of the season to finish 9-8, narrowly missing the playoffs. Will they get in this time around?
The Steelers have improved in almost every area in the offseason but it isn’t enough for some.
In the span of just a few months, the Pittsburgh Steelers went from being the team no one was talking about to a team every NFL pundit seems to have an opinion on. And those opinions are all over the place.
One analyst who isn’t as high on the Steelers as some others is ESPN’s Dominique Foxworth. He went on ESPN and offered something of a confusing analysis of the Steelers but led with him believing it is unlikely they make the playoffs.
“I mean, they’re a playoff contender, but I think it’s unlikely. They are a team that we saw overachieve last year, and we’re expecting a leap from Kenny Pickett. Their biggest problem was their offensive line, and they’ve addressed it, but they haven’t solved it. With the issues with Matt Canada, I expect that to improve also. But as talented as this defense is, it’s not without flaws that can be attacked. I think they’ll be good, well-coached, competitive, and they might make the playoffs. But the problem is their conference. If they were in the NFC, I’d guarantee they make the playoffs. But in the AFC, there’s a lot of teams in their division that could make the playoffs before we even get to the wider conference as a whole.”
So while Foxworthy acknowledges that the Steelers have improved basically across the board, they won’t improve on their 9-8 record from last season when all of those things were much worse? Okay, sure. Either way, this won’t be anything that impacts the Steelers but all of these preseason proclamations will be worth tracking, should the Steelers play up to what they’ve shown.
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The Steelers have seen enough from guys like Nate Herbig and Spencer Anderson to let them trade Kevin Dotson.
According to NFL reporter Ian Rapoport, the Pittsburgh Steelers are trading guard Kevin Dotson to the Los Angeles Rams. According to Steelers writer Mark Kaboly, the deal is a swap of mid-round picks over the next two seasons and three picks in total.
Dotson came to the Steelers via the fourth round of the 2020 NFL draft. And his rookie season was great. He played in 13 games and had four starts. His power at the point of attack was impressive and it looked like Pittsburgh got themselves a bargain.
Unfortunately, Dotson was never able to get on track after that and an injury in 2021 didn’t help. Dotson started all 17 games last season but could never find that magic of his rookie season.
Trade: The #Rams are trading for #Steelers guard Kevin Dotson, source said. Added OL depth for LA. pic.twitter.com/2zklFbnjD1
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 27, 2023
With Dotson on the way out, it opens the door for a player like veteran Kendrick Green or rookie Spencer Anderson a shot to make the final 53-man roster.
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It could be Kenny Pickett vs Brock Purdy in Week One.
The Pittsburgh Steelers kick off the 2023 NFL regular season against the San Francisco 49ers. According to the Niners, there’s a good chance the Steelers will see quarterback Brock Purdy when they square off.
Purdy suffered a devastating elbow injury last season in the NFC championship game. But despite his UCL tear, Purdy is not on the PUP list and has been cleared to practice at training camp.
If Purdy is able to play it will be a showdown between the first quarterback selected in the 2022 NFL draft, Kenny Pickett and Purdy, the last quarterback taken. Both quarterbacks came on late as rookies to help lead their teams in the second half of the season. Pickett took over for the Steelers earlier in the year but it wasn’t until after the bye week then he really got going.
Between now and the start of the regular season, if Purdy isn’t healthy, the Steelers could see veteran journeyman San Darnold in that Week One game.
Good news: #49ers QB Brock Purdy has been cleared and ready to go for Training Camp, per GM John Lynch.
Remarkable considering the devastating injury he suffered to already be ready. pic.twitter.com/XldHzQhJdh
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) July 25, 2023
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