Tag: Steelers season

Steelers OT Troy Fautanu making ‘slow progression’ with knee injury

Troy Fautanu was supposed to be the team’s starting right tackle this season but has remained sidelined with a knee injury.

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a plan. Draft offensive tackle Troy Fautanu out of Washington, let him work his way into the starting lineup and then prosper. Those plans were derailed almost immediately when Fautanu suffered a knee injury in the team’s first preseason game against the Houston Texans.

Now the Steelers are headed into their third and final preseason game and Fautanu is still on the mend. There’s been no timetable set by head coach Mike Tomlin for Fautaunu’s return and according to the talented rookie, it is a slow progression.

Fautaunu spoke to the media and while he remained optimistic there was clearly frustration that he is not able to contribute.

Fautanu’s absence means the Steelers’ starting offensive tackles remain Dan Moore Jr. on the left and Broderick Jones on the right. It isn’t clear how the Steelers will handle Fautanu’s injury at the start of the season but he could find himself on IR to start the year.

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Was the Steelers’ hire of Arthur Smith a mistake?

The new Steelers offense looks an awful lot like the old Steelers offense.

The biggest move of a very busy offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers was the hire of new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Despite his struggles as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, his tenure as the Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator gave Steelers’ fans hope.

However, reports from training camp about how good the new offense has looked at practice, it’s looked just as bad in two preseason games. In fact, a case can be made this new offensive is worse than the old one under Matt Canada.

Perhaps more than the struggles, it’s the style of offense Smith is bringing in that is worrisome. The NFL has become a league that focuses heavily on scoring in bunches and throwing the ball. Smith’s offense feels ultra-conservative and almost a step backward.

Was the Steelers' hire of Arthur Smith a mistake?
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Did the Steelers make a mistake hiring Smith as opposed to another offense coordinator this offseason? There were plenty of big names and up-and-coming young guys out there with more modern approaches to the offense. Have you seen enough to call your shot or do you want to wait and see? Cast your vote.

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3 AFC North teams make ESPN’s declining list

Three teams from the AFC North made the playoffs in 2023.

ESPN writer Bill Barnwell put together his list of the NFL teams he thinks are most likely to be on the decline this season over last. On Barnwell’s list, he actually lists three of the four teams in the AFC North, which we found somewhat surprising.

Along with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he also has the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns on the list. Every team in the AFC North went over .500 in 2023 and all three of these teams made the playoffs last season with the Cincinnati Bengals being the only one who missed the cut.

Here’s what ESPN had to say about the Steelers taking a step back from their 10-7 record in 2023.

The résumé is the résumé. Leave the Mike Tomlin aura out of the picture and there’s no more obvious pick for a team whose record doesn’t hold up under any sort of scrutiny. The Steelers will find it extremely difficult to win 10 games again if they play the way they did in 2023. There’s just no track record for a team being able to do this year after year without eventually either improving their underlying performance dramatically or having their record fall back to Earth.

There’s no denying the Steelers are an anomaly. And as much as we all want to assume head coach Mike Tomlin will somehow work his magic and limp to a winning record, this schedule says otherwise.

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ESPN has no confidence in Steelers in playoff rankings

ESPN gives no credit to the improvements the Steelers made this offseason.

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell went through each of the 14 NFL playoff teams and ranked this for the upcoming season. The Steelers Steelers snuck into the playoffs last season with a 10-7 record. This was despite finishing third in the conference.

This offseason Pittsburgh has gone to great lengths to improve the offensive side of the football with a completely new quarterback room led by Russell Wilson and two new offensive linemen.

Barnwell clearly doesn’t care about any of that. He ranked the Steelers as the worst of the 14 playoff teams from last season. Here’s what he had to say about it.

I know, I know. Don’t make the same mistake twice. Or three times. Or however many times the numbers say to count out the Steelers. Tomlin has managed to coax at least eight wins out of his team in every single season he has coached the franchise, a streak that has survived dismal quarterback play, injuries and woefully inept offensive playcallers. You know I’m about to get to the numbers, but the numbers shouldn’t apply to Pittsburgh.

Ranked ahead of the Steelers are all three other teams in the AFC North.

Steelers RB tandem with rare opportunity in new offense

This Steelers offense is going to be very run heavy this season.

One thing has become clear about the Pittsburgh Steelers offense through two weeks of training camp. This new offense under OC Arthur Smith is going to be a ground-and-pound scheme and everything is going to run through running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.

This might not fall in line with the current NFL schemes that seem to focus heavily on the passing game. Nevertheless, this is what the Steelers are bringing to the party in 2024.

However, after seeing this offense in action, we feel like Harris and Warren have a chance to do something special this season. Last season Harris rushed for 1,035 yards while Warren chipped in 784 more. This season we think the Steelers tandem has a chance to both top 1,000 yards rushing and join some elite company.

There have only been two players rushing for at least 1,000 yards on the same team in the same season seven times in NFL history. Here’s the full list we think Harris and Warren will join in 2024.

1972 – Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris – Miami Dolphins

1976 – Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier – Pittsburgh Steelers

1985 – Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack – Cleveland Browns

2006 – Michael Vick and Warrick Dunn – Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2008 – Derrick Ward and Brandon Jacobs – New York Giants

2009 – Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams – Carolina Panthers.

2019 – Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram II – Baltimore Ravens

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Steelers EDGE Nick Herbig our top breakout candidate for 2024

The Steelers are counting on Nick Herbig to play a much larger role in 2024.

For all the changes the Pittsburgh Steelers made to the roster this offseason, one more that happened rather quietly but could have a serious impact on the team is the team’s choice not to re-sign veteran edge defender Markus Golden.

With Golden gone and no real replacement on the roster, Nick Herbig is the guy who is taking up the mantle as the team’s primary backup pass rusher to T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmit.

This might seem short-sighted given Herbig only played just under 17 percent of the defensive snaps last season and finished with only three sacks. But it is clear the coaching staff have the confidence in him to place no barriers in his way to an increased role.

The combination of Herbig and Golden accounted for 421 snaps and the combo had seven sacks. Pittsburgh saw in 2022 what life can be like when Watt was out with an injury so we fully expect to see Watt, Highsmith and Herbig in a more legitimate three-man rotation in an effort to keep Watt fresh and healthy for the second half of the season.

We are counting on a big year from Herbig and the version of him we saw in the second half of the 2023 season.

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Steelers CB Cameron Sutton suspended for first 8 games of season

The Steelers will be without Cameron Sutton for nearly half of the regular season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers got the news today that cornerback Cameron Sutton will be suspended without pay for the first eight games of the regular season. The NFL investigated the March domestic violence incident involving Sutton and determined he violated the league’s personal conduct policy.

Pittsburgh signed Sutton less than a month ago on a league-minimum veteran contract to help bolster the secondary. Sutton spent the first six seasons with the Steelers and was the team’s best cornerback in 2022.

Sutton parlayed that big season into a free-agent contract with the Lions but wasn’t a good fit in Detroit. The Lions released Sutton after the reports that a warrant for his arrest had been issued.

It isn’t clear whether the Steelers will keep Sutton on the roster or release him after the news of his suspension.

They are back to square one on who will be the slot cornerback this season. It is hard to imagine the Steelers had any idea this level of suspension was coming or they might not have signed him.

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NFL analyst on the Steelers making the Super Bowl: ‘It ain’t happening’

Are the Steelers Super Bowl contenders?

If the Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t happy that most NFL pundits and analysts don’t take them seriously when it comes to the playoffs and the Super Bowl, they have no one but themselves to blame.

The Steelers have grossly underachieved over the course of the last decade. Few teams have done less with more under head coach Mike Tomlin. This team has boasted some of the best players at their respective positions but hasn’t found a way to win a playoff game since the 2016 season.

NFL analyst Jason McIntyre hosted The Herd and he did his NFL team tier list. It’s pretty obvious from his comments, that McIntyre isn’t a fan of what the Steelers have done this offseason.

“The Pittsburgh Steelers, I’m sorry guys, as much as I have liked Russell Wilson, it ain’t happening,” McIntyre said. That team is not very good, schedule is daunting, no thank you.”

There’s no reason for anyone to take the Steelers seriously until they can show up in the playoffs. This brutal schedule doesn’t make it any easier but there are no more excuses for this team to fail to be competitive.

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Steelers land in ‘playoff’ level of TD Wire’s tier list for 2024

The Steelers are a better team than the one that made the playoffs last season.

Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers made the NFL playoffs when they had absolutely no business doing so. This was despite some questionable quarterback play and a debacle at offensive coordinator.

With all the adversity this team went through in 2023, we think they will be much more competitive this season. After all, the Steelers completely rebuilt their quarterback room and a big chunk of the offensive line as well as making some key additions on defense.

Our friends over at Touchdown Wire ranked all 32 NFL teams by tiers, and they put the Steelers in Tier 3, their playoff tier.

Here’s what they had to say about the Steelers:

The Steelers won 10 games last year with the Touchdown Wire staff playing quarterback and running the offense. The Steelers have improved at quarterback with the additions of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, and at offensive coordinator with the hire of Arthur Smith. Plus, they upgraded their offensive line through the draft, and added linebacker Patrick Queen to their defense. If they could win 10 games with the tire fire offense they had a season ago, they should be able to replicate that success at minimum in 2024.

The Steelers have done enough to be better. At this point, it is all about getting all these new pieces on the same page so they can grind through the toughest schedule in the NFL.

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Steelers land in Top 10 of PFF defensive line rankings

The Steelers defensive front is among the best in the NFL again this season.

Historically, the strength of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense has been upfront. Stout, versatile defensive linemen who can move around their 3-4 front and edge defenders who can rush the passer, drop into coverage and set the edge.

Pro Football Focus ranked all 32 NFL defensive lines and for the Steelers, they have them at No. 8 based on last season. Here’s what they had to say about their ranking of the Steelers:

T.J. Watt is one of the most consistent playmakers in the league when it comes to pass-rushers, and he’s not a one-man-band on this defensive line. Alex Highsmith on the other side has developed into an outstanding player in his own right, earning a 90.3 PFF grade last season with 69 quarterback pressures.

Cameron Heyward has been outstanding for so long, but last season was the first sign that perhaps age is catching up with him. If he bounces back, the Steelers will be even better than this ranking.

While we agree that Heyward may not return to form this season after his injury and age but we are definitely not going to bet against him. Especially with a new contract in the mix. You add in Keeanu Benton with another year under his belt and this group has a chance to be special and far outplay this ranking.

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