Is the Steelers’ Preseason Hype Warranted?
Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
After a lackluster 2022, and with a young burgeoning team, many thought the Pittsburgh Steelers would take a step forward this season. But performances so far during this preseason beg the question: Are the Steelers actually a contender in the AFC, and perhaps even for a Super Bowl in 2023?
Pittsburgh has looked consistently dominant during each of the team’s preseason games.
They jumped out to a 27-7 lead over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Game 1 before giving up a couple of garbage-time touchdowns. Then in Game 2, the Steelers did the same to the Buffalo Bills, this time taking a 27-0 lead before a pair of late scores. Most of the points surrendered were given up by fourth-team and bottom-of-the-depth-chart players who likely won’t even be on the 53-man roster once the regular season begins.
In each game, the first-team units looked crisp, consistent, and explosive — three things the offense lacked last season. The depth that the team has built the past couple years through the draft and free agency was on full display.
So, is Pittsburgh’s increased hype this preseason warranted?
Yes and no.
First of all, it’s the preseason. These are glorified exhibition scrimmages and aren’t necessarily indicative of what will unfold during the regular season. By default, expectations must be tempered.
At the same time, it’s hard not to get excited about the talent and depth on the roster and the improvement the team has shown from the last couple seasons, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Quarterback Kenny Pickett has led the first-team offense on three complete drives so far, and each of them ended in touchdowns. In doing so, Pickett has started to look more comfortable throwing over the middle of the field, something we didn’t see a ton of during his rookie season. Each of his touchdown passes came on gorgeous throws across the middle to George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth.
Jaylen Warren’s 62-yard touchdown run against the Bucs finally showed the explosiveness that Steelers fans have begged for from the running game for so long.
Plus, the defense has looked like its ballhawking self, forcing six turnovers through the first two preseason games.
As a result, even the pundits and national media are starting to buy into the Steelers.
“I think the Steelers can (get back to the top of the mountain),” Jason McCourty said Monday on Good Morning Football. “When I think of the Steelers and the last time they won the division, what comes to mind is great defenses. …In their division, if they want to go out and compete and they want to shut down a Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow, you’re going to need this defense flying around, making plays and taking the ball away. …This is a team, to me, led by their defense that can go out there and be special this year.”
“This is not an overreaction, this is entirely possible,” Rich Eisen said of the Steelers being the most complete team in the AFC North and winning the division on The Rich Eisen Show. “Anybody that says it’s not possible for Pickett to make the leap and Pickens to make the leap and Najee Harris to not do what we’ve seen him do — plus the defense, if T.J. Watt stays healthy, good lord. You can’t sit here and say the Steelers have no shot to win the division.”
For the final preseason game on Thursday, head coach Mike Tomlin has indicated that the starters and first-team players will see their most action so far. Since the league shrunk down to three preseason games from four, Tomlin’s approach for those three games has remained the same. The starters’ playing time has increased in each game.
In the first game, the starters played about one possession. Then in the second game, the starters played the first couple possessions. In last year’s third preseason game, the Steelers played their starters for almost the entire first half, so expect to see a similar approach on Thursday night.
“We’ve got an agenda with our units — first unit, second unit, third unit — there’s certain things that we want to see,” Tomlin said. “We did a little planning for this, and so the process of strategic planning, teaching, learning and then playing, we want to see that; their ability to execute planning relative to a game plan perspective.
“So we’ll play the first group until we get a level of satisfaction on both sides of the ball with those agendas and then we’ll move onto the second and then the third, and we’ll go from there. By no means am I guaranteeing that everyone plays. Really, it’s about our ability to see what it is that we need to see before we move on.”
How the Steelers fare against the Atlanta Falcons will likely give us the best sample size yet for whether or not they merit the hype, but all signs continue to trend upward as the team gets set to open the regular season.
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