During the offseason the Pittsburgh Steelers added a number of key pieces to the roster in hopes of competing for a Super Bowl championship. Expectations are high nationally entering 2023 considering the pieces added, as well as the growth and big-moment tendencies that the young Steelers players showed down the stretch in 2022.
Yet despite those high expectations, Fox Sports’ Craig Carton on The Carton Show raised the question of if 2023 is the first losing season for the Black and Gold under Tomlin while playing in a loaded AFC, let alone a loaded AFC North.
“Absolutely not. One of the best coaches that I’ve had the opportunity to play for — maybe the best — and he’s just a great football mind,” former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Plaxico Burress said in response to Carton, according to video via Fox Sports. “Look at what he did last year. I think the Pittsburgh Steelers started off maybe three and six last year and end up going what, nine and eight? And for the first time in his career, at the midway point everybody was saying that Mike Tomlin has lost his swagger and he wouldn’t get to 500. Look at the roster that he had.
“It was not good. It was not good. They started off with…Mitchell Trubisky at quarterback and then went to Kenny Pickett and were able to go nine and eight with that roster.”
While Burress praised Tomlin effusively regarding the work he did last season, helping Pittsburgh rebound from a 2-6 start before the Week Nine bye to finish 9-8 on the season, it’s not as if the Steelers roster was all that bad, like the former Steelers receiver stated.
The offense had its issues, and being without T.J. Watt was a major factor in Pittsburgh’s inability to close out games early in the season. Once the roster got healthy after the bye week the team went on a run and really leaned into the style of play Tomlin was aiming for in the transition period: a run-heavy approach that didn’t turn the football over paired with a suffocating defense that took the football away and provided short fields.
Now, entering the 2023 season, the Steelers made improvements to the roster, adding Isaac Seumalo, Nate Herbig and Broderick Jones on the offensive line, Allen Robinson II at receiver, Darnell Washington at tight end and a number of pieces defensively. They include linebackers Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts, cornerbacks Patrick Peterson, Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr., and safety Keanu Neal.
The roster, top to bottom, is rather strong and should compete very well in the AFC North and the AFC as a whole. A losing season does not seem in the cards at all, and based on the work Tomlin did last season, a losing season might not be in the offering anytime soon.
