After the Pittsburgh Steelers closed out their preseason slate 3-0 with a 24-0 win over the Atlanta Falcons last night, it’s time for conversation to fully engage on what this team could be throughout the course of the regular season. Former Steelers safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark has high expectations, and believing the Steelers are getting back to the team that they used to be.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers are getting back to who the Pittsburgh Steelers used to be. And Kenny Pickett is showing why he was drafted 20th overall,” Clark said Friday morning on ESPN’s Get Up. “A lot of times we forget how old Joe Burrow was when he became the starter of the Cincinnati Bengals. Kenny Pickett is much the same. He played a ton of football as a Pitt Panther. He was a guy who was extremely successful. He isn’t one of these players who has to get acclimated to the position. This team is going to be the dark horse team when it comes to playoff contenders in the AFC, and I believe that they are going to be hell the entire season. And it starts with the confidence they have now in their second-year quarterback.”
That’s a lot of praise from Clark, but the most telling line is him saying the Steelers are getting back to who they used to be. Former players won’t just say something like that for the sake of saying it. Clark really means that the Steelers look like they’re getting back to the team they used to be.
With a roster as complete as they have this year, it’s not as if they’re going to be some of the teams in the mid-2010s with a really good offense and a leaky defense. If the offense keeps on the trajectory it was on in the preseason, with explosive plays and being able to find the end zone seemingly at will, this team could go deep into the postseason.
Like Clark said, they’re going to be hell to face. Not only do you have to deal with Pickett, who finished the preseason with a perfect passer rating and led the offense to five touchdowns on the five drives he played, but dealing with the duo of Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris in the backfield is going to be taxing on opposing defenses. Couple that with trying to defend Pittsburgh’s plethora of weapons in the receiving game, and it’s not going to be an easy team to stop this year.
I’m fully bought in that the Steelers will be much better than they were last season, and it sounds as if Clark has the same idea. That’s not even getting into the defense, which should again be among the best in the league. T.J. Watt got on the board with a sack last night, and the talent and depth on the defense will make it a really tough group to score on. The Falcons couldn’t score on anyone last night, and the first-team defense didn’t allow a point all preseason to any opponent, even the Buffalo Bills’ first-team offense.
It’s hard not to be excited about the Steelers heading into 2023. You can’t discount the fact that the preseason is just that, and maybe it was just a mirage and we’ll all be disappointed when the season begins. But there were some legitimately positive steps throughout all three games, and there was clear progression from guys on both sides of the ball.
The San Francisco 49ers are a great test in Week One. They went to the NFC Championship Game last year and are strong on both sides of the ball, particularly on defense. How the Steelers perform in that game is going to be really telling as to what we should expect this season. It’s a game the Steelers would’ve had little to no chance in last season. This season, they could win it.
Pickett’s taken ownership of the offense, and the results have been promising so far. Hopefully, that’ll keep up as we head into September and throughout the regular season.
