The term “bully ball” has been thrown around a lot this offseason during conversations about the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s come out of the players’ mouths a fair bit as well. But not since they got into the stadium and put their mouths where their money is.
By most accounts, I’m sure, it would agreed that the Steelers showed through preseason play that they are capable of playing the bull-ball style of football they have been looking for all offseason. Veteran CB Patrick Peterson certainly sees it in this “gritty” team.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers history has been bully ball”, he said after the 24-0 blowout win over the Atlanta Falcons, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I feel like we’re kind of getting that identity back, especially throughout this preseason. Hopefully that will carry over to the regular season”.
Pittsburgh held its opponents to 32 points during the preseason. They outperformed the preseason league average in nearly all defensive metrics. They recorded four interceptions and recovered four fumbles, producing 10 sacks while winning possession and red-zone downs. And they put a smack on plenty of offensive players, particularly Elandon Roberts and the linebackers.
But are they really all the way back to bully ball? Frankly, the only thing standing in their way, aside from the officiating—ask Kwon Alexander—is going out in the games that matter and proving it. There’s no question that they have the talent and the hard-hitting players.
Cameron Heyward may be getting up there, but he still knows how to bully an offensive lineman into his quarterback’s lap. T.J. Watt had no problem throwing down backup quarterbacks in his brief preseason playing time. And I’m sure Keeanu Benton is just itching to start hitting more people.
It goes for both sides of the ball, of course. I do think we still need to see more from the offensive line in that regard, but you have physical players like Isaac Seumalo and Dan Moore Jr., not to mention new tight end Darnell Washington. Wide receivers like George Pickens and Allen Robinson II are more than comfortable throwing their weight around.
The Steelers have said, and said with their actions, that they want to get back to a more physical identity this offseason. I say mission accomplished. I don’t think there’s really anything that we haven’t seen yet that we would need to worry about not translating into stadiums.
That doesn’t mean they’re going to go out there and have a wildly successful season, though they very well could. It just means they’re not going to be the ones getting punched in the mouth. They were the more physical, more imposing team every week this preseason.
I think they can be that team in the regular season as well. And they’ll have a great early challenge in the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers. You want to be taken seriously? Walk up to the biggest kid in the playground and punch him in the nose.
