The hype train for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense is continuing. Ahead of the Steelers’ third and final preseason contest against the Atlanta Falcons, Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports named the Steelers as a team that could have a surprisingly good offense in 2023.
Sullivan writes that a reshuffled offensive line should help Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, while adding an impressive group of pass catchers and a sophomore leap out of Pickett.
“Pittsburgh’s offense ranked 18th in DVOA (measuring a team’s efficiency versus league average) last season. If Pickett can take the proper steps in Year 2, coupled with the talent the Steelers have put around him, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they squeak into the back end of the top 10 in 2023.”
If the Steelers move into the top ten in DVOA, coupled with a defense that should also rank in the top ten, they’ll be an 11-win team. The offense is going to be a lot better than it was last year, and it’s reasonable that they could sneak into the back of the top 10. But it shouldn’t necessarily be the expectation. Shooting for something like the top 15 or top 13 in DVOA makes a lot more sense.
It’s a make-or-break year for Matt Canada running the offense, which adds a sense of urgency for this group. I think that sense of urgency will help them, and we’ve seen in the preseason that they’ve looked to take more shots downfield. The increase in explosive plays has been nice to see, and that’s something that has to keep up when the regular season kicks off on September 10.
It’s hard to make any sort of real evaluation about this offense until the games kick off for real, but the early returns are promising. Just basing things off the team’s first two preseason games, where the first-team offense has found the end zone three times in all three of their drives, it’s easy to say that this should and will be a top-ten offense. But we’ve yet to see the offense on the field for a significant amount of time, so I’m a little apprehensive to definitively proclaim the offense as much better.
I do think it will be better, but we’ll have to see how they look when the regular season starts. The San Francisco 49ers and their defense will be a great litmus test in Week One, and that’s a game that many have circled on their calendar. If Pittsburgh’s offense continues to perform well against a talented 49ers defense, then I think it’ll be time to start buying into the hype.
