The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Can the defense carry this Steelers team?
I’m afraid the defense is not going to score 32 touchdowns this season. In fact, it might not score another touchdown in 2023. But as a whole, the unit looked pretty good against the Cleveland Browns.
There are still things that need to be worked out, some of which will come with time as new pieces begin to gel together, but they showed last night what they’re capable of doing in terms of making impact plays. We already understand the presence of OLBs T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, but others can step up as well.
We saw some impactful play from the inside linebacker positions as well, for example, particularly against the run, though that of course remains a work in progress. Elandon Roberts had a huge hit at the goal line—though the Browns scored on the next play.
While he is currently banged up, I don’t expect Minkah Fitzpatrick’s injury to be a long-term one. I think we saw better play generally from the safety position as well. Levi Wallace and Patrick Peterson have left much to be desired so far, but perhaps a change is imminent with Joey Porter Jr. entering the lineup on a more regular basis.
No defense is going to carry the weight of an entire team, of course, and even last night it benefited, for example, from some good punting by Pressley Harvin III, downing three punts inside the 10, some inside the 5-yard line.
On the whole, I don’t think there are a ton of absolute offensive juggernauts on the Steelers’ schedule where the offense would have to win a shootout. But the defense would have to be really good really consistently, even with moderate improvement for the offense, for this to be a successful year.
