There’s been a lot of buzz in the media surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers lately, with the entire Good Morning Football panel picking the team to make the postseason. That buzz hasn’t carried over among some league executives, though.
While a few executives told Jason La Canfora of The Washington Post that they like the Steelers this year, a recent survey by Mike Sando of The Athletic paints a different picture. Sando asked six executives across the NFL where each team in the AFC would finish, and only one had the Steelers inside eighth place in the conference. Overall, Pittsburgh was picked to finish ninth in the division averaging out the executive predictions.
The lowest the Steelers were picked to finish was 11th, with two other executives picking them to finish 10th. One had Pittsburgh in ninth, one had them in eighth, and another picked them to finish fourth.
One executive offered praise for Pittsburgh if QB Kenny Pickett can step up.
“Watch out for Pittsburgh,” one exec said. “I see them beating Baltimore, and they could push Cincinnati if the quarterback plays well.”
Another offered a much harsher take.
“Pickett can ascend, but I would be shocked if he is not the fourth-best quarterback in that division. They do have studs at every level on defense, but that is a tough division in a tough conference. If they win the AFC North, crown Mike Tomlin and get his bust ready in Canton right now because that would be an amazing coaching job,” one executive said, while noting that people are getting carried away with the team’s preseason performance.
The ninth-place ranking put the Steelers third in the AFC North, behind the Cincinnati Bengals, who finished second, and the fifth-ranked Baltimore Ravens. The Cleveland Browns, per usual, came in as the caboose in 10th place.
Directly ahead of Pittsburgh were the Miami Dolphins at eighth, the New York Jets at seventh and the Los Angeles Chargers at sixth. For as high as expectations are for the Steelers this season, there’s a scenario where they do finish as the ninth-best team in the division. The AFC is loaded, and the AFC North might be the best division in football. It’s going to be a grind to win games every week, and if the Steelers hit a snag, they could go from a playoff team to the outside looking in very quickly.
With how tough the division is, it would be an awesome coaching job on all levels if Pittsburgh ascended to first, ahead of the Ravens and Bengals. I don’t think it’s as unlikely as the one unnamed executive made it sound, but it’s definitely not something I’m expecting to happen.
The defense needs to continue to play at a top level, and the Pickett-led offense led needs to improve. With an offensive line that got better thanks to the addition of OG Isaac Seumalo and more weapons at receiver, Pickett has the pieces in place, and he was on fire throughout the preseason.
There’s a lot to be excited about, but we need to see the preseason performance carry over into the regular season. If the Steelers falter out of the gate, it might be tough to recover and bounce back in such a brutal conference.
