For as much preparation and scheming as is involved, football has always been and remains a most human sport, driven by emotion. Momentum is a thing, for example. Confidence matters, as in all areas of life. If you’re not convinced you’re able to do something, especially if somebody is trying to stop you from doing it, there’s a good chance you’ll fail.
That’s the delicate balance the Pittsburgh Steelers are trying to navigate now, given the poor results from their offense through the first two weeks of the season. To a man, everyone involved in that unit seems to be convinced that it’s on them, not the preparation or the offense itself, to get this thing fixed. And it’s deflating.
“We’re not executing schematically in the right spots”, C Mason Cole told reporters earlier this week, via Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We have a really good game plan, we’re calling the right plays, we’re just not executing and it’s killing our energy in the game. The execution is going to fuel emotion. When you’re not successful early, you seem to lose a little confidence.”
It’s just a little bit jarring but hardly surprising when a player is willing to be open about the human factor like this, about a lack of confidence in what they’re doing and the danger of reaching those levels. I think it’s reasonable to question where this group’s confidence level is right now, even if they’ll tell you, as QB Kenny Pickett did, that it’s “sky high”.
Yet the Steelers are turning the ball over, they are not finding the end zone—hell, as often as not, they are not even managing to get first downs before punting or turning the ball over. Were it not for the fact that they somehow managed to get a win, it could hardly get much worse than things already are.
So where is the confidence level of this unit—one that was just serenaded with cries for the head of its offensive coordinator the last time the players were on the field? They know that they have performed poorly, up to this point. But do they believe that’s not who they are?
Outside of perhaps WR George Pickens, there isn’t a player on offense who has played a significant number of snaps that you can’t fairly criticize. That includes each and every one of their offensive linemen, the tight ends, and certainly the running backs. Above all, Pickett himself.
At the same time, in each area, there have been bright spots, glimpses of the unit that it should be, that it is capable of being. How do they get there from where they are now? And what is the danger of issues snowballing if they can’t get there fast enough? Confidence in your own futility is not what we’re looking for here.
