I’m not sure there is a more hyped unit in the National Football League right now than the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. It’s easy to imagine coming off the preseason they had, during which the first-team unit had a flawless performance. Five drives over the course of three games, all of which ended in touchdowns. You literally cannot do better.
Given where they’ve come from and where they would like to be, however, it’s understandable that the guys in the locker room are not basking in their preseason accolades. Instead, their attention is trained upon the San Francisco 49ers, the first-ranked defense from a year ago, ready to measure themselves up against the best to find how where they really stand.
“They were the number one defense in the league last year”, third-year tight end Pat Freiermuth told reporters yesterday, via FOX66. “What better opportunity to showcase what we have with the best? We’re excited to go do that”.
The Steelers had the 23rd-ranked offense in 2022 in terms of yardage output and 26th in scoring, averaging an anemic 18.1 points per game.
Conversely, the 49ers allowed both the fewest yards and points in the league a year ago, ranking first in both categories. They allowed just 16.3 points per game over the entirety of the 2022 regular season, among the lowest averages in the league over the past decade.
And their defense remains largely intact from last season, even getting some major help with the free agent acquisition of DT Javon Hargrave. Along with the likes of LB Fred Warner, S Talanoa Hufanga, and DE Nick Bosa—oh yeah, he’s gonna be out there—the offense will have its hands full.
“If we want to be the team we’re capable of being, I think that there’s no better test” than the 49ers, RB Najee Harris said, via the team’s website. “You’ve got a whole good defensive front. You’ve got Hargrave [that] they picked up. They’ve got a good defense, so there’s no better competition than the 49ers”.
Will they measure up to the task? The Steelers have taken down title contenders in the first game of the season two years in a row, with the Buffalo Bills in 2021 and the Cincinnati Bengals last year. But season openers are frequently not a good indicator of what a team might look like throughout the year.
The team the Steelers want to be is one that is consistently performing at a high level. It’s not just about doing well once against one good defense. But, of course, they can only play one defense at a time. It just so happens that the one currently standing in their way is the one that was ranked as the best in the game a year ago.
