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: Was the Steelers’ performance in the fourth quarter a sign of things to come?
The Pittsburgh Steelers possessed the football three times in the fourth quarter, with the first possession beginning with 1:22 to play in the third. Those three drives spanned over 13 minutes and resulted in two touchdowns and ultimately a victory formation opportunity.
Now, nobody is going to consistently play like that, but how often to the Steelers ever resemble that kind of play? The Los Angeles Rams, by the way, had two drives in the fourth quarter and punted twice, gaining 25 net yards.
I’m not asking for the Steelers to win every quarter 14-0. But come on. How many first quarters have we seen with the Steelers putting up no points, as they did yet again yesterday? They had just a field goal at halftime and five total first downs on five (meaningful) drives.
Minus the two touchdown drives, the defense had a strong game, but they, too, greatly struggle to put together anything resembling a complete performance, too reliant upon takeaways to make up the difference. They still gave up 17 points in a game in which the Rams never started better than 61 yards away from the goal line, and that was an outlier.
They still let a wide receiver dominate them, which has become a tradition, apparently. Puka Nacua caught eight passes for 154 yards. The Rams rushed for 135 yards as well, doing so with reasonable efficiency.
The fourth quarter of this game is the closest we have come so far this season to being reminded of what the Steelers looked like in the preseason. That was always a mirage, and so will this be. But they should get a lot closer a lot more often than they have been. Was this a positive sign of things to come, or just a pleasant aberration?
