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: Will the Steelers’ defensive front run over Kendrick Green?
It is a bit odd that so much attention is being paid to one particular spot-starting offensive lineman (and I readily acknowledge, of course, that we are contributing to that). But when that lineman has the history with the Steelers as Kendrick Green does, and then he goes and says something attention-grabbing—well, here we are.
Instead of focusing on QB Kenny Pickett vs. C.J. Stroud, or any other number of angles, we have spent an inordinate amount of time talking about the Texans’ injury-fill-in guard. Not without reason, of course. If things go according to plan, the Steelers hope to take a straight line right through him to Stroud as the path of least resistance.
The question is, will they be able to do that? It would certainly have been helpful if Cameron Heyward were available. DeMarvin Leal, starting in his absence, has not shown the pass rush prowess one would have hoped for, even if his work against the run has been a net positive.
The player Steelers fans have most on their mind in this discussion is rookie Keeanu Benton, and I certainly would like to see that matchup early and often myself. I’m just not sure how much we see it, though it should be there in nickel fronts. The Texans are a passing team, so we should see five defensive backs pretty steadily throughout.
In reality, we should just as much be talking about what’s going on at the tackle position, particularly on the left side. The Texans’ top two players there are down. Alex Highsmith will be going up against a third-stringer. Do I smell blood? And the guy next to him will be Green. That left side of the line—let’s just say it makes me grateful for Dan Moore Jr. and isaac Seumalo.
