If you watched only the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense this year with no in-game context, you would surely be shocked to learn that they not only hold a 3-2 record, but also a 2-0 record within their division that has them on the top of the standings heading into their bye week.
Despite what it may look like at times, the fact of the matter is that they have done enough to win more often than not since the year has begun. The question is finding out how to do that more consistently and efficiently, but they could be in a much worse place than they are now.
“We’re playing really good team football right now”, C Mason Cole told reporters yesterday, via the team’s YouTube channel. “When you can be 3-2 and first in your division and not have played your best ball in any of these five games, it’s pretty impressive. But the road’s gonna get narrower as the season goes on and we’re gonna have to get better”.
The question is how. A lot of it has to come down to individual improvement, because there are plenty of starters who are not playing their best ball right now. A lot of that does fall on youth and inexperience, and that is overcome with time and repetition.
The Steelers may have three or four rookies in the starting lineup on the other side of the bye week, with Broderick Jones at left tackle, Joey Porter Jr. at cornerback, Keeanu Benton along the defensive line, and Darnell Washington at tight end.
The presumed return of WR Diontae Johnson on the other side of the bye could be a big lift for the offense as well. He has been out since early in the second half of the season opener, going down with a hamstring injury while making a play.
Although it’s not quite the middle of the season like it was last year, Cole still sees the bye week as a significant dividing line. The Steelers made a good run on the other side of the bye a year ago, and he believes they’re better positioned to do that now.
“We’re at a really different point than we were last year”, he said. “We still are not playing up to our level, but as a team and as a whole we’re at a different point. We just have to put it all together. There’s flashes of it here and there. We just have to be more consistent and execute more consistently”.
Notably, the Steelers already have three double-explosive touchdowns this year, after recording zero in 2022. Two of them have gone to WR George Pickens, the other WR Calvin Austin III, both of them drafted last year with QB Kenny Pickett.
But it’s pretty much the rest of the offense that is the issue. The Steelers have forgotten how to sustain drives, which is actually what they did best in the second half of last season. If they can win the weighty downs and keep the ball moving, they can be effective enough to win consistently.
