The jury is still out on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Standing at 4-2, and a half game back of the AFC North lead, they are one of the most polarizing teams in the league.
Some, like Colin Cowherd, think they are a top-ten team in the league, as he has them ranked sixth. Others aren’t so confident.
NFL Analyst Mike Greenberg, for example, has no faith in this team. He touched on their success this year on GetUp today.
“Mike Tomlin is as good a coach as this league has seen in recent memory. This team has Tomlined its way to four and two. And for the life of me, I have no idea – how do they win games?” Greenberg questioned. “They’re so bad. I’m sorry to say it. They’ve got like three good players. They’re all on defense. Their offense is unwatchable and they are 4-2. Mike Tomlin is an elite coach and we need to say that out loud every day.”
While Greenberg is obviously exaggerating here, as there’s no way George Pickens (among a handful of others) isn’t considered a “good player”. But he does make an interesting point. The Steelers are 4-0 in one-possession games this year, a statistic that tends to regress to the mean more often than not. And in their two losses, they have looked absolutely awful, one of which being to a rookie quarterback, and the other of which was to a San Francisco 49ers team which is looking more and more mortal as the weeks go on.
But let’s look at it from the other side of the coin for a second. There are reasons for optimism for this offense after a rough start. Diontae Johnson coming back from injury seemingly made a difference on Sunday. Pickens looks like the real deal in year two, and Matt Canada had his best game of the season playcalling-wise. And while yeah, the offense struggled to start the season, they toughed through that stretch and didn’t put themselves in a hole record-wise that’s going to be impossible to dig out of.
And on defense, like Greenberg alluded to, they have some studs. T.J. Watt might be the best defensive player on Earth right now, and Highsmith has avoided the post-big contract slump we so often see. They even shut down arguably their biggest rival on their quest for the AFC North in quarterback Lamar Jackson. Jackson has had a great season but had by far his worst game this year against the Steelers. He completed just 57.9% of his passes, his only game under 70%
Tomlin deserves some credit for leading this team to such a strong start despite their offense being so weak. But let’s not act so surprised. Good coaching and good defense have long been the path to success in the NFL, and the Steelers seemingly have both again this season.
