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: How will the defense cope without Minkah Fitzpatrick?
Never before have the Steelers been without Minkah Fitzpatrick while at the same time missing Terrell Edmunds. While Edmunds will be on the field tonight, perhaps starting, he will be on the opposite sideline this time, now a member of the Tennessee Titans.
Pittsburgh actually went 2-0 in 2022 in the two games Fitzpatrick missed, including a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in which Edmunds was the only starting member of the secondary healthy. But they moved on from him this offseason, re-signing Damontae Kazee and adding Keanu Neal in free agency.
That will be their starting pair tonight, and they do have great familiarity with each other, spending most of their careers as teammates with the Atlanta Falcons and then the Dallas Cowboys. They spent much of that time starting together, as well.
But neither of them are in their primes, nor were either of them full-time starters in their most recent stints prior to arriving in Pittsburgh. They had been platooning and splitting responsibilities thus far this year next to Fitzpatrick.
The Steelers will be playing a rookie quarterback, but that rookie just made his NFL debut by throwing four touchdown passes and leading a comeback. And the Titans will have RB Derrick Henry making sure the defense has to respect the run game as well.
Fitzpatrick is actually the team’s leading tackler this season in spite of the fact that he missed most of the last game due to the hamstring injury he suffered that is keeping him sidelined now. In other words, this isn’t just a question of how they will hold up in coverage. This is a blow to the run defense as well.
Getting DL Cameron Heyward back won’t hurt, at least.
