The 2024 schedule has plenty of challenges for the Pittsburgh Steelers, with one of the hardest strengths of schedule in the NFL. There is also the wild final eight weeks of the season in which they will play all of their divisional matchups, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Kansas City Chiefs. But there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic as well.
One of those reasons is the quality of the defenses that the Steelers will play against. Things change from season to season, but they will play several of the league’s worst defenses in total yards allowed from 2023.
Of the eight defenses that allowed over 6,000 total yards last season, the Steelers will be playing against six of them. And since the Cincinnati Bengals are in the AFC North, the Steelers will play seven total games against those defenses. The Indianapolis Colts are pretty close to that threshold as well with 5,947 total yards allowed. That makes eight games against 10 of the worst defenses in yards allowed from 2023. Those teams are the Washington Commanders (32nd), Cincinnati Bengals (31st), Denver Broncos (29th), Los Angeles Chargers (28th), New York Giants (27th), Philadelphia Eagles (26th), and the Indianapolis Colts (24th).
For a team that is looking to break out on offense after years of lagging behind the league average, that could mean good things.
What were the two biggest things holding the offense back in 2023? Most pointed to the quarterback play and the offensive coordinator. Well, the Steelers purged their quarterback room and replaced Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, and Mitch Trubisky with four new ones, including Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. They each had their own struggles last season, but Fields was responsible for 247.6 yards per game of total offense and Wilson 227.4 to Pickett’s 177.
And that doesn’t include the bulk of the rushing yards gained by running backs, which should be one of the Steelers’ strong suits in 2024. Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren were one of the best duos over the second half of the 2023 season. Opening up the offense should only help matters.
If you had to extend that list of 2023 issues to one more category, most would point to the offensive line – something the Steelers invested in heavily in the draft with three picks in the first four rounds.
There are plenty of reasons for concern, but we have been covering plenty of those since the schedule release. This is one big positive, and the Steelers’ offense has everything it needs–including the level of competition–to rebound in 2024.
