As much loyalty to the Pittsburgh Steelers as Ryan Clark might have, he can’t pick his former team over what Raheem Morris and the Atlanta Falcons are building. Joining ESPN’s Mina Kimes for a special edition of her podcast tasked to pick between two teams to create 2024 power rankings, Clark begrudgingly chose the Falcons over the Steelers.Â
“Falcons. I didn’t want to do it, either. I think Kirk Cousins as of now is better than both quarterbacks in the quarterback room of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And I do believe the Falcons have really good weapons.”
Clark, of course, is referring to the Steelers new quarterback room of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. All three quarterbacks mentioned have big-time questions in 2024. Can Cousins remain effective off a torn Achilles? Is Wilson near the end of his career? And will Fields correct his inconsistency to become a starter again? But it’s fair to put Cousins, who completed almost 70 percent of his throws with 18 touchdowns in eight games last season, ahead of what the Steelers have.
Still, the Steelers have consistently outperformed Atlanta. The Falcons may be a team with talent on-paper but they haven’t finishes above .500 since 2017. And they haven’t finished a season with a better record than Pittsburgh since 2012. That’s all history and doesn’t necessarily have bearing on the present, especially as Atlanta overhauled their quarterback and coaching staff. But the Steelers, even in their worst moments during the last decade, have always come out ahead.
Clark’s choice will be immediately tested. Pittsburgh travels to Atlanta Week 1 in a game that’ll feature plenty of storylines, starting with the quarterbacks on their new teams but also Arthur Smith’s return after being fired in January.
With the Steelers snub, they fell to the next category of choices. Kimes asked to pick between them and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“I’m going to go Steelers,” Clark said. “One, we’re talking about a coach that always manages to keep a team competitive. We’re looking at Arthur Smith, and I believe you have to ‘X’ out the Matt Canada games. And think about the Sullivan-Faulkner games towards the end of the season when Najee Harris started to look like the player he was drafted to be.”
Smith is the experienced, proven coordinator the Steelers have been looking for. He brings similar core values, implementing a run-heavy scheme, with a stronger structure. Pittsburgh invested heavily in its offensive line drafting OT Troy Fautanu and C Zach Frazier in the top two rounds. And their defense, as Clark pivoted to, remains the strength of the team.
“You have absolute stars defensively. T.J. Watt? Star. Minkah Fitzpatrick? Star.”
That pitted the Steelers 18th in the power rankings. It’s offseason fodder that won’t matter when the regular season kicks off, but Pittsburgh is hoping to outplay where Clark slotted them.
