For the Pittsburgh Steelers, most of the talk around the team this offseason was centered on their improved quarterback room with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields and how the two would fit in Arthur Smith’s offense. Through two preseason games, the offense has been the story of the team, but not in a good way, as Pittsburgh’s starting offense hasn’t put any points on the board and the team only managed a field goal in a 9-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills in their second preseason game last night.
On his Nightcap podcast with Chad Johnson, former NFL tight end and current analyst Shannon Sharpe ripped the Steelers offense and said the offense needs to improve.
“The thing is, is that you see both of them make throws in practice. [Justin] Fields is playing unbelievable, Russell [Wilson] is making great throws, and then come game time, it’s like, damn,” Sharpe said. “Did y’all even practice? I mean, it was bad.”
Sharpe said that the Steelers need to improve if they want to have a good season.
“I don’t wanna say they’re gonna be 2-15, but boy, they gotta improve offensively, man.”
There’s a fine line when it comes to putting too much stock in preseason performances, but there’s no doubt that Pittsburgh’s offense just hasn’t looked good. The opposite was true last season, as Pittsburgh’s starting offense put on a clinic and looked like a group that had turned a corner. That quickly faded when we hit the regular season.
So there’s a balancing act when it comes to getting worried about what’s been a pretty brutal performance through two games and remembering that there’s still plenty of time to go until the regular season. Still, what’s been worrisome the most has been the poor performance of the offensive line, and while Broderick Jones was the biggest issue last night, the line needs to be able to hold up for this offense to work.
Investing in the line has been a point of emphasis under Omar Khan and Andy Weidl, and it’s a group that will need to play well in both run blocking and pass protection. The run blocking has been decent so far, although it was better in the preseason opener than it was last night, but the pass protection has been really shaky and that’s not a good thing, especially with two quarterbacks in Wilson and Fields who have been among the most-sacked in the league.
Negative plays get the offense behind schedule and make it difficult for them to do much of anything offensively if they’re constantly in 2nd-and-3rd and long situations. Right now, that’s the offense’s biggest problem, and it’s one that needs to be cleaned up come Week 1.
