The Pittsburgh Steelers are 2-0, and that is true no matter which teams they made 0-1. This week just so happened to be the Denver Broncos, a rebuilding team with a rookie quarterback. They very much looked like it on their home soil yesterday, but the Steelers may have had something to do with that, after all.
Not in the mind of former Broncos OL Mark Schlereth, who has repeatedly weighed in this offseason. That’s partly because he’s promoting himself more, but also because former Broncos QB Russell Wilson is with the Steelers now. Wilson didn’t even play yesterday due to an injury, but Schlereth is still downplaying the significance of the win.
“Steeler fans you beat a rookie QB and a rebuilding team by a 7”, Schlereth wrote on X regarding their win over the Broncos. “…don’t break your arms patting yourselves on the back”!
One hopes, granted, that this is far from the Steelers’ most impressive win this season over a questionable Broncos team. While rookie QB Bo Nix threw for 246 yards, that was too little, too late, and reliant upon gadgetry. They rushed for just 64 yards as a team, averaging 3.4 yards on 19 attempts. Nix also threw two interceptions, one in the red zone, showing his rookie shortcomings.
In the season opener, the Steelers beat the Atlanta Falcons, who play the Philadelphia Eagles tonight. They held Atlanta to just 10 points, relying on the takeaway, now with five total over two games. Pittsburgh has only scored 31 points of its own thus far, however, which needs immediate improvement.
I think we all know that Schlereth is ultimately right, at least in the most basic sense. It is not impressive, or so it seems, for the Steelers to beat the Falcons and Broncos. They don’t look like they are good teams right now, so beating them doesn’t tell us much about how good the Steelers are.
But the Steelers can only play the teams on their schedule in the order in which they appear. They took care of business, and they have a 2-0 record to show for it; that’s all we can say. Who’s to say that they can’t or won’t beat the Chargers next week, or the Cowboys later on?
Remember that devastating AFC North gauntlet at the end of the season the Steelers should be dreading? With the rest of the division 1-5 right now, it’s not looking like the greatest threat of all time. Granted, the Bengals are slow starters, and the Ravens will look better once their line settles.
Even though Schlereth is “right” as far as that goes, his comment obviously reeks of sour grapes. No surprise for the man who calls himself Stink. His opinions often stink, especially when he’s talking about the Steelers. And after watching his Broncos lose to the Steelers, it smells like he needs a changing.
