The Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-0 on the season after beating the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, and Peter King is seeing a team that is playing in the style of their coach. On the Let’s Go! podcast with Jim Gray on SiriusXM NFL Radio, King said the Steelers will also have a competitive team under Tomlin.
“I’m not sure they’ll be great this year. But the one thing you’re going to get with Mike Tomlin, always, is you are going to get a competitive team that is going to play defense,” King said.
He also called Pittsburgh’s offense “tremendously resurgent.”
“This is a team built in Mike Tomlin’s image. A very low-error team that is an intense and swarming defensive team that figures out a way to win on offense. And that’s a kind of team Mike Tomlin loves and that Mike Tomlin has always tried to field.”
The Steelers have been a team that’s won games the past few seasons, but there never was a feeling that they could do much of anything in the postseason due to a lackluster offense. This year’s unit isn’t putting up any crazy stats, but they’ve moved the ball, are among the NFL leaders in time of possession, and only have one turnover through three games (a tipped pass interception against the Chargers.) The offense has found ways to win and has just looked and felt a lot better than the Matt Canada-Kenny Pickett offenses of the past.
Pittsburgh will be and always has been competitive under Tomlin, and as everyone knows, they haven’t finished under .500 with Tomlin as their head coach. But .500 and one-and-done playoff exits aren’t good enough, and despite an elite defense, they haven’t been able to do much better. For as good as it’s been in past years, the defense was plagued by continual three-and-outs from Pittsburgh’s offense, and they got tired late in games at times. This season, they’re refreshed and playing the best football the team has seen in years.
They’re playing football the way they’ve wanted to under Tomlin, especially in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era, and this year, with Justin Fields leading the show under center and a strong ground game, it’s worked. The Steelers have been able to establish the run. They haven’t gone away from it even when it isn’t working as well as they’d like and have ground teams down. It’s old-school Steelers football, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch.
