There are only five undefeated teams left in the NFL through the first three weeks of the season. The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of them, and one of just three in the AFC.
Stephen A. Smith named his top five teams in the league through the first three weeks, and included his favorite team, the Steelers, at No. 5 on the list.
He wasn’t very inventive with his rankings, including all five teams that are undefeated, but the Steelers still made the cut as the lowest of the five on the list.
“Let’s go to number five on the list please. Right now, give it to me. Bam! The Pittsburgh Steelers,” said Smith on ESPN’s First Take this morning. “What are my Pittsburgh Steelers doing? Have y’all seen what the Pittsburgh Steelers are doing? Do you see that defense? You see that brother T.J. Watt? He is so special.
“We’ve been talking about Justin Fields. Okay, I told you they got [Najee] Harris. I told you they got [Jaylen] Warren. I told you they got [George] Pickens. I told you they got [Pat] Freiermuth. But now we got a quarterback in Justin Fields not making bad decisions, not turning the football over, extending plays with his legs. Dual threat. We ain’t seen that in a long time for the Pittsburgh Steelers. We got that now. They undefeated, y’all. They top five.”
Many of the major sports media outlets have bumped the Steelers up in their power rankings over the last few weeks and they are top 10 on most of the major lists. Their opponents’ combined record over the first three weeks is 4-5, though three of those losses obviously came from the Steelers to skew that sample early in the season.
One thing can’t be argued, however. The Steelers’ defense is by far the best in the league right now. They are obviously the best defense, but they might be the best unit on either side of the ball. T.J. Watt is playing up to his usual level, Cameron Heyward has returned to form after injury, and they have received solid play from all 11 spots on the defense.
They are the only defense in the league allowing single-digit points per game at 8.7. They are also allowing the fewest yards at 229.7 per game. The next closest team is the Seattle Seahawks with 248.7 per game allowed.
The offense is doing its part, too. After a slow start to the season, that unit had its best performance against the No. 1 defense in the league entering Week 3. The Los Angeles Chargers had been dominating on defense, but the Steelers’ offense cracked the code. They only scored 20 points, but they ended the game in victory formation on the 1-yard line instead of running up the score.
If the Steelers go 4-0, something they have only done twice since 1979, the rest of the media will have no choice but to shed any remaining doubts about the viability of this team. They entered the season wanting to play the bully, and they have accomplished that in the first three weeks.
