Sitting at 6-2 and entering their Week 9 bye, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in a great spot with a gauntlet of a second-half schedule ahead of them.
In the first half of the season, the Steelers took care of business, taking advantage of the weaker part of the schedule to stack wins and position themselves nicely for a difficult second half. It features all six of the AFC North matchups, not to mention a Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs and a showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles.
One thing that has helped the Steelers is quarterback Russell Wilson’s play in the last two weeks, which has given the Steelers an entirely different look on offense entering the bye. Wilson has helped open up the passing game down the field, which has in turn lightened the box and helped out the run game.
As the offense hits its stride, the defense remains a force while the special teams units are helping change games in the blink of an eye. It has the Steelers looking like a formidable team and a realistic AFC North contender moving forward.
“They’re not this fake Steelers team from the last three years where they’re just lucky and they’re bad. It’s just Tomlin sprinkling some magical sauce. I actually think they’re a legitimately good team,” NFL Network’s Gregg Rosenthal said during an appearance on Adam Stein’s Podcast Rise and Schein. “Now, are they better than the Ravens? No. Are they a real deal Super Bowl contender? Probably not. But I think they’re one of the four or five best teams in the AFC and they’re going to be in all these big games.
“I think it’s a really good defense and a better offense. They’re at least average on offense. The playmakers they have are better, I think, than they were a couple of years ago.”
The Steelers are what their record says they are, which is a 6-2 and entering their bye. That’s a legitimately good team.
Going deeper than tha, the Steelers are playing some very good football and look the part, too, which is important when it comes to media discussions like this. In the past, the Steelers were winning games, but they were doing so in ugly fashion, and were finding ways to go 9-8 or 10-7 by winning low-scoring games.
They’re still winning some low-scoring games this season, but they look a lot more organized and urgent on offense, which is key. They look like a legitimate NFL offense in today’s league, and pairing that with a stout defense and a play-making special teams has the Steelers starting to generate quite a bit of buzz.
Right now, they should be considered Super Bowl contenders, period. They’re among the best teams in the AFC record-wise and are putting up some impressive numbers in the process.
We’ll see how they look in the second half of the season, but right now they deserve all the hype they’re getting. It’s warranted.
