At 7-2, the Pittsburgh Steelers are not only the best team in the AFC North but also one of the best teams in the NFL. Not many people expected this to be how the Steelers look. In fact, it was more common this offseason to find someone in the media saying the Steelers would be terrible this year. Now, they could be real contenders. Former offensive lineman Kyle Long doesn’t seem to believe that, though.
“Mike Tomlin making a Coach of the Year-type decision bringing Russell Wilson into the fold,” Long said Tuesday on his podcast, Pushing the Pile. “George Pickens has been awesome. Mike Williams found the red line for his quarterback.
“The defense is the defense. But I just don’t know if they can sustain this. I really don’t. They’ve got a big matchup coming this week, and I think that the Pittsburgh Steelers could be a little bit of fool’s gold there.”
It’s curious why Long doesn’t believe the Steelers can’t continue to win like they have. It’s not like they’ve lucked into most of their wins. They’ve played the brand of football that they want to play. Their offense has run the football well while also doing enough passing to keep them rolling. Enough has been said about how dominant their defense is. Even their special teams unit has been superb.
This kind of criticism isn’t new for the Steelers this season. Analysts have continued to raise the bar for them. People wanted them to beat a more competitive team, and then they defeated the Washington Commanders. It doesn’t seem like that’s enough yet.
Even though they’ve largely had the same philosophies over the first 10 weeks of the season, Long still thinks they’re worse than their record would imply. It sounds like he believes they could be exposed this week against the Baltimore Ravens.
The Ravens are generally seen as an actual contender, with quarterback Lamar Jackson a leading candidate for MVP. However, it isn’t like they’ve been perfect this year. Their offense is one of the best in the league, but their defense leaves much to be desired. Specifically, they’ve struggled against the pass.
If the Steelers beat the Ravens this week, will people like Long be satisfied with them? Or will it take winning the Super Bowl for them to be a “real” team? Maybe the Steelers shouldn’t be favorites to win a championship, but it’s not crazy to say they’re favorites to win their division. They aren’t flashy, and not everything is pretty, but they win games. In the NFL, that’s all that matters.
