The Pittsburgh Steelers have always found ways to remain competitive under Mike Tomlin, but this year feels a little different. Players who have been around for at least a couple seasons agree.
“We’re winning a little bit different than we had. We’re putting up 28 points, we put up 35 points, and we’re winning. So it’s a little bit different,” Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz said via his podcast.
Dating back to 2019, and maybe a little before that, the Steelers’ formula has been keeping scores down, not turning the ball over, and winning with a very conservative approach on offense. Scoring 30 or more points and gaining 400 or more yards was incredibly rare.
They have put up over 30 points twice already this season, with the last two games being in the upper 20s. There have been three games with over 400 yards of total offense. It was a slower start on offense, but things have really picked up.
“As a team, I think we’re starting to figure out that we’re not the old Pittsburgh Steelers that just try to run the ball, play conservative,” DL Breiden Fehoko said on the podcast. “I think people are figuring out we’re gonna throw that thing, we ain’t afraid to take shots. People starting to realize, be afraid because them boys is coming.”
Just look at Minkah Fitzpatrick, for example. On defense, he is taking heat from fans who just peruse the stat sheet because he isn’t making the splash plays he was known for earlier in his career. But he is playing a key role in shutting down the middle of the field and keeping a lid on the defense, which is in turn allowing others to make plays. If everybody does their job on defense, there are plenty of players who can step up and make the plays.
Both sides of the ball, and special teams for that matter, have a different feel to them this season.
“I tell people it feels a little different than it did last year and the year before for me, and the year before that,” Kuntz said. “It feels a little different in here.”
Fehoko added, “It feels more fluid.” And they both agreed that it is a more complete team. All three phases have proven they are capable of providing the spark necessary to secure a victory. That makes the Steelers a very dangerous team as they enter the final stretch of the season.
