The Pittsburgh Steelers have taken control of the narrative this season with a 9-3 record entering the final five weeks. What was once viewed as a .500 team at best is now receiving a lot of praise as a team that can make serious noise in the postseason. Even Bill Belichick, one of the best coaches of all time, thinks this team can go far.
“I think Pittsburgh defines complementary football. They play more complementary football than really anybody in the league,” Belichick said via the COACH podcast on Spotify. “They really know how to play each other. One of the best things Pittsburgh does defensively is defend quarterback runs. So whether it’s [Josh] Allen, [Lamar] Jackson, [C.J.] Stroud, whoever it ends up being, that’s really been a strength of their team all year and in the past.
“That offense now, maybe it’s capable of scoring more than 10 or 13 points, where they can get up into the 20s pretty consistently. And with that defense, they can match up against most everybody.”
Mike Tomlin harps on complementary football in his postgame press conferences pretty frequently. The Steelers clearly strive to play that brand of football where every unit is capable of providing the spark or picking up the slack to set up the other units’ success. Cam Heyward even talked about needing to get better at complementary football in the offseason. I would say they crushed that offseason goal.
With Russell Wilson and the offense clicking, they can truly do that. Belichick said Arthur Smith is doing a “fantastic job.”
We all know this defense is capable of providing splash with takeaways or winning the field-position battle by forcing a timely three-and-out. The offense is now doing a better job of making teams pay when the Steelers get favorable field position. Certainly with Chris Boswell as their kicker, they don’t have to travel far to at least get three points on the board.
The special-teams unit is the best in the league according to ESPN analytics. The Steelers have blocked multiple kicks and punts, returned a punt for a touchdown, and the punting has been mostly solid all year with the gunners doing a nice job of limiting returns.
If the offense can consistently convert red-zone opportunities into touchdowns, then the Steelers are capable of beating any team in the league. They are currently 5-0 against teams with winning records and will have a chance to add to that with upcoming games against the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, and Kansas City Chiefs.
