After the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense turned in a promising practice session on Thursday, it proceeded to struggle mightily over the weekend. That culminated in the offense’s worst practice of training camp on Sunday, going a combined 2-12 in the Seven Shots drill. Given the team’s recent track record on offense, it’s starting to feel like deja vu.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Gerry Dulac joined 102.5 DVE’s Morning Show with Randy Baumann to discuss the state of the offense.
“The defense is definitely dominating. Yesterday they were gonna rename the drill oh-for-Seven Shots,” Dulac said Monday to emphasize how poorly the offense performed. “The defense is just overwhelming the offense. It was not a great throwing day yesterday for Aaron Rodgers.”
To be fair, it’s not uncommon for defenses to have a leg up on offenses in training camp.
As true as that may be, it doesn’t let the offense off the hook. Those players have a lot to prove in 2025 with all the offseason investments and new pieces. Rodgers seems to be establishing solid chemistry with one of his receiving options, but it’s still a work in progress with the others.
“Every third pass at the very least is to DK Metcalf. That relationship is certainly budding,” Dulac said. “He likes to throw to Jonnu Smith of course, but you’re not seeing him go after the other guys as much.”
Calvin Austin III has been dealing with a minor injury, but you would expect to hear more from guys like Roman Wilson in his absence. And Pat Freiermuth still has work to do to establish a connection with his new quarterback.
The hope is that the tight ends can help alleviate the need for a true No. 2 WR. But maybe the Steelers are starting to realize that plan isn’t going to cut it.
“Maybe this training camp lack of offense is convincing them they have to go do something else,” Dulac said. “One thing I’ve learned here this offseason is don’t rule out anything because they certainly spent money and gone after a ton of players.”
Dulac hedged his bet when asked if the Steelers could pursue a big name like Terry McLaurin, who made a trade request to the Washington Commanders last week. History says the Steelers won’t make that kind of move, but they’ve broken precedent several times this offseason.
They have been aggressive filling every other need to go all-in on the current team. So why not once more if they conclude they are short a receiver?
If you are an optimist, you look at the defense’s dominance as a good sign. But there is another side to that same coin. And in an offensive league, many are going to look at the offense’s current performance as a red flag for the season.
