The Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t good during their Week 2 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The Steelers had issues in all three phases of the game, and while their defensive struggles continued, the offense crashed back to earth after a strong Week 1. The Steelers looked like the team that the most negative of analysts thought they could be ahead of the season, and even at 1-1, Ray Fittipaldo is concerned about the Steelers. He listed his concern level for the team Sunday night during The #1 Cochran Sports Showdown on KDKA.
“I was going to say 7.5. It’s pretty high,” Fittipaldo said.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Steelers squeezed out a Week 1 win over the New York Jets. But the Steelers made the Jets’ offense look good, allowing 32 points, and New York looked hapless in a 30-10 Week 2 loss to the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are one of the best teams in football, but those are the teams the Steelers are competing with if they want to make the AFC playoffs. And the momentum Week 1 win didn’t carry over, with the Steelers looking almost as lost as the Jets on Sunday against the Seahawks.
Heading into Week 2, the Steelers had to clean up their run defense and their own running game. The run defense looked a little bit better, but Seattle broke off too many big runs and finished the day with 117 yards on the ground. Pittsburgh ran for just 72 yards, and its passing success with Aaron Rodgers from Week 1 went out the window in Week 2. Seattle took away a lot of what worked for the Steelers to begin the season, and there wasn’t any momentum through the air.
It’s fair to be worried about this team, and I don’t think Fittipaldo is misplaced with a panic level above seven right now. The defense has been downright bad. There’s no other way to put it, and if that continues, it will be a long season. Even though 1-1 isn’t a bad place to be, nothing the Steelers have put on tape so far gives any hope they can contend with the best of the best in the AFC. The benefit is it’s still early, and a veteran-laden team should be expected to put in the work to iron out their issues.
But based off what they’ve done so far, it’s hard to see the Steelers making a lot of noise this season. If the run defense improves, that’ll go a long way toward improving the defense. But Week 2 felt like a good chance to be a get-right game, and they struggled again defensively. The offense didn’t sustain its passing success, and with no run game to speak of, it was an inconsistent mess on that side of the ball.
Until the Steelers show any sort of consistency, it’s going to be hard to feel good about their chances this season. There’s still time to turn it around, but things don’t look great right now.
