Although the Pittsburgh Steelers won their home opener, many thought the way in which they won wasn’t sustainable. Former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner was one of those people. His suspicions were right last Sunday at least. The Steelers struggled to move the ball and lost to the Seattle Seahawks by two scores in Week 2.
Warner thinks that version of the Steelers is closer to the truth than the version we saw against the New York Jets in Week 1.
“With the other issues they have as a football team, I think what we saw this last week is more who the Steelers are right now, than what we saw the first week in their ability to come back,” Warner said on The Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday. “I think all that is representative of who the Steelers are right now… I’m a little concerned about the Steelers.”
Pittsburgh managed to put up 34 points against New York in a performance nobody really expected from the offense. However, that win doesn’t look as good in retrospect. The Jets were just thrashed by the Buffalo Bills in a game that wasn’t ever close, and Pittsburgh looked much quieter against Seattle.
We’re only two games in, but some of the Steelers’ issues in Week 2 were glaring. They still aren’t doing well in the run game on either side of the ball. Aaron Rodgers is also getting hit far too often. He took some shots during last Sunday’s loss that looked especially rough for a 41-year-old. Without blocking or a run game, the Steelers simply can’t rely on him to carry them at this point in his career. He did in Week 1, but the loss to Seattle shows that it won’t happen every week.
As frustrating as the offense was, Pittsburgh was close to breaking through in some areas. Thanks to a great catch and run from Jaylen Warren, they found themselves in the red zone with a chance to take a seven-point lead. Then, Calvin Austin III went for a ball intended for Pat Freiermuth, which resulted in an interception. If a couple of things had gone a different way, Pittsburgh might have come out with a win.
Those types of miscommunications aren’t that surprising, given that it was only the second game those two have played together. Unfortunately, it’s also what’s stopping the Steelers from finding consistency offensively. It would be a help if the Steelers could run the ball as well. They made some slight improvements there, including a couple of longer runs that we never saw in Week 1. However, it’s still not close to being as consistent as Arthur Smith would like.
If the Steelers’ performance in Week 2 truly is the real version of them, we might be in for a long season. There are plenty of things to clean up, and the effort begins this Sunday in Foxboro.
