Flavell's Five Thoughts: Addressing Steelers' Major Weakness
With the game tied at 17 midway through the fourth quarter, the Pittsburgh Steelers offense put together their best drive of the 2023 season.
It opened with a Kenny Pickett 18-yard strike to George Pickens and ended with a Najee Harris three-yard run up the middle in what turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for the Los Angeles Rams.
There was creativity. There wasn't a single negative play. Pickett looked as comfortable as he had all season on a drive. Another slow start was negated by the defense doing just enough and the offense actually showing some signs of progress in the Week 7 victory.
Can The Offense Build on This Win?
Skepticism is certainly a cloud that hangs over the Steelers' offense. However, their second half performance in this victory is cause for optimism. It shows that the talent and the ability just might be there and just needed to be extracted from the players.
This is now the 54th straight game in which the Steelers could not generate 400 yards of offense. That is an absurd amount of time. They had exactly 300 in the win over the Rams, which isn't great. However, they did get 182 of those yards in the fourth quarter, which helped them not only take the lead, but ice the game as well. The Steelers also found a way to score three red-zone touchdowns in one single game.
The aforementioned drive in which the Steelers took the lead looked like an offense capable of doing something other than going three-and-out consistently. Multiple passes to Pickens. Some chain moving by the running backs. It was exactly what the Steelers needed.
This type of play isn't sustainable and won't get the Steelers much further than another potential wild card playoff berth and first-round exit. It just won't. It isn't sustainable. That's why the Steelers need to use that fourth quarter as a springboard for growth as a whole unit for the rest of the season.
Addressing a Major Kenny Pickett Weakness
Pickett has proven time and time again he rises to the occasion when the Steelers have a chance at a fourth-quarter comeback. He is now the owner of five fourth quarter comebacks in just 18 NFL starts. There is something to be said for that.
However, week-in-and-week-out, Pickett continues to get sacked more often than you'd like to see. The offensive line has not been kind to Pickett, particularly the right side of the line. Pickett has a bad tendency to roll out to his left and it often results in him rolling right into pressure and, eventually, a sack.
It's no secret that Pickett isn't much of a pocket-passer. He doesn't like to step up in the pocket and seems to be at his best when he rolls out and uses his feet to extend the play and throw on the move. This is something that the coaching staff has got to try and coach out of him.
It's not going to be easy. Often times bad habits are hard to shake. But as bad as the offensive line has been, Pickett has to trust them to hold onto the ball a second longer and step into throws in the collapsing pocket. Sometimes, you've got to take a hit to make a play. If he rolls right into pressure and gets sacked, that can halt a drive, and it isn't really anyone's fault but his.
Fitzpatrick's Usage An Indictment on Defense
Defensively, the Steelers have a coverage problem. Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace are having horrific starts to the season in coverage. Joey Porter Jr. has been solid in man coverage but doesn't tackle well. Fortunately, the Steelers have a do-it-all safety in Minkah Fitzpatrick. The unfortunate part about that is the way he's forced to be used.
Mike Tomlin and Co. have been deploying Fitzpatrick a lot in a hybrid role where he slides down into the box. It is a help on run plays because he constantly makes tackles and isn't susceptible to many missed tackles. Fitzpatrick is also the best at making plays on the ball in the Steelers' defensive backfield.
Teams are picking up on the fact that Fitzpatrick is playing more and more "linebacker" and calling an audible into a pass play. Without Fitzpatrick over the top to help out, teams are picking apart the corners.
Seemingly any team that has more than one above-average receiver has successfully moved the ball through the air against the Steelers. Puka Nacua had 154 yards, even though the Steelers rendered Cooper Kupp moot. Brandon Aiyuk, Amari Cooper, Devante Adams, and Nico Collins torched the Steelers so far this season. Zay Flowers' 73 yards against the Steelers is the most modest leading receiver against the unit this season.
The Steelers' defense will be at its best when Fitzpatrick can play ball hawk in the defensive backfield. He isn't getting enough opportunity to do that to this point in the season, and it is why the Steelers haven't really had too many interceptions in the early going.
Linebacking Core's Marked Improvement Over 2022
To Omar Khan's credit, he identified a major weakness in the Steelers' defense and improved it ten-fold. The middle linebackers the Steelers employ this season have been much better than what they were forced to trot out last year.
Cole Holcomb has been the every-down, do-it-all-type linebacker. Kwon Alexander and Elandon Roberts specialize in different things and play a solid complement to Holcomb.
Everyone knows the impact that TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith have on the edge for the Steelers. The ability to rest them every once in a while hasn't been there in recent seasons because the depth behind them has been ugly. Now, the Steelers have two reliable edge rushers behind their stars. Nick Herbig picked up his first NFL sack in the Week 7 win. Markus Golden is a special teamer who plays some downs on defense, but he hasn't been egregiously bad in the role he's played.
While the defense is giving up a lot more yards than they'd like to, the linebacking core has been one of the lesser issues to this point in the season. If Cam Heyward can make it back healthy from his injury and play like Cam Heyward can, the Steelers should be able to stop the run a bit more efficiently as they did against the Rams, allowing just 4.4 yards per carry.
AFC North Becoming Quite the Slug Fest
Is the AFC North a sneaky good division? It's starting to shape up that way. The Cincinnati Bengals are the worst team at 3-3. They spent the week watching at home as the other three AFC North teams got a win.
The Steelers scored a tight 24-17 win over the Rams. The Baltimore Ravens demolished the Detroit Lions 38-6 behind a wonderful passing display from Lamar Jackson. The Cleveland Browns got a questionable penalty call to go their way and squeaked out a thrilling 39-38 road victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
The Steelers watched last week as all three of their divisional foes won while they sat at home. The Ravens sit at 5-2 with a juicy matchup against the Arizona Cardinals on the docket. The Steelers get the London... I mean, Jacksonville Jaguars in their next game. The Bengals and Browns have the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks, respectively. The Steelers will be the only team not facing an NFC West opponent in their upcoming game.
Every team sits at .500 or better at this junction of the season. Working in the Steelers' favor is that they're the only team in the AFC North that is undefeated against their divisional opponents. That is no small nugget of tiebreaker information.
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