Questions Steelers Need to Answer After Bye Week

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a quick break before hitting the field for the second half of their 2022 season. As they look to turn around a 2-6 record at the bye week, there are questions they need to begin answering.

Is T.J. Watt Enough to Cure the Steelers Pass Rushing Woes?

There needs to be a petition to place a picture of T.J. Watt next to the word valuable in the dictionary.

With Watt in the lineup, the Steelers pass rush looks special but without him, it’s been nothing short of disappointing. Whether it’s been injuries, age or a myriad of factors, they’ve been unable to generate consistent penetration up front.

So far in 2022, the Steelers defense currently ranks 31st in pressure rate and 26th in sack percentage, which is drastically different from what we’re used to seeing out of this unit.

Getting the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year back in the fold will be the most impactful, post-trade deadline addition around the league. But is he going to be enough on his own, returning from that pec injury, to propel this struggling defense to the point where they’re able to reach their potential?

This is a Steelers team that needed to be dominant on defense in order to compete this season. In order to do that over the back half of the schedule, they’re going to need their star player to pick up right where he left off prior to the injury.

Can Pittsburgh Fix Their Running Game?

Najee Harris’s sophomore campaign hasn't exactly hit the ground running as his yards per carry has dipped to 3.3, a significant drop-off from where it was last season at 3.9.

Some of the criticism's surrounding Harris have been valid, as he still has some frustrating moments of spotty vision and he isn't creating enough yards on his own accord. Jaylen Warren has flashed a bit when given the opportunity but a reversal on the depth chart isn't likely to completely fix the running game.

The offensive line has improved but it's still far away from where they ideally need to be moving forward.

So where exactly do they go from here? One way the Steelers could potentially jolt their running game into gear is to feature more runs from shotgun. The numbers certainly seem to support that claim.

Halfback runs out of shotgun:

4.3 yards per carry
38.4 positive play %
-0.03 expected points per carry

Halfback runs under center:

3.1 yards per carry
28.1 positive play %
-0.16 expected points per carry

By no means is this one change going to be the solution for all of their problems but it's worth looking at moving forward. With the addition of more shotgun runs, the Steelers can also work their RPO passing game off of that as a wrinkle.

Do the Steelers Have the Corners to Run Their Scheme?

Long gone are the days of Dick Lebeau's cover 3, tackle the catch scheme in Pittsburgh. Would you believe me if I told you that only two teams in the entire NFL have ran more man coverage looks than the Steelers this season?

According to Sports Info Solutions, Teryl Austin's group is playing man coverage about 40% of the time, a massive spike from last season where they only played man on roughly 26% of their defensive snaps. That begs the question, do they have the cover guys, particularly on the boundary, to strap up talented receivers down the stretch?

Philadelphia didn't seem to think so as they attacked Ahkello Witherspoon any time he was lined up in man coverage across from A.J. Brown. A few days later, the Steelers made the decision to acquire William Jackson III from the Washington Commanders, who over the course of his career, has garnered a reputation as a press-man corner.

Jackson's play has been volatile to say the least but this scheme does appear to fit his skill set and if they're going to turn things around, Jackson just might play a big role in that.

During his last season in Cincinnati's man-heavy defense, opposing quarterbacks only completed 46.3% of their passes in his direction, seventh best among corners.

Can Matt Canada Help Make Kenny Pickett Comfortable?

The life of a rookie quarterback is oftentimes difficult and the Steelers 2022 first-round selection has found that out quickly. Pickett's struggled mightily to date, ranking dead last in yards per completion (3.9) and net yards per pass attempt (4.99) among qualifying NFL quarterbacks.

Pickett looked out of sorts against the Eagles last week as he struggled to face a front that was able to get home early and often, forcing him to turn the ball over twice. The Steelers are putting a lot on his shoulders from the jump as he's throwing the ball 38 times per start, a feat only ever accomplished by a half dozen rookies in NFL history.

It's up to his offensive coordinator to ensure that his rookie signal-caller is comfortable in the pocket which hasn't necessarily been the case thus far. The Steelers need to run the ball more, and more efficiently to lighten the load on their hopeful franchise quarterback. The bye week couldn't have come at a better time for this offense and hopefully, the coaching staff has been devising up a new plan of attack in order to get Pickett comfortable when they take the field against the New Orleans Saints.

The last thing you want to see from Pickett is for him to start losing confidence, as his development should be priority number one for the rest of the season.

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