The Steelers have been able to put together a 4-2 record through six games. It hasn’t always been pretty, but they’ve been able to get the job. The Steeler should be able to push their current record to five wins this weekend against the Arizona Cardinals, but from there, it gets a little bit more difficult for the defending AFC champions.
Following the Cardinals game, the Steelers go through a brutal stretch of their schedule. They’ll play the Patriots, Ravens, and Bengals in consecutive weeks before reaching their bye week, and frankly, it’s a stretch of games that could leave them at 5-5 with six games to play. Luckily for Pittsburgh, there’s still time before that stretch to get back on the right track.
The Steelers are coming off a thouroughly unimpressive win at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars. That game featured a pair of very good defenses and a pair of woefully ineffective offenses.
The Steelers jumped out 17-0 early on, and it appeared that the game would be a complete blowout. Then, inexplicably, the Steelers’ offense died. It wasn’t a gradual death that you tend to see over the course of a game. It was instantanious. One second, the Steelers are marching up and down the field, and the next second they were going three and out and punting away time after time. The Steelers lack of offensive production actually allowed Jacksonville to scratch and claw their way back into the game, and they nearly pulled off the comeback.
So, we have to ask, what’s with the Steelers’ offense? To fully understand it, you have to realize that the Steelers have one of the least effective offensive lines in the league, especially in pass protection. Next you have to understand that Ben Roethlisberger hangs on to the ball longer than any quarterback in the league. When these two factors are combined, the result is a ton of sacks and fumbles.
Now we need to look at what Pittsburgh does well on offense. They stretch the field with some of the fastest receivers in the league. This keeps the defense from bringing additional pressure by forcing them to respect the Steelers’ speed. That’s exactly what happened on the first three drives for Pittsburgh against Jacksonville. They threw, and completed, the deep ball which quickly opened up running lanes for Rashard Mendenhall.
After the first three drives of the game, the Steelers started missing those deep throws. Once that happened, the defense began to close in, putting more defenders closer to the line of scrimmage. From there, the Jaguars stuffed the run. At that point, the Steelers’ only option was to begin throwing, something they couldn’t do once Roethlisberger began missing passes. With such a poor offensive line, Roethlisberger was left with little protection against the pass rush. A late game fumble deep in Steelers territory nearly gave the game to the Jaguars on a silver platter, but luckily, a Steelers lineman fell on the ball quickly. That allowed the Steelers to punt away and give the game to their defense.
Why do I feel it’s necessary to go into painstaking detail about the problems of the Steelers offense? Because it’s fixable. The Steelers travel to Arizona this weekend to play one of the league’s worst teams, and they have time to fix their problems.
Here’s what the Steelers can do to “hide” their poor pass protection:
- Run the ball as often as possible. The Steelers have great speed on offense, and it loosens up the defense. If the Steelers can establish their running game early against teams like the Ravens and the Patriots, it’ll give Roethlisberger more time in the pocket. If he has time, he’ll make the defense pay with a great deep attack.
- As I mentioned earlier, the Steelers like to throw the deep ball. Even when the pass is incomplete, it pulls the defense away from the line of scrimmage. The Steelers should go ahead and throw it deep as often as possible. It pays dividends late in the game. The trick is moving Big Ben around so he has the time to throw the deep ball, which brings us to my third point…
- Move Ben Roethlisberger around! Let’s face it. Roethlisberger is not a pocket passer. He excels when he’s outside the pocket, and designing plays that move him around helps his blockers a lot.
The Steelers are not playing championship football right now, but they still have a very talented team. If they can make some minor changes now, it’ll help them maintain their stellar record. The above points are preventative medicine. If Pittsburgh acts now, they could be playing football in February, and that’s always their goal.
