There's nothing quite like writing about Pittsburgh Steeler football on a Tuesday.
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| Photo creds to lockhaven.com |
In case you are not up to date with "the great football team," The Steelers could be starting to turn the corner. After an ugly string of losses that lasted over a month, Pittsburgh won two games in a five- day stretch, defeating the Cleveland Brows and Indianapolis Colts, both on the road, by a combined score of 52-16. While the Steelers certainly warrant credit for doing their jobs well, should we heap that much praise on them? Or, does a lot of it have to do with their poor level of competition?
The Cleveland Browns are the Cleveland Browns. Only this year, they are slightly worse than the average Cleveland Browns are. I need not explain why a 0-12 football team is terrible, so I'll spend a little more time talking about the Indianapolis Colts and their situation.
The Colts are not an awful football team. Coming into Thursday Night's contest, Indy was 5-5. However, the Colts became a terrible football team when their prized quarterback, Andrew Luck, was ruled out for Turkey Day with a concussion. Scott Tolzien started, and the Colts were no better on Thursday than the Browns were on Sunday.
Although it's difficult to decipher how good the Steelers were over the past week, I think it was evident that their defense has improved tremendously. Sunday in Cleveland was a particularly impressive performance, as Pittsburgh posted eight sacks and allowed just 33 yards on the ground.
To me, the biggest reason to be encouraged by the Steelers defense is the youth. Artie Burns, Javon Hargrave, and Sean Davis are three rookies who have been getting significant playing time for Keith Butler. Burns and Hargrave are two players who have shown serious potential. Burns is an athletic corner who seems to be getting better and better as the season goes on. Hargrave is a beast, who can play anywhere he wishes on the defensive line.
Davis has been a little different. There have been times where the rookie from Maryland has played well, but as we saw in the final minute of that terrible Dallas loss, he still has to get better mentally.
The 3rd year defensive end from Notre Dame, Stephon Tuitt, is playing like a beast, lining up everywhere, punishing the quarterback, and earning AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. While the Steelers defense is not championship material quite yet, with young players like Hargrave, Burns, Tuitt and Bud Dupree, who made his season debut on Sunday, I believe that they are on the right track.
Ironically, the Steelers celebrated offensive attack has been the worst part of their team over the past two games. All I need to say to back up that point is that this offense, which was supposedly the greatest in the history of the league coming into the season, score one- one! Touchdown against the Cleveland Browns. That is a problem, and it needs to be solved. The O has been inconsistent all season, and you never know what you're gonna get on Sunday. The best part of the Steelers offense recently has unquestionably been runningback Le'Veon Bell, and hopefully the rest of the boys can follow Bell's lead and put up 30+ consistenly like Big Ben talked about.
So, how should Pittsburgh Steelers fans feel about their team right now? In my opinion, they should feel OK. Not great. Not awful. Just fine.
Steelers fans are very demanding, and they have good reasons to be upset about their immortal beloved right now. The Steelers are a 6-5 team that has 9-2 talent. They were a sexy Super Bowl pick coming into the season, and they have been average. That is unacceptable, and Pittsburgh should be better than what they are.
On the flip side; the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to win the AFC North.
That's not as much a compliment to the Steelers as it is an insult to the rest of this god awful division. The Steelers could conceivably go 3-2 the rest of the way and still skate away with a division crown. The only credible threat to the Black and Gold right now is the hated dirty birds. If Pittsburgh can take care of Joe Flacco and the boys at Heinz Field on Christmas Day, then they will for sure be the division champs. Although it would be somewhat misleading given the weakness of the AFC North in 2016, winning a division title is always a goal, and it would be lovely to accomplish this aim.
The Steelers are playing good football. Maybe it's a small sample size, maybe the competition was crap, but they are playing good football, and this is the type of year when playing good enough to get into the playoffs can get you places. There is one elite team in the AFC, and that is the almighty New England Patriots. In my mind, any team can make a run.
You know about the Kansas City Chiefs? The team that's 8-3 and on fire? Well, these Pittsburgh Steelers wrecked that team by a score of 43-14 less than two months ago. Sure, that magnificant performance seems like a long time ago, but it still shows how much damage this team can do.
The Steelers are what they are. They are not a consistently great football team the way they were in 2005, 2008 and even 2010. But when they get hot, they get hot. And the Steelers just might be getting hot at the right time. So, to answer my own question, I believe that the Steelers have been playing good football in addition to their recent opponents being terrible, and the stats, especially on defense, back up that statement. There's a lot of football left to be played, fans, and all we can do is sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
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