My thoughts before the season are here and i more or less stick by them.
OT - Pittsburgh Steelers 2025 Breakdown
Continuing my series on Potential WC teams, lets talk about the Steelers. They finished 16th in PPG on offense/23rd in YPG and 8th in PPG on defense/16th in YPG.
Notable players on Offense
Wilson was the main QB, but Fields also started 6 games to start the year. Their top pass catchers were Pickens as the clear #1. Freiermuth the TE with 650. Calvin Austin with 550. Then RBs Warren and Harris each caught around 300 yards. No young players to mention from the guys who played. Mike Williams was a disappointment and clearly a part of...
One thing i didn't hit on enough i think (a little but not enough) is the lack of depth. If they have guys out just about anywhere it REALLY hurts. And they have guys out right now.
Hightower - Edge - Running mate of Watt and a huge part of their pass rush. This is one spot where they actually have depth... but you can't make up for a guy like Hightower not being there.
Harmon - DL - They are paper thin on the DL... also one of their back ups is nicked..
Ellioit - S - Since trading Fitz he is their #1 safety... and their guy beside him in Thornhill isn't what he use to be.
Poter - CB - Starting outside CB. Very important as they are kind of built for man.
So a lot of key injuries here.
One thing of note is how bad the OL has played this year when they were decent last year. Letting Moore walk and having last years 20th overall pick take that spot after coming back from his injury... has not gone well. IDK if it is just the injury or he is a bust. Shouldn't have let Moore walk. There other OT spot wasn't good before and hasn't improved... they have 4 of the same 5 guys coming back. This may be one of those 'straw that break the camel's back' situations. They had enough at the other 3 good spots to cover for a bad RG and LT. Suddenly RT becomes subpar and there just isn't enough to hold it together maybe? 3 guys holding 2 up is possible if they aren't next to each other... you can help the one on the edge a bit with a chip and others can cheat. But 2 can't cover for 3 even with help.
Add in Kaleb being a massive downgrade from Harris in the run game... now you have only Warren... and he can't be in for every play.
They didn't help out their only WR... have no depth and it shows. They are basically depending on Metcalf and Warren to be the offense behind a bad OL. They don't have much behind them Jonnu, Austin and Freiermuth just aren't enough. And for all the talk about their offense play in week 1... It really wasn't that good.
They got 2 FGs of 56 yards or more... you don't want to depend on that (i know their kicker is good but still). They didn't run well. 4 sacks given up. Lots of bad angles from D, guys left open, too much cushion on dump offs. Really it wasn't good defense at all. Add in the fumble at the 22 and they got a relatively easy 34 points by NFL standards. Getting that many points simply can't be brushed aside... but still... next game they didn't get such low resistance and they were held to 17. Which i think is more in line with what should be expected given their talent on that side of the ball.
As for their D... it isn't THAT bad. Their DL gets pressure... That needs to be given to them. Even without Hightower our OL will have a hard game. Also their DBs aren't as bad as they are being made out to be. Yes they have issues... but they do have talent... Look at the Seahawks game. Take away that free 7 points on the kick off fumble screw up by the rookie and they give up only 24. That is probably closer to where they are. I will not go into this game thinking this offense will role over this D. They aren't bad. They are hurting bad still have talent and a bad week 1 and some unlucky breaks week 2 make them look worse than they are... Take that 7 points out and remember that their offense left their D out to dry a lot... It took Seattle 11 drives to score 24 points and they forced 2 turnovers. That is pretty good D. That is the level i expect from them. Not elite elite.... but having some holes and weaknesses while also having play makers.
Overall i think the Pats offense will face a lot of resistance and it won't surprise me if they are held under 24. The key is to not let the many play makers on this Steelers D turn it over and for our D and DL in particular to smother their run game and get after Rodgers.
Don't give up anything easy... know where Metcalf and Warren are at all times and Rodgers will give up autosacks... there will be WRs unable to make plays after the catch and the run game will put them in bad down and distance. This will be a defensive game about whose offense makes the least mistakes while also taking advantage of the other teams weaknesses enough to score a bit when possible.