The NFL is back, and Sportsnet is breaking down everything you need to know about each of the 32 teams—including why you should or shouldn’t be rooting for them this season—in the month leading up to kickoff on Thursday, Sept. 8. Today, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Last year’s record: 10-6
Head Coach: Mike Tomlin
Core players: Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, DeAngelo Williams, Antonio Brown
2016 is about… Reestablishing the Steel curtain. The order of things has been reversed. The franchise known for defence has become leaky in the back end but explosive and fun on offence. However, they now believe they have pieces to produce a 3-4 defence that can get after the quarterback. The front seven has building blocks on both ends in Stephon Tuitt and Cam Heyward, which allows linebacker Ryan Shazier to go sideline to sideline to make plays.
They lost… Offensive tackle Kelvin Beachum and defensive tackle Steve McLendon. From a leadership stand point they’ll be missed but for a team who is looking to get younger and cheaper along the lines the moves make sense.
But they got… Tight end Ladarius Green who gives Roethlisberger another big target over the middle. On defence, rookies Artie Burns and Sean Davis were brought in to fortify a secondary that failed to make plays over the last couple years.
Growing from within: Markus Wheaton, Samme Coates and Darius Heyward-Bey will all be asked to expand their roles as receivers. The reason why their offence shouldn’t take a dip despite the suspension of Martavis Bryant is that they have an embarrassment of riches out wide. Antonio Brown is arguably the best receiver in the NFL, with 136 catches and 1,834 receiving yards last year. Brown has increased his number of receptions every year he’s been in the league. Coates, who was their 2015 third round draft pick from Auburn, showed he was ready for more opportunity with a 61 yard receiving performance in the divisional round versus Denver last year after Brown was injured with a concussion. On defense Bud Dupree has blossomed under the coaching of Joey Porter. Although he was hurt in the preseason, Dupree should make an even bigger impact defensively in his second season.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger passes against the Seattle Seahawks. (Ted S. Warren/AP)
Why this team? Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are the class of the division but the Steelers match up well with the Bengals. For one, the Steelers won two out of the three meetings between the two teams last year including the playoff game on the road in Paul Brown Stadium. Pittsburgh has won five of its last six and 10 of its last 13 games against Cincinnati. On top of that, the Steelers boast one of the best offences in football. In the last two years they’ve scored 30 or more points 14 times.
Why not? Ben Roethlisberger took a lot of punishment last season and the offensive line wasn’t really improved. Le’Veon Bell, Brown and Roethlisberger all have had injuries over the last couple seasons and didn’t participate fully in training camp.
How much hope? 9/10. Lots because the NFL is a quarterback driven league and Pittsburgh has one of the best and most reliable ones. Roethlisberger missed five starts last season due to injury, but he still racked up just under 4,000 passing yards, with a 68 per cent completion rate, 21 touchdowns and a 94.5 passer rating. They’ve never been below .500 since Big Ben came to town in 2004. They’ll also have DeAngelo Williams as great security blanket for Bell’s reoccurring suspension and injury issues. In 10 starts, Williams had 907 yards rushing and led the league in rushing TD’s with 11. Nobody has better offensive depth to overcome the inevitable injury bug than Pittsburgh.
