Starting off the regular season with a tie to the Browns is not the ideal way to start for a high caliber team. Playoff hopes dwindled away from me immediately after week 1 for the Steelers. However, they’ve turned it around following their early season struggles, into the team everyone thought they would be. Pittsburgh finally discovered their identity as a team, and used it to win their last five games. Their identity is strictly outscoring other teams. The defense has played better in recent games, but it’s still not acceptable. Therefore, the Steelers have to rely on simply scoring more than the other team.
Juggernaut Offense
Led by future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger, the offense lives and dies by his play. He started off slow this year, consequently, the team started slow this year. Now he’s playing some of his best football in recent years, and they are on a five-game win-streak. Next is his partner in crime in the backfield with him, James Conner. Conner has been in place of Le’Veon Bell because of Bell’s holdout. James Conner has more touchdowns this season than Le’Veon had in his last two seasons combined. Conner is also on pace to get more yards from scrimmage than Bell in his last two seasons while averaging less touches. Last but far from least is the dynamic duo wideouts, Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Antonio Brown is one of if not the best wideout in the league, and JuJu is the best second option in the league hands down. Brown’s numbers haven’t been as good this year due to the upcoming of JuJu, but because of it, the offense is more dangerous than it has ever been.
Recent Games/What’s Next?
As I said, the defense has played considerably better the last few weeks, and that has helped them no doubt, but honestly it’s all about the offense. The turnaround happened in week 5 where the Steelers destroyed the Falcons, 41-17. In week 6, they beat an improved Bengals team 21-28. Getting revenge on the Browns and the Ravens in weeks 8 and 9. Then, their most recent success in week 10, destroying the Panthers on Thursday Night Football. Coming up in week 11 is the Jacksonville Jaguars with the best defense in the league. This will be a true test of just how good Pittsburgh’s offense really is. If the Steelers can keep up their play against Jacksonville, it’ll put the whole league in panic mode.
