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Early Sunday afternoon, the Steelers hosted the Seattle Seahawks for their season home-opener at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Seahawks narrowly edged past the Cincinnati Bengals in week one and were looking to improve to a perfect 2-0 on the season, while the Steelers were hungry to wash the bitter taste of week one’s embarrassing defeat at the hands of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Before the game, skeptics surrounded the team with questions, including Juju Smith-Schuster’s potential to be a number one receiver, James Conner’s strength as the offense’s feature back, and Donte Moncrief’s ability to simply catch a football in general. Despite all the uncertainty and unrest, the team had one goal: not drop to a devastating 0-2 record.

Spoiler alert: the Steelers did not achieve their only goal. Even worse, Ben Roethlisberger suffered an elbow injury that will cause him to miss the rest of the season. So how did Pittsburgh manage to drop their home opener, as well as lose their star quarterback, all in the same game?

The Steelers received the opening kickoff, but their offense quickly showed no noticeable improvement from last week; a quick three-and-out, followed by a punt. The offense was slow to pick up, finishing all three first quarter drives with a punt. On a positive note, the defense held Seattle to a similar stat line. On their first two drives, the Seahawks only recorded a total of thirty yards; it soon look as if this game would be won by defense. As the quarter came to a close, the game knotted 0-0, the Steelers defense showed a glimpse of the famous Steel Curtain: with eleven seconds left, TJ Watt forced a fumble that Mark Barron returned thirty-four yard for Pittsburgh’s first touchdown of the season – only to be called back for an unnecessary illegal block. A seemingly perfect representation of the season thus far: a sudden stroke of good fortune, only to be instantly vanquished by a mistake. On the bright side, James Conner was able to punch in a a one yard run early in the second quarter for the Steelers first actual touchdown of the season, and Pittsburgh jumped out to a seven to nothing lead. Pittsburgh held onto the lead until the third quarter, in which the Seahawks recorded two touchdowns, followed by another in the final quarter. On a positive note, the Steelers never let the game get too out of hand, and they were only down by two with over five minutes left. However, Seattle was able to run out the clock, preventing Pittsburgh from even an attempt to take the lead. This final drive included a fourth down conversion to seal the win for the Seahawks.

More concerning than the 0-2 start, however, is the loss of Ben Roethlisberger for the remainder of the 2019 season. During Sunday’s game, Big Ben repeatedly tried to shake out his injured elbow, which caught the immediate attention of coaches and trainers. Despite never receiving a direct hit to his arm, he was pulled from the game at half time and replaced by backup Mason Rudolph. The Steelers announced on Monday that Roethlisberger, now on injured reserve, will miss the rest of the season. Team doctors are confident that he will be back at the start of next season to begin the second year of his newly signed three year contract. One positive note for Steelers fans and players alike was the surprisingly strong display Rudolph put on during the second half. A 2018 third-round pick, Rudolph finished twelve for nineteen passing for 112 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception (which, in Rudolph’s defense, should have been caught my Donte Moncrief). The quarterback received high praise from his teammates in his first professional regular season game, and will likely turn out to be the starter for the remainder of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So where does exactly does this leave the Steelers? It is a time of uncertainty in Pittsburgh. Juju Smith-Schuster and James Conner have failed to fill the holes Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell left after their departures from the organization, and Donte Moncrief cannot seem to catch a ball. Now Ben Roethlisberger, who led the league in passing yards last season, is done for the year. After two weeks, it is becoming clear that the Steelers secondary defense is struggling to stop the pass. Some have already counted the Steelers out as playoff contenders; however, I feel that there is still hope. Different plays showed potential out of both Smith-Schuster and Conner, who have both taken on an immense responsibility this season. It will take time for them both to find their grooves, and after two weeks I am still not concerned. I feel that the talent is there, they both just need to play more snaps and build confidence. As for Donte Moncrief, he was a solid receiver in Indianapolis, and I believe he will get out of his slump soon. While losing Roethlisberger is certainly a blow to the Steelers, I see no reason why, if he continues to get reps and play with the same confidence he did on Sunday, Mason Rudolph cannot take this organization to the playoffs (we all remember what backup quarterback Nick Foles did for the Eagles a few years back). As for the defense, the Steelers recently traded for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, a first round pick in 2018. While this will not solve all the issues, I feel that his presence in the lineup will help the Steelers begin to perform at the high level they usually do. The Steelers cannot let these first two weeks of the season drag them down; with fourteen games left to play, the season is far from over. They travel to San Francisco this Sunday to take on Jimmy Garoppolo and the 2-0 49ers at 4:25. How will Mason Rudolph fair in his first official NFL start? Steelers fans everywhere wait anxiously as their confidence in the team drops, as this game could serve as a prediction of what is truly in store for the rest of the season.

 

As the sun rose the day after the first Steelers game of the 2019-2020 season, the city of Pittsburgh awoke in a confused, disgruntled daze. After all the offseason buzz, drama, and expectation, the week one loss to the Patriots was, put simply, embarrassing. Following an utterly dominating 33-3 performance, the New England Patriots vanquished any doubt that the team had lost even a step since last year’s Super Bowl run; on the night where New England hung its sixth Super Bowl banner in the rafters of Gillette Stadium, the dynasty looked well on its way to a seventh. To add fuel to the fire, Antonio Brown, who the Steelers had traded earlier in the year to the Oakland Raiders, agreed to a contract with the Patriots just over twenty-four hours before kickoff. (Many New England fans are already predicting another Super Bowl run, as the Patriots recorded this win without the use of newly-signed ex-Steeler Antonio Brown. Brown, who signed with the Raiders earlier this year, has been making headlines all summer for skipping practices, using illegal equipment, arguing with coaches, and getting frostbite on his feet; needless to say, he seems to be more trouble than he is worth. While I will not get into much detail of the situation, you can read more about the Brown signing here and here, as well as read about his recent rape accusation, which is now making headlines throughout the country, here.)

As the time came for the opening kickoff, the Steelers seemed to be in good position. They won the coin flip and elected to defer their possession until the beginning of the second half, typically considered the more favorable choice. The Steelers defense even held the Patriots to only one first down on Brady’s first series of the season, forcing a punt early in the game. The team looked focused and determined, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me as this first defensive stop made my confidence soar (prematurely). So how, after this seemingly hot start, did the Steelers collapse?

On their first drive, the Steelers were not able to muster much more than the Patriots, only recording two first downs before sending the ball back to the defending Super Bowl champions. The second time on offense, the Patriots came with a vengeance; they cut through the defense like a hot knife through butter, moving eighty-two yards in only seven plays, including a trick play that notched thirty-two yards, and finishing the series with a touchdown. After the Steelers failed to match the Patriots, going three-and-out and punting again, the momentum seemed to shift greatly away from Pittsburgh. By the time the first quarter ended, New England had driven downfield again, settling for a field goal and bringing the score to 10-0 as the first quarter expired. The rest of the game played out in a similar fashion, with the Patriots recording another two touchdowns and three field goals compared to the loan field goal for Pittsburgh, which came early in the third quarter with the Steelers already down by twenty.

One of the main factors that I noticed that lead to such a brutal loss was the Steelers’ failure to convert on third and fourth downs. The team only recorded a first down three times out of twelve tries on third down and only once out of three attempts on fourth down. While these numbers will often times fail to produce a win, the fact that many of them were also quite short simply killed the Steelers offense. In the second quarter alone, the Steelers failed to convert two third-and-one plays, as well as a fourth-and-one play. On three separate occasions in one quarter, the Steelers had the chance to string together a meaningful drive, but in each case failed to execute and gain just one yard. Time and again, the Patriots held strong, squashing Pittsburgh’s offense before they could get moving. Against many teams, failing to convert like this will often times make winning a challenge; against a team like the Patriots, it is nearly impossible.

 

However, the converting is not the only issue the Steelers need to work on before next weekend. Dropped passes, missed tackles, and missed blocks plagued the team. Their running game averaged a measly 2.08 yards per carry, which forced the Steelers to look to advance their offense through the air. However, on a night where receivers like Donte Moncrief were targeted ten times and recorded only three catches for seven yards, their passing game failed to do much better. Steelers tight-end Vance McDonald was not even targeted until there was just over a minute left in the game, and the Steelers did not record their lone sack until late in the third quarter. With all these factors added up, a 33-3 loss does not come as a shock. While issues must be addressed on both sides of the ball, I feel that the offense especially needs to reevaluate their game plan. Going up against Tom Brady, the Patriots are bound to put points on the board; it is up to the Steelers offense to put together longer series, to simply put pressure on the Brady and the Patriots, as well give the Steelers defense time to rest. Roethlisberger and his offense did neither of these, which resulted in a comfortable Patriots win.

While many Steelers fans may feel that this Week 1 loss serves as a harbinger for a long, dreary season, I assure you that the season is far from over. If history tells us anything, the Steelers will be just fine; they have lost six out of their last nine season openers, and two of their last four. In 2015, the Steelers received a similar Week 1 beatdown from the Patriots and ended up making the playoffs. Last season, the Patriots lost two out of their first three games and ended up winning the Super Bowl. While this loss will sting for quite a while, Steelers fans should look to move past it and have hope for the rest of the season. This first game exposed weaknesses in Pittsburgh’s style of play, and I am sure that this loss early on will turn out to be beneficial in the end. Make sure to tune in this Sunday as the Steelers take on Russel Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks for their home opener at 1:00 PM!

This weekend is the weekend that football fans around the country have been earnestly waiting for: the official kickoff of the 100th NFL season. Beginning on Thursday with the Green Bay Packers playing the Bears in Chicago, these next few days should prove to be as exciting as they come for football fanatics. The rest of the weekend is filled with rivalry and divisional matchups, such as the Washington Redskins at the Philadelphia Eagles, so no matter what team you follow, you should have an enjoyable game to watch. The Steelers open their season with one of their two primetime Sunday night games, facing off against the defending Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. This game stands as one of Pittsburgh’s greatest tests this season, and it comes at an unusually early time in the season. These two teams only met once last year, with the Steelers coming away 17-10 victors on a mid-December night in Pittsburgh. Since 1972, each team has won sixteen out of their thirty-two meetings, further demonstrating just how competitive and equal this matchup proves to be time and time again. A long history of back-and-forth, high-intensity football exists between these two teams, and this game should be no different.

Leading the charges of both teams’ high powered offenses are two seasoned veterans in Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady. Roethlisberger, now is his sixteenth year in the league, is coming off a standout 2018 season in which he led all NFL quarterbacks in total yards with 5,129, as well as ranked fourth in total quarter back rating (QBR) and fifth in touchdowns. Brady, now in his twentieth season, led a similarly impressive 2018 campaign, finishing seventh in total yards, sixth in QBR, and tied for tenth in touchdowns. However, Brady’s season ended quite a bit sweeter than that of Roethlisberger’s, as the Patriots won their sixth Super Bowl, while the Steelers failed to make the playoffs. Although many sports analysts consider Tom Brady to be the greatest quarterback to ever live, as he has won six Super Bowls during his time in the league, I believe that the Brady-Roethlisberger matchup will not fail to disappoint. Both have numerous years of experience and seem to improve year in and year out, and I believe that both this veteran leadership as well as dependable talent will greatly benefit both teams on Sunday night.

As the 2019 season kicks off for the Patriots, the team will be taking the field without a key member of the New England dynasty that has reigned over the NFL for nearly a decade: tight end Rob Gronkowski. Widely considered to be one of the greatest tight ends to ever play the game, Gronkowski was drafted in 2010 and grew to become one of Tom Brady’s favorite targets. After his retirement last spring, the void he left in the Patriots offense became one they desperately looked to fill. Offseason moves included the signing of tight ends Ben Watson and Lance Kendricks, both of whom will be serving suspensions to start off the season. As the tight end position is fairly unstable at the moment, and even more so with these recent suspensions, I feel that the Steelers should be able to capitalize in this hole in the Patriots offense. Although New England’s wide receiving core still includes standouts such as Julian Edelman and Josh Gordon, and Tom Brady has devastated teams without Gronkowski before, the offense should fail to live up to the powerhouse it used to be.

On the other side of the ball, the Patriots defense appears to be a fundamentally sound group who, some predict, may be even stronger than the defense that only allowed three points in last year’s Super Bowl. In addition to signing star defensive end Michael Bennett, the Patriots have multiple players returning from last year’s championship team, including veterans Patrick Chung and Duron Harmon, whose experience should continue to guide the younger players on the defense. Although the Patriots will be running under a new defensive coordinator this season, which may typically raise some red flags for how well the defense will perform, it is believed that head coach Bill Belichick will call a majority of the plays. Belichick began his coaching career in 1975, and since then has never stoped to look back, winning six Super Bowls as a head coach and an additional two as a defensive coordinator, as well a holds numerous other coaching records throughout the league. Often times referred to as a “coaching mastermind”, the defensive unit should have no problems under his watch.

As I stated in my first post, I believe that the Steelers will look strong on both offense and defense right out of the gate, and I except nothing less from the Patriots. While I can see this game swinging either way, as both teams’ competitiveness and talent exceed many other teams in the league, I feel that the Patriots will not be completely adjusted after the loss of Gronkowski, and I believe that this uncertainty at the tight end position will prevent New England from beating a team such as the Steelers. That being said, this game is in no way a given for either side, so once the clock strikes 8:20 on Sunday night, make sure you’re watching!

As another season of the National Football League (NFL) dawns on the horizon, football fans everywhere will gladly offer you their thoughts and predictions for their favorite team’s upcoming seventeen-week journey, whether you asked for it or not. No matter where you are or who you talk to, one proclamation will seem to reverberate around: “This year is our year”. For some fanbases, these claims are valid; if you happen to find yourself near a Patriots or Eagles fan, then you might just have to hear them out. However, if you hear this from a Dolphins fan, you can safely laugh off their prediction and move on with your day. Throughout the course of this blog, I will focus specifically on my favorite NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, examining their gameplay, roster adjustments, and injuries as they begin their quest to sit atop the NFL with a record seven Super Bowl titles.

Quite a bit of buzz swirled around the Steelers organization even before summer training camp began, which was held at Saint Vincent College, Pennsylvania. Most notably, their former  running back Le’Veon Bell’s agreement to sign a four year, $52.5 million contract with the New York Jets, as well as wide receiver Antonio Brown’s newly signed three year, $54.125 million with the Oakland Raiders. Le’Veon Bell refused to play for the entirety of the 2018 season, as he felt that the Steeler’s use of the franchise tag, and therefore lower salary, was disrespectful to the talent that he brought to the organization. A three time member of the Pro Bowl, Bell led the league in touches in 2017 with 406. Leaving with a similarly fed-up attitude with the Steelers organization, Antonio Brown had strained relations with the team for the entirety of the 2018 season, skipping meetings, missing practices, and lashing out at teammates; some reports claim that these incidents were covered up for multiple seasons prior. A seven time Pro Bowl selection, Brown left the organization in second place in catches, yards, and touchdowns, only behind legendary Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward. To many Pittsburgh fans, it appeared that the 2019 Steelers would be a mere shell of the offensive powerhouse they used to be.

Although the NFL regular season does not start until September 5th, the five-week exhibition preseason has offered Steelers fans a bit of a glimpse of what the 2019-2020 season may hold for the Steel City. Although it is difficult to translate preseason performances into a regular season record, as the starting lineups are often times rearranged and new offensive strategies tested, the Steelers finished with a promising 3-1 record, dropping only one game to the Carolina Panthers on August 29. Despite the loss in the preseason finale, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin described the preseason as overall a successful few weeks, assuring reporters at Steelers.com that he is “excited for the season” and that the Steelers will have “no excuses” to justify losses.

As a Steelers fan, I am quite optimistic for the upcoming season, despite the offseason blows of losing Bell and Brown. The young offensive duo of James Connor (running back) and JuJu Smith-Schuster (wide receiver) displayed more than enough play-making ability last season to convince me that, with a veteran quarterback such as Ben Roethlisberger at the helm, the Steelers offense will not disappoint. On defense, the team looked surprisingly sharp, playing with a more comfortable style and holding opposing offenses to under seventeen points a game on average. Despite star linebacker Ryan Shazier still sidelined after a horrific back injury almost two years ago, the defense seems to be coming together as a much more effective and and devastating unit compared to last year. Overall, the 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers season promises to be a good one, so sit back, relax, and countdown the days until kickoff!