After Wednesday, I am officially done with the Pirates until next year. Blowing a seven-run lead in the last two innings of a ballgame is absolutely inexcusable, but is unfortunately representative of how the team has performed since the trade deadline. With that said, the NFL season begins on Thursday, so we will avert our gaze from the horrors of Bucco baseball and look ahead to what the Steelers’ season may yield (which, quite possibly, could also be horrid).
Looking back, last year’s 10-7 record seems almost impossible. The team was quarterbacked in all seventeen regular-season games by either Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, or Mitch Trubisky, none of whom are on the 2024-25 roster. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s play-calling was so inept that he was fired during the season, something that the Steelers’ organization typically never does. Did it help that half of the NFL’s starting quarterbacks were injured at some point during the season, including the Bengals losing Joe Burrow for both contests against Pittsburgh? Absolutely. However, it still is amazing that the team pulled ten wins out of its ass with the offense it trotted out there for an entire season.
Because of these deficiencies, the front office spent the majority of the offseason rebuilding that side of the ball. Pickett, Rudolph, and Trubisky were replaced by former Super Bowl champion (from a decade ago) Russell Wilson and former first-round pick (who never materialized in Chicago) Justin Fields. Wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who could rarely go a game without either throwing a fit or exhibiting a fundamental lack of effort, was traded to the Carolina Panthers, and management signed a smorgasbord of mediocre pass-catchers to try and fill the void, including Super Bowl LVI champion Van Jefferson and Super Bowl LV champion Scotty Miller. Center Mason Cole, whose inability to effectively snap the ball last year compromised countless possessions, was replaced by free-agent signing Nate Herbig and second-round draft pick Zach Frazier. Offensive tackle Chukwuma Okorafor was let go in favor of first-round selection Troy Fautanu. Matt Canada had been replaced by former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator and Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith.
The offense had been rebuilt…but would it be better?
In an earlier installment, I lamented the quarterback situation in which the organization finds itself. Mike Tomlin and the coaching staff have, in my opinion correctly, chosen Russell Wilson to be the starter. While he is not what he once was, Wilson is not a bum. If he throws for 3,000 yards this year (an average of just over 176 yards per game), he would join hall-of-famer Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to have 3,000+ passing yards in each of their first 13 seasons. If he throws for 16 touchdowns this season (just under one per game), he would join Manning, Drew Brees, and Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks to reach 350+ passing touchdowns in their first 13 seasons. These are not insignificant milestones. Wilson caught a lot of flak for the Broncos’ performances over the past two years, but he played better last year than the team’s record would suggest.
There are two main concerns that I have this season on the offensive side of the ball: the wide receiver position and the offensive line. After George Pickens, the receiving corps is, to put it bluntly, a collection of crap. The front office invested a lot of time and effort into potentially acquiring Brandon Aiyuk from the San Francisco 49ers, a highly-coveted asset that would have bolstered the Steelers’ offense significantly. However, after what seemed like months of back-and-forth, Aiyuk elected to re-sign in the Bay Area, leaving Pittsburgh at the altar with Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin III, Scotty Miller, and rookie third-round pick Roman Wilson to “complement” Pickens. Needless to say, Pickens will be double-teamed on almost every passing down, as the other receivers do not strike fear into the hearts of defensive coordinators in the way that someone like Aiyuk does.
It is highly likely that the Steelers will have to use their tight ends and once again lean heavily on the running game, which brings me to my second concern with the offense: the line. The regular season has not yet begun, and injuries have already begun to pile up. The aforementioned Nate Herbig, who was signed to replace Mason Cole, is out for the season, thrusting West Virginia rookie Zach Frazier into a starting role. First-round rookie Troy Fautanu, who is expected to slot in at right tackle, missed a lot of the preseason due to a leg injury of his own. While he should be ready for the beginning of the season, a rookie missing any extended period of time in the preseason is significant. To add even more complications to an already-ailing group, left guard Isaac Seumalo, who was very good last season, injured his pectoral muscle in practice, ruling him out for approximately four weeks. This means that either last year’s seventh-round pick Spencer Anderson or 2024 fourth-rounder Mason McCormick will be starting week one. To be frank, this front will be patchwork at best in the opening weeks of the season, and that does not even include whatever the hell is going on at left tackle with Dan Moore Jr. and last year’s first-round pick, Broderick Jones.
The personnel is quite different from last year, but the problems are, more or less, the same. It appears as though it will be up to the defense to carry the Steelers for large portions of the season. Hopefully, bringing in guys like Patrick Queen, DeShon Elliot, and Payton Wilson will help make it easier for T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick to do their jobs, but it would certainly be nice if the offense could pull some of their own weight for the first time in the post-Roethlisberger era.
P.S.A.: if you are impaired, get an Uber before you ruin someone’s life.