OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: Sneaking up onto training camp

[Peat]

I'll be happy to be wrong with stats, but my eye test/sense is he's getting pressure and he's managed to escape most of it with his legs.

Pressure stats are weird and vary wildly, but what I've seen is that Fields had a pretty clean day vs Atlanta - I think the OL had four total pressures - and a rough one vs Denver where I think PFF are saying 12.

Although PFF also gave Daniels, who they say gave up 4 of them, a 90 grade so make sense of that as you will.

I don't think he did a great job at escaping pressure vs Atlanta, but Denver was different.

edit: ESPN's grades for the season has the pass block plummeting from 4th to 20th so I'm guessing the OL didn't do great. Which looked right. Maybe I'll give him a break for not getting things moving in the 2nd half.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

This week is why you pay Watt and Highsmith the big bucks. Take these young tackles to school gentlemen.

 

[TimmyD]

This week is why you pay Watt and Highsmith the big bucks. Take these young tackles to school gentlemen.

What happens if those young tackles hold them relatively in check though?

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

What happens if those young tackles hold them relatively in check though?

Idk?

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Idk?

Start sending Chad Brown and Levon Kirkland on delayed blitzes? Have Mike Hilton pressure from the outside?

 

[MrBrightside]

I bet no other team in the NFL has 4 TE on the 53-man roster, let alone the 5 the Steelers now have.

 

[Goalie_Bob]

I bet no other team in the NFL has 4 TE on the 53-man roster, let alone the 5 the Steelers now have.

Chargers have 4. I didn't check anybody else.

And Connor Heyward really doesn't count, he is an H-back.

 

[Andy99]

I bet no other team in the NFL has 4 TE on the 53-man roster, let alone the 5 the Steelers now have.

Isn’t Pruitt injured?

 

[Peat]

Isn’t Pruitt injured?

Correct

 

[MrBrightside]

Isn’t Pruitt injured?

Yes, but he's not on IR. My only point was they now have 5 TE on the 53-man roster. Most teams have 2 or 3.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Tomlin thinking about dusting off the Woody Hayes playbook. Only 3 things can happen when you pass and 2 of them are bad.

 

[MrBrightside]

Sunday is going to be the sloggiest slog.

Also, there's this on Frazier:

 

[JTG]

People need to chill with the "dumping pending free agents for asset" discussions. The Steelers aren't the Pirates. Whether the fans believe they are or aren't, they think they are a playoff team and they are playing to win in 2024. They are not going to trade a starting OL for a mid-round pick next year just because he's going to be a free agent.

No one said a mid-round pick. 3rd or better you have to listen from a desperate team.

Khan has made trades, especially with linemen. Daniels is grading out too highly though so I'd expect them to just roll with the depth.

I think McCormick easily beats out Anderson next year and Anderson takes over for Seumalu after his contract is up. At any rate, the line is awesome.

 

[Goalie_Bob]

Yes, but he's not on IR. My only point was they now have 5 TE on the 53-man roster. Most teams have 2 or 3.

I bet every team has 3 and Heyward doesn't count.

Being upset because the Steelers have 3 TE on the roster is something else.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

No one said a mid-round pick. 3rd or better you have to listen from a desperate team.

Khan has made trades, especially with linemen. Daniels is grading out too highly though so I'd expect them to just roll with the depth.

I think McCormick easily beats out Anderson next year and Anderson takes over for Seumalu after his contract is up. At any rate, the line is awesome.

Having options/depth where decisions can get made from a place of strength instead of just trying to avoid disaster is a neat thing.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

No one said a mid-round pick. 3rd or better you have to listen from a desperate team.

Khan has made trades, especially with linemen. Daniels is grading out too highly though so I'd expect them to just roll with the depth.

I think McCormick easily beats out Anderson next year and Anderson takes over for Seumalu after his contract is up. At any rate, the line is awesome.

Especially when you are hoping they trade for a wr 2. If you trade an excess o lineman you’re not gonna to pay for a wr that’s what the did with DJ

 

[WickedWrister]

Yeah I'm a bit hesitant to crown the OL so soon... as @Peat mentioned they did give up 12 pressures and received the 3rd lowest grade among OL in week 2 per PFF. Throw in 4 penalties (3 to BJ, 1 to Moore) and it was a pretty rough day, at least from a pass pro perspective. I think they have the potential to be a good unit by the end of the season, but there's going to be ups and downs with a young OL and this was one of the down weeks. Fautanu vs Joey Bosa should be a good test.

 

[Ryder71]

The Chargers played Carolina, their numbers will undoubtedly look better as a result. Not that we played world beaters but again context is important. Half the Chargers sample size is against the worst team and arguably worst run team in the NFL.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

National coverage on the Steelers O:

But this offense really isn’t doing anything well. The Steelers rank 29th in offensive success rate. Their success rate is actually significantly worse through two games than it was last season, when Kenny Pickett was their quarterback. They are also worse than last season in EPA per drive. The Justin Fields experience has been completely different from what anyone expected. Coming into the season, I thought the run game had some upside with him and new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. But the Steelers rank 31st in success rate on early-down runs so far. And the explosive plays have been hard to come by. Pittsburgh has three plays of 20-plus yards, which is tied for 28th.

NFL Week 2 Under Review: The Surprising Saints and Nick Sirianni’s Big Blunder

Breaking down the six biggest takeaways from Week 2

www.theringer.com

 

[T1K]

National coverage on the Steelers O:

NFL Week 2 Under Review: The Surprising Saints and Nick Sirianni’s Big Blunder

Breaking down the six biggest takeaways from Week 2

www.theringer.com

https://x.com/i/web/status/1835864966911422633

The Ringer is garbage

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1835864966911422633

The Ringer is garbage

I think there’s been some good things, and some of them are reflected there. But those numbers are pretty high level and ignore the rest of the league. What I quoted is just a collection of statistics on where the offense stands relative to the rest of the NFL in a few categories. It’s not really the subjective part of the column.

 

[Peat]

People are gonna mention the penalties with regards to what CLC said but here's the thing for me -

This team isn't looking at those plays and going "damn, we can really cook people doing this, let's try and set this up again soon".

They're going "okay, don't panic, just make sure we get 3".

The big explosive plays are only really coming out of the bag when they've run out of options too. That huge throw to Pickens vs the Falcons? Had to throw it if you wanted a FG. That huge throw to Pickens vs the Broncos that gets called back? 3rd and 18.

There's very little appetite for trying to set up one of those big throws on 1st down, which would also maybe be the tendency buster that allows the team to start getting run success on those early downs.

This is all stuff that goes back years so I'm not going to blame Smith and Fields. This is the Pittsburgh Steelers' preferred identity as of the moment. Maybe this'll finally be the year that the offence wins Tomlin's trust and gets told to act like a normal offence all the time but I'm not holding my breath.


edit: p.s. The Ringer is talking about where this season's Steelers stand against the entirety of last season's Steelers, not the first two games. Two different kettle of fish But you can also completely ignore everything the quoted text says about this season's Steelers vs last year's Steelers and look solely at where this season's Steelers ranks vs the rest of the NFL this season and it's still tremendously ugly.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I think that article is partially correct but is also ignoring context of leaguewide offense being down. The yards/pass and yards/rush between the two years are extremely similar, with 2024 being a bit better than 2023. I think that combined with the leaguewide trends of offense being down suggests the Steelers offense is a bit better, and I don't think that article is representing that.

That being said, the offense still has major issues with both the running game and passing game. 3.6 yards per carry is flat out unacceptable for a team that needs to be run-heavy, and that doesn't even touch on the graveyard of WR talent this team has beyond Pickens. There still needs to be clear improvements.

 

[Peat]

Apropos of nothing, reading the full article finds this gem of a stat -

"As I wrote back in August, on average over the past 10 seasons, rookie quarterbacks have performed like the 26th-best starter in the NFL."

Which is at once startling and not surprising at all.

I think that article is partially correct but is also ignoring context of leaguewide offense being down. The yards/pass and yards/rush between the two years are extremely similar, with 2024 being a bit better than 2023. I think that combined with the leaguewide trends of offense being down suggests the Steelers offense is a bit better, and I don't think that article is representing that.

That being said, the offense still has major issues with both the running game and passing game. 3.6 yards per carry is flat out unacceptable for a team that needs to be run-heavy, and that doesn't even touch on the graveyard of WR talent this team has beyond Pickens. There still needs to be clear improvements.

Tbf, I think that if you subtract all the runs done on "given up on this drive, lets just take a FG" downs, the yards per carry rises sharply.

Still probably not where it could or should be though. But there we go. This team is more interested in grinding defences down and not allowing other teams to score than they are explosive plays.

 

[JTG]

Yeah I'm a bit hesitant to crown the OL so soon... as @Peat mentioned they did give up 12 pressures and received the 3rd lowest grade among OL in week 2 per PFF. Throw in 4 penalties (3 to BJ, 1 to Moore) and it was a pretty rough day, at least from a pass pro perspective. I think they have the potential to be a good unit by the end of the season, but there's going to be ups and downs with a young OL and this was one of the down weeks. Fautanu vs Joey Bosa should be a good test.

Do you believe, despite the mistakes (mainly Jones shitting the bed), that this line is markedly better than last year?

Only difference thus far being 3 rookies added to the lot and a new offensive scheme. Cuz I do...by a wide margin. I don't care if they give up 7 sacks, the difference to me is they are still moving the needle in other ways. Frazier in the run game...sight for sore eyes. Mistakes will come, but wow is this night and day difference. If Jones isn't so bad thus far, this line would grade out markedly better.

National coverage on the Steelers O:

NFL Week 2 Under Review: The Surprising Saints and Nick Sirianni’s Big Blunder

Breaking down the six biggest takeaways from Week 2

www.theringer.com

I get the stats, but I don't see the offense as inept. It's coming together. They have had what seems like an inordinate amount of splash plays called back for penalty. Again as I have said above, this offense looks like when it comes together it could work. Without a WR2 will it go the distance? Not so sure.

It was a funny article I posted a few weeks ago...but maybe they should contact the Panthers for DJ?