Coaches by nature are worriers. No matter how good or talented their teams are there’s always something that keeps them awake at night. NFL coaches are no different. Mike McCarthy might be living the dream as the head coach of his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers but there are definitely a few things giving him nightmares right now.
The Secondary
There’s little doubt that there is more talent on the back end of the defense than there was last year. The problem is that this collection of talent hasn’t spent much time together. Joey Porter, Jr’s contract issues have kept him out of team activities while Jalen Ramsey was only recently taken off the PUP list.
When it came to actual game action in the preseason, those guys weren’t around and neither was Jaquan Brisker. DeShon Elliott played in week two but now finds himself on Injured Reserve designated to return. While this gave several other guys chances during Camp and the preseason, the absences of these key players is troubling.
For years, we’ve had “communication issues” in the secondary and early on in Patrick Graham’s new defense we heard things were a lot better. With week one eight days out the Steelers are faced with getting guys who haven’t played much together on the same page. Sounds simple right? Trust me, it’s not.
The OL/Right Tackle
On paper, there is some decent stability with the offensive line group. If Dylan Cook starts then four of the five guys that finished 2025 will be starting once again. There is however a slight caveat here. Of those four, only Zach Frazier is in the same position. Troy Fautanu and Mason McCormick went from right to left and Cook has spent most of his preseason on the right. Spencer Anderson slides into right guard as the only new member of the unit.
Where things get a little more complicated is at right tackle. Should Cook remain the starter when Atlanta rolls in next week, then this leaves the team without a “swing tackle.” Cook can play either side while rookie Max Iheanachor is strictly a right tackle. Should something happen to Fautanu then Cook would have to flip over to the left. This sounds easy especially if you do this playing ‘Madden’ and it just magically works all the time! It’s not.
This has led to suggestions that Iheanachor may actually start week one but we shall see. The bottom line here is that this unit has to protect a 42-year old quarterback who doesn’t like anyone touching him. They also have to get the running game going too. Football is truly won in the trenches and the offense’s success will be determined by just how quickly these guys come together.
Rust
Mike McCarthy made the choice to keep a decent number of players out of preseason action. Aaron Rodgers, D.K. Metcalf, Michael Pittman, Jr, T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward saw zero action. This will affect some of these players differently than others. Rodgers and his receivers have no doubt thrown and caught hundreds and hundreds of balls over the last month. That’s great but all of that work doesn’t mean anything unless it translates during actual game time.
As fans, none of us should tolerate hearing anything about “rust” or “the timing wasn’t there” from these guys. While McCarthy is the coach and made the decision to keep them on the sidelines, let’s not pretend they weren’t happy about that. Most players hate the preseason and find little value in it. That’s fine but if this group plays poorly none of us want to hear excuses. In the opener last year, Rodgers threw four touchdown passes. Hopefully he does that again making this point entirely moot.
McCarthy has been a head coach in the NFL a long time and I’m sure he’s leaned heavily on that experience with the three concerns I’ve expressed. Winning takes care of a lot of problems while losing puts them under the microscope. In a little over a week we will find out exactly where things are.
