Much like your vehicle, the Pittsburgh Steelers and every other NFL team are in need of maintenance week to week but no visit to the mechanic is more crucial than the one between the first two games of the season. The Steelers loss to the Patriots is now as far away as the Civil War but there are things that need fixing.
None are easy and some won’t ever reach the level of repair they desperately need but that doesn’t mean you don’t give them attention.
What Can Be Fixed?
The first thing that will be addressed by the Steelers is communication. The lack of it is what caused the first of Rob Gronkowski’s three touchdowns. When you think about it, the problems of communication shouldn’t have been surprising. The secondary spent little time together throughout the preseason and it showed.
I have no doubt however that Steelers’ Defensive Coordinator Keith Butler and Steelers’ Head Coach Mike Tomlin will make sure that communication is improved and it will be. To what extent we will find out next Sunday.
What Can Be Made Better?
You’ll probably laugh but the tackling can get better. It won’t be perfect and it will never re-gain the form it should but it can improve to a state that’s a lot better than we saw in New England.
It’s not just the act of hitting and wrapping up a ball carrier, it’s also about good pursuit angles and anticipating where ball carriers are going. How many times did we see Ryan Shazier or Mike Mitchell over-pursue last week? How many times did we see someone make a hit only to forget to wrap up?
This can and will get better but it won’t be perfect in any way, shape or form.
The other item that can be made better is the red zone offense. It will never be as good as it should be in my opinion but it should and better improve. We were told throughout the offseason that it was a major point of emphasis for Todd Haley and to be honest, I didn’t see anything that makes me hopeful for next week.
But… I’ll remain patient and at the same time hope I don’t see Haley take the ball out of the hands of Ben Roethlisberger any time soon.
What is a Lost Cause?
Covering receivers is like that oil leak that your mechanic just can’t seem to find. It’s affecting the performance of the vehicle to the point where you just admit you can’t afford to fix it and the mechanic really doesn’t want to spend any more time on it.
The Steelers went into the 2015 offseason knowing they needed to get more pressure on the quarterback and that they had to find guys who had could cover when the pressure wasn’t there. They addressed both issues in the draft but that hasn’t worked out very well.
Brice McCain is now starting at cornerback in Miami as he left through free agency and the two corners selected in the draft are on IR (Senquez Golson) and the practice squad (Doran Grant).
Is it fair to say that Antwon Blake, William Gay and Cortez Allen aren’t going to go against Gronkowski, Tom Brady and Julian Edelman each week? Yes, it is, but it isn’t like the next 15 opponents are playing for a division III college.
The Steelers couldn’t consistently pressure Brady and the secondary couldn’t cover anyone either. That’s not a good sign and I don’t see it getting better regardless of who the mechanic is.
The Steelers would do well to make a trip to their mechanic this week. Complete fixes are unlikely but the overall performance can be improved significantly.
