SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The ‘Into Context’ Edition

Good Thursday to you Steelers fans.

Over the last few weeks the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense has slowly climbed up the ladder and once again finds itself in the top 10 of defensive units league-wide. When you consider that they’ve played four games without Minkah Fitpatrick and the entire first half of the season without Cam Heyward, that’s a pretty solid accomplishment. One thing that cannot be ignored however is the talent they’ve faced at quarterback and that’s where some context is needed. The Steelers’ seven wins have come against Deshaun Watson, Jimmy Garappolo, Matthew Stafford, Lamar Jackson, Will Levis, Jordan Love and Jake Browning. We have two guys who have started Super Bowls and a former league MVP. Nothing to sneeze at there but let’s be honest; Watson hasn’t been himself since he was in Houston and Levis, Love and Browning aren’t exactly a murderer’s row. Toss in the fact that the Ravens dropped eight passes including at least one TD and you have yourself a Steelers’ defense that hasn’t been challenged a ton by top QBs. Their four losses have come against Brock Purdy, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, C.J. Stroud and Trevor Lawrence. We’ve actually seen this movie before. Back in 2020 the Steelers started out 11-0 but many of those wins were close (like this year) and came against fairly average QBs. Then came the debacle at home against Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs.

The Podcast

Episode 346 of the SCB Steelers Podcast presented by DEK Roofing Inc airs LIVE tonight at 10pmET. We’ll discuss the offensive explosion, Kenny Pickett’s performance, the Diontae Johnson situation and a whole lot more as we head dow the stretch in 2023.

Injury Report (courtesy steelers.com)

Injury notes: The Wednesday Practice Report is always to be taken with a grain of salt as many players are given rest or extremely light loads on this day. Minkah Fitzpatrick being a ‘full participant’ is promising… Montravius Adams was also a full participant and his availability would add depth to the D-Line… Kenny Pickett’s ankle we’ve been told is essentially just ‘sore’and no big deal.

Missing in Action

Anyone have a clue as to what happened to DeMarvin Leal? He had some really promising moments last season and started out this year on a similar note. He played just three snaps on defense Sunday . The week prior in Cleveland he had just five snaps while the week before against the Green Bay Packers he saw just four snaps on defense. Interestingly enough, in the Thursday night win over Tennessee, he recorded 24 snaps. This was a bit odd as Cam Heyward was back which seems strange that Leal would have so many snaps. Anyway you look at this, it seems very odd and disappointing for a guy who was thought to be really coming on.