SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The ‘Stacking Possibilities’ Edition

Good Tuesday to you Steelers fans.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have won two straight and now return home for a three-game home stand. The first of these games will be a tough one. Jacksonville is playing well and stands at 5-2 while the latter two games are against Tennessee and Green Bay. The Titans traded away one of their best players in Kevin Byard yesterday (for former Steeler Terrell Edmunds) and seem determined to start their rebuild. The Packers have been competitive but they’re struggling with Jordan Love at QB. That takes us back to the Jaguars. Few teams have had our number the way the Jags have especially in Pittsburgh. But if the Steelers can manage to slip away with a victory then they could very easily be sitting at 7-2 with divisional battles against Cincinnati and Cleveland to follow. I’m not normally one to get ahead of myself but it’s hard not to consider that this team, as many struggles as it has, could be in a great position by stacking some wins.

Snap Count Thoughts

Najee Harris (34) and Jaylen Warren (27) continued on a very similar path in week seven. Harris has consistently had about 5-10 more snaps per game than has Warren. Take that however you’d like to… Connor Heyward was on the field for 51 of 59 possible snaps. Darnell Washington had just 31 snaps. With no Pat Freiermuth it’s not surprising Heyward got more snaps but that seems like a lot. Something tells me the tape will demonstrate how well/poorly he blocked on the edge… Markus Golden (14) and Nick Herbig (12) continue to get some opportunities in reserve. Herbig collected his first career sack. I would suggest the Steelers would like to reduce T.J. Watt’s snaps a bit more as the season goes on… Keeanu Benton had just 19 snaps compared to 49 for Larry Ogunjobi, 46 for Montravius Adams, 23 for DeMarvin Leal and 17 for Armon Watts. Based on what I’ve seen from Benton, that number has to increase.

Tackle Dilemma

While it didn’t sit well with many fans, Dan Moore returned to his left tackle spot following the BYE week. He gave way to Broderick Jones against Baltimore due to an injury and the rookie played well. On Sunday in LA, Moore rewarded his coaches with a really good performance. While playing right tackle isn’t the same as playing left, it sure seems to me that the Steelers could boost their O-Line performance by moving Moore to right tackle. At this point, Chuks Okorafor is what he is and I think Moore would be an upgrade. Otherwise, we have a first round rookie who the Steelers traded up to get collecting dust on the sidelines.

Kenny vs Kenny

It has become crystal clear that Kenny Pickett has some serious ‘clutch’ when it comes to late game heroics. He already has five fourth quarter comebacks and four game-winning drives to his credit which are more than many QBs who’ve been around for awhile. This leads many to ask the question, “Where is this Kenny Pickett during the first three quarters?” It’s a fair question to ask and quite frankly it has myriad answers, some are more correct than others I suppose. One reason you can throw out the window is that “defenses are playing prevent.” NFL defenses don’t play ‘prevent’ when they’re leading by two scores let alone one so that doesn’t fly. I think some of it has to do with familiarity and confidence too. Hopefully this can translate into earlier portions of the game.