Home Quick Hitters SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The “Weak and Strong” Edition

SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The “Weak and Strong” Edition

by Steeldad
Pierre of the Steelers. steelcityblitz.com

Good Monday to you Steelers fans. 

In the salary cap era, all teams around the league have strengths and they have weaknesses. The Pittsburgh Steelers are no different. They appear to have great strength along their defensive line and in their wide receiving corps. As for the weaknesses, we would point to the offensive line and cornerback position. All four of these areas could be weakened by just one injury or all four could be strengthened by an addition or “rising out of nowhere” player. Football is a cruel game. If you’ve been around long enough you know this. It can give and it can take, sometimes within seconds and sometimes at the same time. The Steelers look solid right now three weeks into the preseason but what awaits them in Buffalo is a much different animal. Perceived strengths will be poked and prodded while weaknesses will be exposed. The ultimate question is, how well can your positives cover up for your negatives? This is ultimately a question every team faces week in and week out. Can Mike Tomlin get out of this team what he’s engineered in the past or is it just too much to ask of this group. With a week of preseason remaining before the big cutdown to 53-man roster is established, there is much to be done in Pittsburgh.

The QBs

My overall sense is that Mason Rudolph is the clear cut number two. Is it much closer than it was when Camp started? Yes I believe it has but there’s no question the team is more confident with Rudy than Dwayne Haskins and to me it comes down to turnovers. Who will take better care of the ball if tasked with the job? Haskins is more likely to make bigger plays but he’s also more apt to make a mistake too. Rudy has become a checkdown machine and that probably is a good thing with his lack of arm strength. Oh and one other thing. When you buy a ticket to a game, you are free to cheer or boo all you’d like but booing Rudolph? Knock that crap off.

Tweet of the Day… Claypool received his Joe Greene Rookie of the Year Award. Well done!

The Tackles

Zach Banner played 12 snap on Saturday night and he looked good. There was nothing flashy and there was nothing overly concerning either other than the low number of snaps. As we’ve stated, Banner is on a snap count in the preseason. Chuks Okorafor is in his fourth season and final year of his rookie contract. While I think he was serviceable at right tackle last year when Banner went down I’m lacking in confidence when it comes to him playing on the left side. On one play Saturday night where Ben Roethlisberger was forced to scramble and ultimately made a great throw to Eric Ebron who dropped the ball, Okorafor was beaten badly. It was a classic case of what he’s struggled with in terms of his lack of balance resulting in a pass rusher getting past him. Then there’s Dan Moore, the rookie from Texas A&M. He has progressed as rapidly as any guy I can remember from OTAs until now. Is he ready to take on the starting job should he be needed? I’m not ready to say just yet but confidence in both Okorafor and Banner right now is not high.

Watt Watch

Well… We are starting to get down to the nitty-gritty aren’t we? Look, I don’t blame T.J. Watt one damn bit. He absolutely deserves to be the highest paid guy at his position in the NFL. Any debate about this to me is futile. The stats are there as is the dedication, fan love etc, etc, etc… I believe the Steelers also know he deserves this as well. So what is the problem? Our sources tell us that most of the hang-up is over guaranteed money. How much will it be? How soon is it paid out? If you’re the Steelers you have a business to run and you’ve done so quite well for a long time so you can’t just back up the Brinks truck. Again, I’m hopeful this gets done before we get to Buffalo but I understand where both are coming from.

Our Stuff

If you’d like to get some of our stuff you can visit DC4L for tees and hoodies and hats too and RedBubble for decals, stickers and even masks!!

 

Have a great day Steeler Nation!

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