What Pittsburgh Steelers Must Improve Coming out of Week 12 Bye
The Pittsburgh Steelers enter the Week 12 bye on a relative hot streak. Winning four of the past five games, Mike Tomlin’s team sits in sixth place in the AFC and is in position to control its own destiny in the race for the AFC North division crown.
With two games remaining against the first-place Cincinnati Bengals, the 7-4 Steelers can take a giant step forward to winning the division by sweeping the series. However, they must improve in several areas if they want to achieve this goal.
Tomlin and his coaching staff had the Steelers as one of the hottest teams in the league when they were on a three-game home winning streak after a 3-3 start to the season. Pittsburgh outscored its opponents 124 to 80 during this time, and Ben Roethlisberger tossed 14 touchdown passes.
Since then, the Steelers have struggled against two of the league’s worst teams—the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans—as some weaknesses were exposed.
The Steelers must use the bye week to identify and correct these weaknesses if they are going to make a run at the postseason. As Tomlin said in a postgame press conference, it is an opportunity to “get back to the lab” and put forth the effort necessary to improve coming out of the bye week.
Here is a look at the areas that the Steelers must improve coming out of the bye, from least important to most important to their success.
Find a Backup Running Back
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Running back was one of the deepest areas on the Steelers' roster with Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount at the top of the depth chart.
Blount was arguably Kevin Colbert’s most productive free-agent signing from the offseason. He had 266 and two touchdowns as the primary backup to Bell. However, those days are officially over, as the Steelers released him on Tuesday.
“We believe the decision to release LeGarrette is in the best interest of the organization and wish him the best of luck,” Tomlin said via the official press release from the team.
Dri Archer is one of the contenders for the job but only has eight carries for 41 yards in a very limited role this year. Another potential contender is Josh Harris, who was promoted from the practice squad, according to the team.
Whether it is Archer or Harris, the Steelers do not need much from their backup running back. Blount only averaged 5.9 carries per game and often took on the role as the short-yardage back. The new backup will not have to play in a specific role but rather spell Bell every so often.
The Steelers do not want to overwork Bell over the final quarter of the season and will need someone to share some of the carries. He currently ranks third in the NFL with 195 carries and second in the league with 951 rushing yards.
Despite the high rankings, Todd Haley has done a fine job of managing Bell’s carries throughout the season. He averages 17.7 carries per game and only has four games with 20 carries or more.
Haley needs to continue to manage Bell and mix in a combination of Archer and Harris—or a potential free-agent running back—for five or six carries per game. As long as he does this, Bell will remain fresh for the rest of the year and continue to be a vital part of the offense.
Improve Pass Protection
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With a clean pocket to work from, Ben Roethlisberger can perform with the top quarterbacks in the league. He demonstrated this against the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts when he threw for 862 yards and 12 touchdowns while completing 75.5 percent of his passes.
However, the New York Jets did a good job pressuring Roethlisberger, and the Tennessee Titans followed it up with a five-sack performance. While he completed over 65 percent of his passes in each game, he wasn’t as sharp as he was the previous two weeks.
Despite being under pressure, Roethlisberger is terrific after contact. As seen on the ESPN broadcast of Monday Night Football, he has completed 80 percent of his passes with a passer rating of 158.0. By comparison, the league average is 43 percent.
Though those stats look terrific, they do not include plays in which he is pressured. Roethlisberger is not immune to being rattled, and this gets him off his game. The result is poor accuracy and badly thrown interceptions. For instance, against Tennessee, he appeared to feel the pressure when he forced a poorly thrown pass to an open Antonio Brown in the end zone, which was intercepted.
Even with poor play from the offensive line, the Steelers will win games. It is how they have played the game over the past six or seven seasons. However, the only way to maximize the production—and consistency—from the offense is to protect the quarterback.
Mike Munchak will put in the work to get his offensive line prepared for the final five games. Unlike some of the opponents in recent weeks, the Steelers will not have to worry about a dominant pass rush. The Kansas City Chiefs are their only remaining opponent who ranks above 17th in the league in sacks.
Pressure the Quarterback
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Give any quarterback time, and he will look like an All-Pro. Just ask Zach Mettenberger, who completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 263 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Alright, so maybe he didn’t play at an All-Pro level, but Mettenberger performed very well in only the third start of his career. One of the reasons he was so successful was the time that he had to throw.
Pittsburgh’s defense has 20 sacks on the season, which is tied for 20th in the league. Besides the lack of sacks, the Steelers are simply not generating enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks. With a secondary that has William Gay, Brice McCain, Mike Mitchell and Will Allen in the starting lineup, the pass defense will suffer.
Quarterbacks are able to attack the Steelers down the field with relative ease. Mettenberger connected on an 80-yard touchdown pass last week, and this was the continuation of a trend that the Steelers have experienced in recent weeks in being susceptible to the deep ball.
Over the past five games, they have allowed at least one pass over 30 yards per game. Brian Hoyer (51 yards), Andrew Luck (30 yards), Joe Flacco (35 yards), Michael Vick (67 yards) all connected on long touchdown passes against Pittsburgh’s secondary.
To prevent against this problem, Dick LeBeau must continue to find ways to pressure the quarterback. The problem is the defensive personnel. James Harrison is arguably Pittsburgh's best pass-rusher, and he was signed off the street during the season.
The addition of Ryan Shazier and Jarvis Jones back into the lineup will help but won’t be the answer. A combination of scheme and improved performance of the current players will be the only way that they will be able to generate a pass rush and prevent against the big play in the passing game.
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Consistency from Secondary Receivers
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Ben Roethlisberger is not shy about spreading the ball around. He has connected with at least seven different receivers in eight of 11 games this season. This has not always translated into points and wins.
The Steelers are 5-3 in these games with 26.88 points per game—only a 1.5 points per game more than when he completes passes to six receivers or fewer. Part of this reason has been the consistency of the secondary receiving options.
Each week, opponents know that Roethlisberger will target Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. Brown (88 receptions) averages eight receptions per game, while Bell (57 receptions) averages just over five per game. Heath Miller (43 receptions) is the only other player on the roster with at least 40 receptions.
With limited options on the outside, defenses can focus their attention on Brown and the other top options. Although that has not limited him in the stat column, it has limited the Steelers and their production on offense.
Markus Wheaton has lost out on playing time to Martavis Bryant, as the two have been used almost equally on offense over the past five weeks, per Football Outsiders.
Wheaton was unable to lock down the No. 2 role after a slow start to the season. Too often he appears to be out of sync with Roethlisberger, which has led to many misfires between the two. Meanwhile, Bryant came on strong with six touchdowns in his first four games. However, he was slowed last week with only two receptions for 11 yards on five targets.
Bryant is still a role player with the offense and has a lot to learn about playing receiver at the NFL level. Wheaton is still learning on the job as well, leaving Lance Moore as a potential third option. He only has 11 receptions but does not make the same mental mistakes as the young receivers.
Pittsburgh’s top three receivers have caught 76.7 percent of their targets, while the next three receivers have combined to catch just 57.3 percent. The opportunities are there, but they must make the most of them. Until they do, the offense will continue to sputter.
Production on Opening Drives
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The coin toss should not be relevant when it comes to an NFL game. That is not the case for the Steelers. If they choose to kick, odds are they will be down a score to start the game. If they choose to receive, you can expect a punt.
Ian from The Steelers N’at blog had an interesting breakdown of the opening drives for the team. He stated that the Steelers entered their Week 11 game allowing scores on eight of 10 opening drives. By comparison, the offense has failed miserably:
"After yet another opening drive ended in a punt against the Jets, I decided to look up some of the stats. What I found isn't pretty. In the 10 games this season, the offense has punted on their opening drive six times, fumbled twice, scored one touchdown and kicked one field goal. Additionally, the Steelers have failed to get a first down on 4 opening drives - 3 of them being 3-and-outs and one fumble against Tampa.
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The Steelers moved in the right direction against the Titans last week. Their opening drive went for 37 yards on seven plays and resulted in a field goal. On Tennessee’s first play, Mettenberger threw an interception to William Gay, which was returned for a touchdown.
Rather than play from behind, the Steelers had an early 10-0. It was a drastic change from the 17-point deficit that they faced a week earlier against the Jets and a change that helped them come out of Tennessee with a victory.
Although Pittsburgh is equipped to play from behind, it is not something it wants to do on a weekly basis. An early deficit can force the offense out of its game plan and into a one-dimensional passing attack. From the defensive perspective, the Steelers no longer have a unit they can depend on for a big stop.
By playing with a lead, the Steelers can dictate the tempo of the game on both sides of the ball. As they showed last week, Bell is capable of closing out a game with a power-rushing attack.
More importantly, it puts them in a better position to win games, and with a goal of making the playoffs, the Steelers must finish strong. The only way for them to have a strong finish to the season is to have a strong start to their games.
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all stats are courtesy of ESPN.com, and all roster information is courtesy of Steelers.com.
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