Pittsburgh Steelers: Team Awards Through Week 5

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 2-2 through five weeks and are getting ready to take on the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football.

Although it is still early in the season, we can at least grade how the team has played through four games.

Read on to see who the winners are at this juncture of the season.

Needs Improvement

Todd Haley/Dick LeBeau

I figured I’d get the only negative slide out of the way with two guys the Steelers really need improvement from for the rest of the season.

Both Todd Haley and Dick LeBeau have been very inconsistent this season, leading to the 2-2 record that the Steelers have right now.

Todd Haley’s play-calling has been all over the place, and the defense has already given up over 30 points twice in four games.

If the Steelers are going to keep winning games going forward, they are going to need the coaches to do their part for the team.

Best Rookie

Drew Butler

With the draft that the Steelers had back in April, it’s probably a little disappointing that the best rookie on the team so far wasn’t even drafted.

The Steelers had 10 rookies make the roster this season, with Sean Spence being lost for the season and David DeCastro still working his way back.

Drew Butler won the starting punter job when Jeremy Kapinos got hurt before camp, and he has been booming punts and pinning teams inside the 20.

Comeback Player

Heath Miller (Honorable Mention: Rashard Mendenhall)

I had to at least include Rashard Mendenhall in this slide after the performance he had against the Eagles in his first game back, but Heath Miller is my real comeback player.

Heath Miller had four touchdown catches in 2010 and 2011 combined, and now he has four touchdowns in four games in 2012.

You can say that he’s not really coming back from anything, but I think he qualifies after being pretty much invisible in the Steelers offense for a couple years.

Miller can be a great red-zone target, and I hope he continues to be a big part of the offense going forward for the Steelers.

Special Teams Player

Shaun Suisham

Shaun Suisham has been much maligned by most Steelers fans, and rightly so, because of his tendency to be inconsistent.

This season, however, Suisham has not missed any of his eight field-goal attempts, including the game-winning kick against the Eagles in Week 5.

Let’s hope he doesn’t all of a sudden remember he has a career kicking percentage of about 80 percent.

Defensive Player

Ryan Clark

After missing the Steelers' Week 1 loss to the Denver Broncos, Ryan Clark has done nothing but hit everyone on the opposing offense.

Clark also has the defense’s only interception on the season, and he forced the Michael Vick fumble on the goal line in Week 5.

Ryan Clark’s name always gets lost when talking about the Steelers defense when, in fact, he has been one of the most durable and productive players since joining the team in 2006.

MVP and Offensive Player

Ben Roethlisberger

Ben Roethlisberger gets both the Offensive Player and MVP award for basically carrying the entire team on his back.

Other than against the Eagles, the Steelers have been one of the worst teams in the NFL rushing the ball, which has left Roethlisberger in a high number of 3rd-and-longs to start the season.

He has had his off moments like every player in the NFL; however, he has a quarterback rating over 100, is completing over 65 percent of his passes and only has one interception at this point.

With Roethlisberger on the field, the Steelers are never out of a game, and now with some kind of rushing attack, he should be even more lethal.