Steelers vs. Panthers: What Are Experts Saying About Pittsburgh?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in prime time for the second straight week as they visit the Carolina Panthers for Sunday Night Football. The Steelers will look to get back on track after scoring just nine points over the past six quarters of action.

While it is early in the season, the 1-1 Steelers are in a rut following their dominant opening 30 minutes to the 2014 season. Writers from around the league have taken note of the Steelers' struggles and began to highlight them this week.

Whether it is a defense that struggles or an offense that continues to make mistakes, negative storylines have dominated the news surrounding the Steelers as they enter Week 3. However, headlines do not play on Sundays, and Mike Tomlin will look to have his team focused as it tries to bounce back from a tough loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

As the Steelers enter a big road matchup in front of a national audience, here is what the experts are saying about the state of the team.

Ron Cook: More Negatives Than Positives

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The bright spots have been limited so far for the Steelers. Whether it is star players not playing to their potential or a lack of an impact from the free-agent signings, the opening two weeks have not inspired confidence in Pittsburgh. Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette highlighted why there are more negatives than positives:

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I know, it's early. It's only two games. It would be foolish to pass premature judgment. Things can change quickly in the NFL. Teams can be lousy one week, great the next. We saw it last season with the Steelers, who started 0-4 and 2-6 but were a pretty good team by the end of the season when they finished 8-8. I'm not going to write off this season with 14 games left. I'm not even ready to back off my prediction of a 10-6 or 11-5 record and an AFC North title, although that did seem pretty ridiculous Thursday night when the Baltimore Ravens embarrassed the Steelers in every phase of the game in a 26-6 beating. The game next Sunday night at Carolina will be rough and there will be panic in the streets if the Steelers lose. But the schedule lightens after that. Don't give up just yet.

But that doesn't mean the start of the season hasn't been disappointing. The Steelers were lucky to beat the lousy Cleveland Browns in the opener on a last-second field goal after leading, 27-3, at halftime. They were lucky in Baltimore that they weren't beaten by six touchdowns.

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Cook perfectly summed up the state of the Steelers. Outside of a small handful of players, a vast majority of the team has underperformed. From the front office and coaching staff to the players on the roster, the Steelers have not been good enough to compete with the best the NFL has to offer.

Fortunately, the Steelers do have plenty of time to turn things around. As Cook points out, they have only played two games, and you cannot rush to judgment. Not even a full game into the season and the Steelers had an elite offense and an above-average defense—at least that was the thought when they were ahead of the Cleveland Browns by 24 points at the half.

However, Cook’s concerns are legitimate. The front office took an active approach to free agency this offseason, and the coaching staff was committed to avoiding another slow start to the season. No matter the result on Sunday night, the opening two weeks were underwhelming, and the Steelers must turn it around once they hit Week 4 and the “easy” portion of their schedule.

Scott Brown: Run Defense Struggles

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Not long ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers had the most dominating defense in the NFL. Now they have one of the worst, as illustrated by Scott Brown of ESPN.com:

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The Steelers yielded a team-record 62.8 rushing yards per game in 2010, and they allowed just one 100-yard rusher in 50 games during a span that stretched from 2007-10. 

The run defense sprung leaks in 2013 when the Steelers yielded 115.6 rushing yards per game. And the defense is again searching for answers after giving up 170 rushing yards per game through the first two weeks of this season.

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Only three other teams have been worse than the Steelers when it comes to stopping the run. 

Let those numbers sink in for a second. The defense allowed an average of 62.8 yards per game in 2010 and 170 yards per game in 2014—simply mind-blowing. Pittsburgh’s base defense is predicated on stopping the run, and now it allows nearly 110 yards per game more than it did just four years ago.  

Anyone who watches this defense would never believe that it is coached by Dick LeBeau. Once known for being one of the most physical and fundamentally sound units in the league, the defense is now plagued with a lack of discipline.

Defenders lack the proper technique to succeed. They do not maintain their gap-integrity. They miss too many tackles. Until these problems are fixed, they will be shredded on a weekly basis.

There may be no better time to turn the run defense around than this week. Carolina’s 175 rushing yards ranks 25th, and it only averages 3.1 yards per carry. Those numbers fall well below the 348 yards and 5.0 yards per carry that Pittsburgh’s defense allows.

As long as opponents continue to run on the Steelers, the defense will struggle and allow them to light up the scoreboard. It will take a collective effort from the entire defensive unit to improve Pittsburgh's performance against the run, but it will be a process, and you should not expect immediate results.

Mark Kaboly: Shotgun Working for Offense

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Although it may seem like there is nothing but doom and gloom coming out of Pittsburgh, there are several positives. One of these areas is how the offense has performed from the shotgun formation, per Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

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Haley has used the shotgun on 60 percent of the Steelers plays through two games – down 16 percent from last year. Only the Eagles, Jets and Dolphins have run out of the shotgun more this year.

It’s been successful for the Steelers.

Nearly 85 percent of their total yards have come when Ben Roethlisberger has been in the shotgun. Le’Veon Bell has rushed for 113 of his 168 yards while in the shotgun.

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As the offense continues to evolve, running a high percentage of plays from the shotgun formation is the next step of the development. Ben Roethlisberger is very comfortable from this formation, and it is surprising that it took this long for Haley to make the switch.

Roethlisberger earned a 17.2 grade from Pro Football Focus when working out of the shotgun in 2013. That ranked him sixth in the league. By comparison, he graded at minus-6.8 when working under center, which was fifth-worst.

In addition to Roethlisberger’s performance, Bell has looked terrific when working from the shotgun. With a varied approach from the formation, he has time to pick his holes in the running game and find open space as a receiver, as I highlighted earlier this week.

Even with the bulk of the offense run from the shotgun, Haley can continue to focus his offensive philosophy. The Steelers move the ball when working from the no-huddle offense, and this should be the next area to see an increase in plays if they want to develop into one of the more dynamic units in the league.

Mike Prisuta: Expect Mixed Results from Marcus Gilbert

Nick Wass/Associated Press

Marcus Gilbert received a six-year contract this offseason, but his performance has not matched his pay. He has struggled in pass protection through two games, and Mike Prisuta of Steelers.com believes that Gilbert will have another tough test on Sunday:

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Chances are Gilbert will need to deliver his share of blows as well as absorb them on Sunday night at Carolina.

The Panthers’ defensive line was a handful for the Lions last Sunday, even with Pro Bowl defensive end Greg Hardy held out of the lineup due to off-the-field issues. Carolina sacked Detroit’s Matthew Stafford four times in a 24-7 victory.

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I’m not sure if Gilbert has delivered too many blows this season, but he has been on the receiving end of too many of them. Not always willing to criticize players, even Mike Tomlin called him out:

“You play 60-plus snaps, you give up two sacks it’s a bad game,” Tomlin said via Prisuta. “That’s the nature of our business and I’m sure as a tackle that’s a challenge that he embraces. I’m not concerned about Marcus and his ability to rebound from that, his mentality in regards to that rebound. I expect him to come back fighting like Rocky.”

Gilbert may have the ability, but we have not seen much of it this season. Instead, it was an embarrassing sack he allowed against Elvis Dumervil that stands out.

Prisuta sums it up very well: “Sacks aren’t normally a laughing matter, but one of those extracted from Ben Roethlisberger by the Ravens’ Elvis Dumervil at Marcus Gilbert’s expense in Baltimore was almost comical, to at least one of those directly involved.”

Through two games, Gilbert has allowed four sacks and was called for one penalty, per The Washington Post. It will not get any easier this week as he faces a Panthers defense that sacked Matthew Stafford four times last week.

Cris Collinsworth: Le’Veon Bell Will Be a Superstar

Anytime someone compares you to Barry Sanders, you must be doing something right. Le’Veon Bell may not be the same type of back Sanders was, but Cris Collinsworth told Bleacher Report’s Chris Simms that he notices a similar trait between the two running backs:

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Now Le’Veon Bell is one of the most exciting backs that you’ll see in the league. This is a guy, sorta, that has the patience of a Barry Sanders. You will see him take his time, really wait for these blocks, sometimes even take a step back, but he creates some big plays out of it and he’s gonna be a superstar in this league.

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No one will confuse Bell with Sanders, but Collinsworth's assessment regarding Bell’s patience is spot-on. By picking his spots, he has developed into one of the most dangerous running backs in the league this year and should only get better as the season progresses.

Bell came into camp in the best shape of his young career, and I was able to observe how much quicker he was out of the backfield. He has put this new speed on display during the regular season where he has established himself as the best offensive player for the Steelers through the first two weeks.

Against the Panthers, the Steelers will need to put the ball in Bell’s hands upward of 25 times—both in the running and passing games—to maximize their chance of winning. He is a dual running and receiving threat who now has big-play ability and will help the offense dictate the tempo in what figures to be a hostile environment in Charlotte.

Note: Unless otherwise noted all stats are courtesy of ESPN.com, and all roster information is courtesy of Steelers.com.  

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