Pittsburgh Steelers Week 2 Stock Report

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the process of moving on from their Week 1 loss to the New England Patriots by preparing for their home opener in Week 2 against the San Francisco 49ers. The goal is to achieve a win this time around.

But not every player on the Steelers roster is an asset when it comes to trying to reach that win.

Here are the players whose stocks are on the rise and those who are on the decline after Week 1.

Stock Down: ILB Lawrence Timmons

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Steelers' inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons has long been one of the team's stalwarts in coverage, working the middle of the field to assist the safeties as well as the cornerbacks.

But with the defensive shift to a Cover-2 system and Timmons battling through a summertime bout of turf toe, his skills have taken a step backward.

According to Pro Football Focus, Timmons gave up three catches on four targets in his direction against the Patriots in Week 1, for 32 yards, 22 yards after the catch and one touchdown. But it's also the plays he didn't get in position to make that were also a problem.

Timmons was often the slow or out-of-position linebacker on the plays in which Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was left wide open or in easily beatable single coverage.

Stock Up: RB DeAngelo Williams

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If there were any questions about running back DeAngelo Williams' ability to step in as starter while Le'Veon Bell serves his two-game suspension, they've all but evaporated after his performance in Week 1 against the Patriots.

Of the Steelers' 25 total carries last week for 134 rushing yards, 21 of those run attempts and 127 of those yards belonged to Williams. He averaged six yards per carry, and though he didn't score a touchdown, he kept numerous Steelers' offensive drives alive.

The Patriots don't have a weak front seven, nor do the San Francisco 49ers, whom the Steelers face on Sunday. But based on how Williams handled himself in Week 1, he should again have a strong showing in Pittsburgh's home opener.

Stock Down: K Josh Scobee

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Josh Scobee is the third Steelers kicker in just about a month. First, incumbent Shaun Suisham suffered a season-ending knee injury in the team's first preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Then, in late August, his replacement Garrett Hartley suffered a season-ending hamstring injury. That led the team to trade a late-round draft pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for the services of Josh Scobee.

The early returns on Scobee aren't great. He missed two first-half field goals against the Patriots before going on to make two more in the second half of the game. Though those six points would have meant the Steelers lost by one point rather than seven, there's no excuse for a veteran kicker to miss what should have been routine field-goal attempts. 

The Steelers need to finish drives with points this year, whether three or seven, in order to remain competitive given the weakness of their defense. Scobee's misses clearly do nothing to assist in that area. He will at least have one more chance at redemption against the Niners on Sunday.

Stock Up: OLB Bud Dupree

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It wasn't a flawless regular-season debut for rookie Steelers outside linebacker Bud Dupree. He gave up a 52-yard completion to Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, for one.

But his stock is on the rise for two reasons: One, he recorded a sack of Tom Brady last week, proving that he can be a positive force in his team's pass rush; and two, his 26 snaps played were second only to James Harrison among the Steelers' outside linebackers.

Both of these are signs that Dupree is catching on to the defensive concepts quickly and that the Steelers trust him to make significant contributions early in his career.

It will be interesting to see how much playing time he gets on Sunday against San Francisco and what he does with it.

Stock Down: DC Keith Butler/HC Mike Tomlin

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With longtime Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau now with the Tennessee Titans, the job now belongs to former Pittsburgh linebackers coach Keith Butler. But the defense isn't his alone—head coach Mike Tomlin is also heavily involved in the crafting of the Steelers' new-look defense, as evidenced by the switch to a Cover-2 coverage scheme.

Cover-2 is outdated in today's NFL but it can work with the correct personnel running it. Unfortunately for Tomlin, Butler and the Steelers, they have yet to identify who those players are. And when a scheme like Cover-2 fails, it fails in a big way, as it did against the Patriots in Week 1.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said to NBC NFL analyst Cris Collinsworth (h/t CoachingSearch.com) that "Nobody plays Cover-2 against us because they can't cover Gronkowski." But yet, that's what the Steelers did and the results were disastrous—Gronkowski caught five of the eight passes thrown his way for 94 yards and three scores and 46 yards after the catch.

In coverage on those plays? Backup safety Robert Golden, outside linebacker Bud Dupree, safety Will Allen and backup linebacker Terence Garvin. Two other times, he was left completely wide open and uncovered.

Other missteps included allowing 11 of 12 passes thrown to Patriots receiver Julian Edelman to be caught—again because of complete lapses in coverage—leading to Edelman earning 97 yards and 38 yards after the catch.

All told, the Steelers gave up 25 completions on 31 Tom Brady pass attempts, for 288 yards, 136 yards after the catch and four touchdowns.

It's just one week in, but the Cover-2 experiment already looks like a failure. And, ultimately, it is Butler and Tomlin who are to blame the most.