Top 8 Reasons to Be Excited About the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017
In 2016, the Pittsburgh Steelers were tops in the AFC North, with an 11-5 record. They were one game away from reaching the Super Bowl. And few things have changed for the worse for the Steelers over the course of the offseason. The immediate future seems bright for Pittsburgh's storied NFL team, and the kickoff to the 2017 season can't come soon enough.
But until that first game gets underway, the excitement keeps building. There's nothing better than sitting at zero wins and zero losses and imagining what could be—and what should be. Let's try to prognosticate the latter and set the tone for Pittsburgh's upcoming season. Here are the top eight reasons to be fired up about the Steelers this year.
The Killer B's Reunited
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In 2014, the Steelers drafted wideout Martavis Bryant in the fourth round of the draft. The selection rounded out what has since been termed the Killer B's—the Steelers' explosive offense that centers around Bryant, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le'Veon Bell. But rarely have the quartet spent much time on the field together.
Bryant, who has appeared in only 21 games after starting his career slowly and most recently spending the 2016 season under suspension, has worked with the other three players in just 11 games. And even then, most took place during 2014. In 2015, the star players of the Steelers offense were all active, healthy and not serving league-mandated suspensions for just 21 plays.
But it appears the Steelers' luck in this respect may change for the 2017 season. Bryant was reinstated from his suspension in late April. Bell, Brown and Roethlisberger have no lingering injuries or newly discovered ones, putting them all on track to be ready to play in Week 1. This development should make all opposing defensive coordinators set to take on the Steelers this year a bit more devoted to their game planning.
Even when the Steelers have had just three of the four on the field, they've boasted one of the most unstoppable offenses in the NFL. With all four ready to go, we may witness one of the best offenses in the history of the league.
30 Points Per Game—Attainable at Last
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Tied into the reuniting of the Big 4 on the Steelers offense for the 2017 season is the ability for Pittsburgh to finally achieve a goal that offensive coordinator Todd Haley set during the spring and summer of 2015, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com: score 30 points per game.
It remained a target for 2016, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and presumably stands as a benchmark the Steelers hope to reach in 2017.
The Steelers have gotten close, both in 2015 and 2016, when they averaged 25.4 and 24.4 points per game respectively. Last year, they met or exceeded that 30-point threshold six times and seven others were within a touchdown of reaching it. This year, with the team's offense looking better than ever, a 30-point average seems a more realistic target than previously.
As touched upon in the previous slide, Bryant, Bell, Brown and Roethlisberger all seem set to take the field together on the most regular basis since they came together in 2014. The Steelers also added physical possession receiver Juju Smith-Schuster in the draft, have a rising star in slot receiver Eli Rogers and will be expecting tight end Ladarius Green to make a bigger contribution now he's healthy.
Reaching 30 points per game is not an easy feat. Only the Atlanta Falcons met (and indeed, exceeded it) in 2016, and the Carolina Panthers were the only team to get there in 2015. If there can only be one in a given season, it looks like the Steelers may be it for 2017.
Revenge of the 2-Point Conversion
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When the NFL competition committee decided to move the extra point from the 20-yard line to the 33-yard line ahead of the 2015 season, the Steelers had an interesting response: To attempt a two-point conversion more often. The addition of 13 yards to the one-point kick made the option of going for two more appealing, at least for Pittsburgh.
As such, no team has attempted more two-point tries than the Steelers over the previous two seasons—20 in total (11 in 2015 and nine in 2016), with 11 successful tries. Though that success rate dipped in 2016, with only three of nine made compared to eight of 11 in 2015, there are reasons to believe that when the Steelers go for two this year, they will get back on track.
One is the addition of bruising, north-south running back James Conner, selected in the third round of the 2017 draft. Another is the return of 6'4" receiver Bryant from his 2016 suspension. And with so many weapons to choose from, a number of Steelers players could get in on the two-point action this season.
Even more exciting is the Steelers like to use the element of surprise when choosing to go for two. Typically, teams will use it as a form of fourth-quarter strategy to turn a two-score deficit into a one-possession game. But Pittsburgh typically does its two-point business in the first half. And while that is a form of predictability in its own right, it also forces opponents to be ready for anything and to adjust radically from an early point in the game.
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James Harrison, Age 39
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Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison has been in the NFL since 2002. In that span, he has been with Pittsburgh, the Baltimore Ravens (who sent him to NFL Europe's Rhein Fire in 2003), came back to Pittsburgh, won NFL Defensive Player of the Year, headed to the Cincinnati Bengals for the 2014 season, briefly retired, came back to Pittsburgh again and, in 2016, was the Steelers' sack leader.
Harrison turned 39 on May 4, which makes him among the oldest active players in the league. And he's coming back for the 2017 season (at least) and should remain a force in Pittsburgh's front seven.
Back in 2015, when Harrison was 37, Steelers outside linebackers coach (and Harrison's former teammate) Joey Porter said he would be limiting Harrison to 25 snaps per game, per Jacob Klinger of Penn Live. That expectation turned out to be unrealistic—Harrison just won't leave the field. Aside from being held out for Week 17, Pro Football Focus charted Harrison as being on the field for a maximum of 25 plays only three times in 2016.
Though the Steelers added a pass-rusher in the first round of the 2017 draft—Wisconsin's T.J. Watt—Watt is a starter of the future and will likely be eased into the defense, at least to begin the year. That means Harrison will remain a fixture on the Steelers' front—and a menace to opposing quarterbacks.
And how did Harrison spend his birthday week? Doing his wild workouts, of course, including pushing nearly 1,400 pounds on a blocking sled. He doesn't look like he's planning on slowing down anytime soon.
The Young Guns
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Though the Steelers' identity has been shaped by two elder statesmen on the roster—Roethlisberger on offense and Harrison on defense—the team has steadily been incorporating more young faces into their first strings. With these being the players who will shape Pittsburgh's identity for seasons to come, it's important to pay attention to how second- and third-year players are developing and how the rookies are handling their new responsibilities.
On defense, the Steelers have gotten markedly younger. Two rookies became starters in the secondary last year (Artie Burns at cornerback and Sean Davis at safety), and the team's Round 1 draft picks in both 2015 and 2014, Bud Dupree and Ryan Shazier, have developed into starters at outside and inside linebacker respectively. This year, rookie linebacker Watt could be thrown into the mix up front while rookie cornerback Cameron Sutton could be the team's starting slot cornerback.
On the offensive side of the ball, rookie receiver Smith-Schuster looks primed to play a major role in the passing game while first-year running back Conner will serve as Bell's backup and likely see action in short-yardage and third-down situations.
These young players will soon be tapped to serve as cornerstones on the roster as older veterans inevitably move on. Keeping track of their development, both in training camp and on the field, will provide a glimpse into what the Steelers' future may hold.
Week 15
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The Steelers' biggest nemesis in the AFC isn't the Cleveland Browns. It's not the Baltimore Ravens. It's not even a team in the AFC North—no, it's the New England Patriots, the reigning Super Bowl champions and the team that beat the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game last year en route to that Super Bowl win.
The Roethlisberger-led Steelers have had little luck against the Patriots over the years. The two teams (with Roethlisberger starting) have met eight times in the regular season and twice in the playoffs; Pittsburgh has never bested the Patriots once in the postseason and has come away victorious in the regular season just three times. There's no doubt the Steelers will have a big target on Week 15, when the Patriots come to town at a time when the playoffs could be on the line for both clubs.
New England is not just an opponent to the Steelers but a monster to be vanquished, a mountain that has proved so difficult to climb. That the Patriots are traveling to Heinz Field works in Pittsburgh's favor, but there's no doubt this will be a tough win to earn. But watching the Steelers try stands to be one of the team's most exciting moments of the season.
A Clear Path to an AFC North Title?
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Even if the Patriots prove too big a foe to slay in Week 15, the Steelers could already be set up for another AFC North championship and playoff berth. Pittsburgh was 11-5 in 2016, easily earning the top spot in a division whose other teams—the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens—combined for a 15-32-1 record, with none eclipsing the .500 mark.
Given how difficult winning the division has been proved to be over years not named 2016, it might not be so simple for the Steelers this time around. But with question marks swirling among the Ravens' offensive effectiveness, the Bengals' offensive line and the Browns', well, everything, the Steelers do seem the best set up for a divisional title.
Pittsburgh is tied for the fifth-easiest schedule, based on the 2016 win-loss records of their 2017 opponents. While that doesn't guarantee anything, it serves as a baseline for the Steelers' expectations for the upcoming season. And with the Steelers' in-division games almost evenly spread throughout the year, their attempt to repeat as AFC North champs will be relentless in 2017.
A Prime-Time 2nd Half
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The Steelers are scheduled for five prime-time games during the 2017 season. But curiously enough, they don't begin until Week 8, when the Steelers travel to take on the Detroit Lions.
Even more auspicious is the timing of the remaining four. Weeks 11, 12, 13 and 14 are all nationally broadcast night games—and perhaps Week 15 against the New England Patriots will be too depending on the league's flexible scheduling choices.
In Week 11, the Steelers host the Tennessee Titans for Thursday Night Football, followed by the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night for Week 12. Week 13 is a Monday game at the Cincinnati Bengals and the following week the Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens in another Sunday game.
These make-or-break, playoff-establishing fixtures will be on a national stage, with the NFL's largest audiences focusing on the Steelers for nearly an entire month. November and December's games certainly make for the most exciting span of the schedule for Pittsburgh this year.
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