Biggest Studs, Duds and Surprises of Pittsburgh Steelers' 2017 Season
With an 11-2 record and a playoff spot assured thanks to a win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night that clinched the AFC North crown, the Pittsburgh Steelers are putting forth one of the best efforts of the 2017 NFL season. Another Super Bowl championship is within the realm of possibility, regardless of what may take place over the course of Pittsburgh's final three games.
But what has brought the Steelers to this point—and what could have held them back from it? What has been unexpected about the Steelers' season? Here are the players who have been the biggest studs and duds, and where the Steelers have managed to surprise, over the course of the team's 13 games.
Stud: Antonio Brown
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Heading into the 2017 season, there were no questions about the skill level of Pittsburgh's No. 1 wideout. After 13 games, Antonio Brown has continued to deliver. His 99 receptions for 1,509 yards leads the league in both categories, while his nine touchdowns lead the Steelers' receiving corps.
To put in perspective just how dominant Brown has been this season: His yardage accounts for 40.3 percent of Ben Roethlisberger's passing yards, with 398 yards coming after the catch.
Of the 182 passing first downs earned by Pittsburgh's offense this season, 70 have been Brown's. He's averaging 16.9 yards on third downs, with 18 of his 24 such receptions resulting in a new set of downs. And he just had his best performance of the season against the rival Baltimore Ravens, catching 11 passes on 18 targets for 213 yards.
All season, Brown has been Roethlisberger's most reliable and steady target—160 of Roethlisberger's 502 passes have gone his way—a fact that opposing defenses are well aware of.
Yet, none can stop the connection between the two, mostly because none can stop Brown. He's perhaps the league's only coverage-proof receiver and is easily the Steelers' most valuable player of the 2017 season and is making a strong case for league MVP as well.
Dud: Martavis Bryant
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When Martavis Bryant received his conditional and then full reinstatement from the league in the offseason after a year spent away from the business due to multiple substance abuse policy violations, the Steelers faithful were elated.
Bryant had, in his first two seasons, proved to be a deep-threat touchdown scorer with blistering speed and someone whose off-field issues were subsumed by his skill on it. But his 2017 season hasn't gone so well from a performance perspective.
Bryant has thus far ceded much of his playing time to rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster, and when he has been involved, he's been more of an afterthought than a featured player. He's also expressed his frustration publicly and with a lack of tact, something that landed him a one-game team suspension earlier this season. In 12 games, Bryant has had just six starts, and though his catch percentage of 55.2 is on par with his career average, little else is.
Bryant has caught 37 passes on 67 targets this season for just 419 yards and two scores, giving him a per-game average of 34.9 yards. By contrast, in 2015 Bryant had six scores and 765 yards on 50 catches and averaged 69.5 yards per game while only appearing in 11 games.
While not a complete afterthought in Pittsburgh's explosive offense, Bryant has not delivered as expected this year, which has been a disappointment given all he has accomplished in previous seasons.
Surprise: Defensive Rebound
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The NFL's best defenses are rarely built in a day or in a single offseason, but the Steelers did a surprisingly impressive job of improving that side of the ball leading up to the 2017 season.
By adding (signing cornerback Joe Haden, drafting linebacker T.J. Watt, adding free-agent defensive end Tyson Alualu), subtracting (letting Lawrence Timmons leave, trading Ross Cockrell) and tweaking the schematics of both the pass rush and coverage, Pittsburgh has re-established itself as one of the league's defensive powerhouses.
A season ago, the Steelers defense totaled 38 sacks and 13 interceptions while ranking 12th in yards allowed (and 16th against the pass) and 10th in points allowed. This year—through 13 games—the Steelers have the second-most sacks in the league (41), have 13 interceptions and rank sixth in yards, fourth against the pass and seventh in points allowed despite giving up 38 points to the Ravens on Sunday night.
What was very recently a glaring weakness on an otherwise formidable team has become one of its top assets. That is a difficult turnaround to achieve, but for the Steelers to do it so quickly and so thoroughly has been one of the biggest surprises of the year.
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Stud: Cameron Heyward
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A season ago, starting defensive end Cameron Heyward appeared in only seven games, having ultimately landed on injured reserve with a torn pectoral muscle. The entire Steelers defense suffered from the loss, but Heyward's healthy return in 2017 has helped that unit rebound in an impressive way.
Heyward has 40 combined tackles, including seven for a loss, and he has been one of the top run-stopping defenders in the league.
But his biggest contribution this season has been as a pass-rusher.
He leads the team with a career-high nine sacks and is now the leader of the defense while Ryan Shazier continues to recover from a horrific spinal injury and subsequent surgery.
Pittsburgh's ability to both stop the run and rush the passer were both stymied by Heyward's injury a year ago. And now both areas are much improved, thanks to his return. Defensive ends in a 3-4 base rarely make waves, but Heyward's notable abilities have made him a standout this season.
Dud: Sean Davis
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In 2016, it only took seven games for the Steelers to decide that Robert Golden was not their best choice to start at safety alongside Mike Mitchell; instead they pivoted toward second-round draft pick Sean Davis to take on the job.
And it worked out well; Davis was not one of the Steelers' most notorious for poor pass coverage and he ended the year with 69 combined tackles, an interception, 1.5 sacks and five passes defended. He thus remained atop the depth chart for the 2017 season.
But this year has not been like the last for Davis.
Though he's second on the team in total tackles with 75 (59 solo), has doubled his interceptions (two) and has seven passes defensed, he's also become a liability. As Josh Carney of Steelers Depot pointed out after Week 12's win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Davis is second on the Steelers in missed tackles (then 18), and Football Outsiders has Davis missing tackles on nearly 25 percent of his attempts.
While Davis' play hasn't negatively affected the overall performance of the Steelers defense, his ability to make stops—whether playing the run or the pass—will be much more important moving forward without run-stuffer and coverage-strong linebacker Ryan Shazier on the field.
Davis was supposed to be a long-term answer at one of the Steelers' most crucial (and depth-poor) defensive positions, but now they may have to look for additional help instead.
Surprise: Red-Zone Offense
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While there are signs of encouragement—namely that over the last four weeks, the Steelers have scored no fewer than 31 points three times—that still does not diminish the fact that Pittsburgh's scoring is not on the same level as its overall level of offensive talent. Overall the red zone has not been a kind place to Roethlisberger and company.
On the year, the Steelers rank just 25th in touchdowns earned via red-zone appearances, with a conversion rate of only 48 percent—markedly lower than the 54.2 percent in 2016. At home, they earn touchdowns on 44.4 percent of their red-zone trips, which rises to 52.2 percent in away games.
While the Steelers' per-game points average of 24.6 is just shy of the 24.9 average a year ago, it's also evident the offense is leaving even more points on the field.
The Steelers have more scoring opportunities than the vast majority of the league, ranking third with 3.8 red-zone trips per game (up from 3.1 in 2016) but have come away with just 2.5 touchdowns per game. This is despite Roethlisberger having a full complement of high-end receivers at his disposal, plus running back Le'Veon Bell (who is an accomplished receiver in his own right).
While 16 of Roethlisberger's 24 touchdowns have come in the red zone (and he's not thrown a pick in that part of the field), that's on 35 attempts. Meanwhile, the rushing offense has earned only seven touchdowns this year, all of which belong to Bell.
Though efficiency has somewhat improved over the past quarter of the season, the Steelers are still not taking enough advantage of the opportunities they have earned. An offense that is otherwise among the league's best must be dominant when in scoring position.
Stud: Le'Veon Bell
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There may be no more important player on Pittsburgh's offense than Bell. He leads the league in both carries and rushing yards and, as the Steelers' third-leading receiver (and second-leading target), also leads the league in total yards from scrimmage with 1,684.
With Bell, the numbers do not lie.
Of the Steelers' 350 rushing attempts and 1,296 rushing yards, 283 carries and 1,105 yards are Bell's, as are all seven of the team's rushing scores. In addition to his 85 rushing yards per game, he's also a key part of the passing strategy, with 75 catches on 92 targets for 579 yards and two touchdowns. He's earned his team 89 first downs this season and is Pittsburgh's leader in after-catch yardage, with 564 yards.
It's hard to overrate Bell's performance this season and what he's accomplished both for himself as an individual player as well as for his team. Bell is not just a stud for the Steelers, but one of the NFL's most dynamic and talented players.
Dud: The Tight End Position
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Though the Steelers have one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in the league, the NFL's top receiver, its top running back and an offensive line that has given up only 19 sacks in 13 games, there's one thing the offense notably lacks—a game-changing tight end.
The Steelers have three tight ends who have recorded catches this year. Jesse James is the leader, with only 39 catches on 55 targets for 356 yards and three scores. Backups Vance McDonald and Xavier Grimble each have a touchdown, but McDonald has caught just nine passes for 131 yards and Grimble has three for 22 yards. Three Steelers players have more receiving yards this year than the trio combined.
The Steelers chose not to use draft resources on the tight end position during the 2017 offseason, instead standing pat with the James/Grimble combo and signing McDonald as a veteran free agent. While they have been serviceable and have contributed five touchdowns, the Steelers would have an even better, more well-rounded offense if it just had a talented tight end to add to the likes of Brown, Smith-Schuster and Bell in the passing game.
Surprise: Special Teams Switch
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In the previous two seasons, the Steelers were notable for numerous reasons, one of which was their frequent use of the two-point conversions rather than the more common extra-point kick attempt. A result of the NFL opting to move point-after attempts back from the 20-yard line to the 33, the Steelers determined that the odds of making the two-point conversion had thus increased, while the odds of making the extra-point kick decreased.
In 2015, the Steelers attempted 11 two-point conversions, succeeding on eight tries. In 2016, that success rate dropped, with just three of nine resulting in two points. And now it appears that the experiment has mostly been scrapped, with the Steelers attempting only three two-point conversions (with two successful).
While this switch in philosophy may have been made in response to the declining rate of return, it could also have something to do with the reliability of kicker Chris Boswell.
Boswell has made 32 of his 35 field-goal attempts (and 20 in a row) and 26 of his 28 extra-point tries. He has scored 122 points for the Steelers this season; only five kickers are providing more points per game than his 9.4.
The Steelers might have gotten less gutsy and glitzy by opting to roll out the two-point try less frequently. But Boswell has proved to be a bail-out artist for the offense when red-zone stands have stalled and making kicks that have ultimately been the difference between a win and a loss numerous times this season. Whatever the reason for fewer two-point attempts, the Steelers don't need to be worried about its abrupt departure.
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