6 Things the Pittsburgh Steelers Must Fix During the Bye Week

The Pittsburgh Steelers head into their bye week with a 7-3 record, a tenuous hold on first place in the AFC North and tied for the best record in the conference with the Houston Texans. They also head into that bye week with a lot of work to be done.

Here’s a look at what the Steelers must fix during their week off.

The Injury Bug

The laundry list here is almost endless. The Steelers have been beset by injuries large and small throughout the season, but the bye week comes at a great time to help them get some of their big names back to full speed.

LaMarr Woodley is projected to return after the Steelers come out of their bye. He’s missed two games with a hamstring injury, and while his injury coincided with the return of James Harrison, the defense has certainly missed having its top two pass-rushers on the field.

Emmanuel Sanders, who had his knee scoped recently, is also possibly returning after the bye. He would give the Steelers an extra boost on offense and would make their passing game, already dominated by Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown, that much more dangerous.

Last, Ben Roethlisberger suffered a slight fracture in his right thumb during last week’s game, so he’ll get a week off before he has to get ready for another opponent. While Big Ben has played through injuries before, the throwing hand is not something you want to mess with too much.

To Huddle or Not to Huddle?

The Steelers offense has been almost schizophrenic this year. On some drives, they are utterly dominant, able to take any amount of plays to score touchdowns. On other drives, they stall like an old, beat-up jalopy.

There are several reasons for this maddening inconsistency, but chief among them is the team’s lack of consistent use of the no-huddle, something Ben Roethlisberger champions and also something he runs as well as any quarterback currently playing football.

During the bye week, the offensive staff, particularly Bruce Arians, has to decide whether to run the no-huddle more often during games. If they don’t generate more offense, they will have no choice. If they start running it, they could be virtually unbeatable.

Third Down Defensive Struggles

Minor tweaks are needed here, but this is the time to fix things. The Steelers laid a massive egg on third downs a couple weeks ago, allowing 14 conversions to the Baltimore Ravens. Last week, they did much better against Cincinnati.

The problem is that the team routinely struggles with third down. During the bye week, it’s time to fix that.

The best solution is to implement the same tactics they use on first and second down, where their percentage is much, much better. That means blitzing the quarterback, playing tighter coverage and scrapping the overuse of the nickel, which hasn’t benefited them this season.

The Steelers should also consider playing more man and press coverage on third down. If they do that, they can limit the effectiveness of the AFC’s elite receivers and quarterbacks.

Journey to the Red Zone

Again, this was much, much better in Cincinnati, but there’s room for improvement here as this is an area where struggles are common.

The Steelers this year have been criticized a lot for leaving points on the field too often. They’ve had numerous issues with this, and it’s cost them a couple games already. It’s not something they can afford to do against a contender.

The goal here has to be to get touchdowns instead of field goals. Getting to the red zone isn’t a problem. Getting to the end zone has been.

Some ideas for fixing this issue would be no-huddle offense (we’ve already talked about that), some gadgetry, more swing passes to Mike Wallace or Antonio Brown, or even some screens, which have become almost a lost art in Pittsburgh.

Take It on the Run

Yeah, that again.

The Steelers have to figure out how they want to mix in their running game. Right now, I’m not sure what the strategy is. They run at random times and use play action after not running the ball at all for most of a game. It strangely is still working, but that fluke cannot persist forever.

The Steelers are clearly a passing team now, but that doesn’t mean they cannot or won’t run the ball. They just have to get a more clear strategy.

I’d like to see more of the run in the red zone, an elimination of the toss play (which none of the team’s backs can run), and a mixing in of screen passes (still basically a running play) and some of the end-around work we saw from Mike Wallace.

Selling the Closeout

This was the most maddening part of the team’s game against the Bengals. They tried to protect and not extend a seven-point lead.

Think about this. You are facing an offense that can be dangerous, but you’ve been fortunate to shut them down on defense. You have an offense at your disposal that, if used correctly, is one of the best in the league. You’ve got a seven-point lead.

What do you do? You extend it! You get to 14 or 17 or 21 points and then you start protecting the lead and running out the clock.

Not Bruce Arians. He prefers to protect any lead no matter how small. That doesn’t work, and it can and will cost the team a game against a real contender. You cannot expect the defense, especially not this season, to shut down another team for 60 minutes. At some point, you have to step up and put them away for good.