Why Steelers Preseasons Aren't Fun

Since 2013 the Steelers have been the worst preseason team in the NFL. The Steelers offseason is usually a tedious affair and the preseason games are even harder. But why?

So the Steelers have been a thrill to watch over the last few years, if not a little frustrating at times with injuries and suspensions. But as fun as the Steelers have been to watch lately, the offseason is much exciting.

The Steelers offseasons have always been pretty slow. They don’t make dramatic moves. They do no trades and they sign few free agents, and the ones they do are not particularly big signings, Ladarius Green, whose status is mysterious but currently vaguely injured, being an exception. It’s mostly scrambling to stay under cap lately.

But none of that seems to matter because when the season starts it gets fun again. The cherry on top of the hard to get through offseason is the ugly preseason. The Steelers preseason is flat out hard to watch. It is tough to get through with high expectations intact. Yet the Steelers succeed regardless.

So why is the preseason so awful for a Steelers fan?

They never win

Well the biggest reason the Steelers offseason is so hard to watch is simply because they never win. Dating back to 2013 and going through to Friday, the Steelers are 2-13 in preseason play. That’s 2 wins, and 13 losses. That’s a .133 winning percentage. The Steelers preseason for Steeler fans is as bad as the Browns regular season is for Browns fans.

Yes, these are scrimmages. No, they do not have the best players on the field. But they keep score and any fan of the game still has that gut feeling of wanting to see more points on the board for your side. Steelers fans don’t get that satisfaction.

They hold out starters

Don’t expect to see Ben Roethlisberger out there. Don’t expect Antonio Brown or Le’Veon Bell either. Frankly, don’t expect to see anyone you want to see. If you do see them, do not blink, because they’ll be off the field when your eyes open. Preseason is Landry Jones time. He gets tons of experience in preseason … and never improves.

Part of the reason the Steelers always lose is they don’t try to win. The Steelers might have a couple players making the practice squad from camp, but they let dozens play in preseason. This doesn’t seem to make much sense, until you consider the constant injury troubles. More on that later.

Where are the breakout rookies?

So, anecdotally, I was on twitter the other day and I noticed Carl Nassib‘s name all over. He’s a rookie out of Penn State this year and apparently he’s turning heads with the Browns. Now when’s the last time a Steelers rookie hit the ground running and was an instant impact player?

When was the last time you saw a Steelers rookie, even a first round pick, play so well in the preseason you felt he could be a successful day 1 starter? Or even a real difference maker? Hope of course, suspect maybe, but none of the dozens of training camp tryout players or rookies ever really pop in a way that makes them feel inevitable.

Injuries, Injuries, Injuries

So because the Steelers always lose preseason games, never play players you want to see, and the players you don’t want to see never prove your wrong, we’re left with one thing we’ve been conditioned to expect. I’m talking about injuries. The preseason has become an exercise in nail-biting pessimistic dread. Forget touchdowns, or wins, or breakout players, the best we can ask for is a lack of injuries.

When it comes to the Steelers preseason, no news is the best news we can hope for. In Tomlin’s press conference he said Ben won’t be hurt by not getting those reps. Of course, getting those reps may actually hurt him. So it’s not worth the risk.

But it doesn’t matter

At the end of the day, or at the end of the season, what matters is what happened during those 16 regular season games, and the 4 before are irrelevant. The Steelers don’t win because they don’t play proven players, they don’t play proven players because they have problems with injuries.

It’s slightly disconcerting that the Steelers don’t have break out stars in preseason come out of nowhere, but perhaps that’s because walk-on hopefuls are playing against the other team’s starters. So a young or new player might do well, just not Top 10 Plays style well, which is fine because the top 10 preseason plays are all equally irrelevant.

There’s something to be said for purposefully making it difficult to win in unimportant games too. Phil Jackson for example would often play the likes of Luke Walton or Tyrone Lue in close regular season games instead of Shaq and Kobe. Why? Because they’ll get to the playoffs regardless, and now those players will know how to play in that situation.

Next: Steelers: Le'Veon Bell Suspension Reduction Seems Fishy

Yes, the preseason has become unwatchable for Steelers fans. Of course, we’ll still watch it. But Tomlin has a method to the madness, or sadness, of this painful preseason play. After all, the Browns, Dolphins, Chargers, Eagles, Titans, Bills, and Buccaneers all have better preseason records since 2013.

All stats via NFL.com

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Why Steelers Preseasons Aren’t Fun to Watch

By Zack Goncz | Aug 20, 2016