Steelers: 30 points a game in 2016?

The Pittsburgh Steelers offense may be the best in pro football, but could they be good enough to put 30 points on the board every week?

Last season, Ben Roethlisberger stood by the thought that the Steelers offense was fully capable of scoring 30 points a game, a seemingly impossible feat. This idea was quickly thrashed when the Steelers failed to muster that in their Week 1 season opener against the Patriots.

The Pittsburgh Steelers season was riddled with injury. Injuries were suffered to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running back Le’Veon Bell, who was also suspended, as was fellow teammate Martavis Bryant, and center Maurkice Pouncey. These injuries were certainly felt and didn’t allow the Steelers offense to reach its full potential.

The Steelers only scored 30 points or more in 7 of their 16 matchups, but the team was never healthy. From Week 9 through Week 14, the Steelers dropped 30 or more points on opposing teams, and looked like the offense they promised to be. That streak also led to 5 wins out of the 6 games.

Looking at the Steelers offense coming into this year, with everyone back healthy, the team seems loaded with weapons that could easily post these numbers week in and week out. One thing that shouldn’t be overlooked, however, is the absence of Martavis Bryant.

Since Bryant’s suspension, I’m sure Steelers fans have seen the stat that the Steelers have averaged a whole touchdown more when he was on the field than when he wasn’t. Don’t read too much into that.

He is definitely a key playmaker, and allows the Steelers to have a lethal combination of him and Brown on the field at a time, but it was also the beginning of the season, and wide receiver Markus Wheaton started to also bloom during the six game scoring stretch.

Even without Bryant, the team is stacked. If Le’Veon Bell returns to his 2014 form, he can be the best running back in the league, and offers so much more than just his superb running ability. He is a threat on any play, run or pass, and can turn seemingly lost plays into huge gains.

Backing him up is DeAngelo Williams who proved to be a more than serviceable player for Pittsburgh last season during Bell’s absence. Williams will surely get his share of touches and will hopefully make the most of them. The two of them together form the best one-two punch duo in the league.

The wide receiving corps might be down one, but it isn’t too shabby. We all know what Antonio Brown can do. He is the best wide receiver in the league, and simply no one can cover him.

Besides him, Markus Wheaton has emerged as a true number two option and really turned up the heat down the stretch. In his best game, against the Seahawks, he displayed his big play ability and had multiple game changing moments, keeping Pittsburgh alive in a heated shootout.

On top of those two playmakers, we have second year pro Sammie Coates and speedster Darrius Heyward-Bey. Both have shown plenty of potential be useful players on this prolific offense and it will be exciting to see what they contribute this year.

To keep it going, the Steelers have one of the better offensive lines in the league, likely top 5. With Pouncey back in the lineup, they should do a great job this season in protecting Ben Roethlisberger, which is pretty important if they’d like to succeed.

With the addition of Ladarius Green, that adds speed to the Tight End position that Pittsburgh has never seen, and could be an underlying reason the Steelers have such an unstoppable offense this year. Green is quick, and with his giant frame, should be a huge playmaker.

Finally, we come to the man at the helm, Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger will be the reason the Steelers accomplish this unlikely feat if they do. If he remains healthy, and I cannot stress that enough, if he remains healthy and plays at the level he played at last year, with the players around him at full health, I have no doubt in my mind that Pittsburgh is fully capable of being unstoppable and lighting up the scoreboard each and every week.

It should be a very exciting year for Pittsburgh, and if the offense plays to their potential, the possibilities are endless, and that includes a Super Bowl run.