Answers to the Steelers five burning questions versus Dolphins

How will the Steelers interior pass rush be?

The pass rush was not the problem, but the interior pass rush was a little weaker. It seemed like the strength of this team’s pass rush was from the edge. I would say that the defense misses Stephon Tuitt, but not as much as the offense misses Ben Roethlisberger.

The pass rush was decent, but the secondary played a good game. Minkah Fitzpatrick had two interceptions, which kept the Steelers in the game. Overall, the Steelers defense looked decent and created key turnovers, which played a big part in them winning the game.

Will Juju Smith-Schuster improve his stats?

Mason Rudolph went to Juju Smith-Schuster early in the second quarter in particular, but he was unable to come up with the catch. Juju Smith-Schuster also had an illegal motion penalty. He had a rough first half.

Juju Smith-Schuster had a 16-yard catch against Xavien Howard. He also had a nice touchdown catch in the third quarter. He finished the day with 103 yards receiving according to Pro Football Reference.

There is a positive note to end this on, and that is that Juju passed Randy Moss for most 100-yard receiving games before the age of 23. That is a nice stat, but I think it is more of a reflection of the 2018 that Juju Smith-Schuster had as opposed to the 2019 that Juju had.

Conclusion

The Steelers were able to get a win over the Miami Dolphins, but I still expected better from the squad. They were at home against a team that is winless and whose fan base is already focused on the draft.

The Black & Gold are only one game from a .500 record, but they face a tough test against the Indianapolis Colts. Jacoby Brissett has picked up the reigns that Andrew Luck left, and now they are in the first place. Frank Reich has done a great job with this team despite not being the organization’s first choice for a coaching hire.