Answers to the Steelers five burning questions versus Dolphins
By Edward Hunt
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.