5 Steelers we should be the most thankful for this year
By Tommy Jaggi
It’s Thanksgiving and the Steelers are 6-5 without Ben Roethlisberger and Stephon Tuitt. Here are five players we should be thanking this year.
There is nothing like kicking back on Thanksgiving with a platter of delicious food and watching football all day. However, moments like these are even sweeter when the Steelers currently sit on a wildcard spot despite losing our franchise quarterback for the sesaon.
Though players like Ben Roethlisberger and Stephon Tuitt will not be returning this year, we still have plenty to be thankful for when it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers. While many teams would have folded under the same circumstances, Mike Tomlin’s group is standing tall and has a respectable 6-5 record as we head into December.
There are plenty of players who deserve a ton of credit for their efforts in salvaging the 2019 season. Here are the top five players we should be thankful for this season:
5. Steven Nelson
The Steelers have never been known for great cornerback play (at least not in my lifetime). Even during their Super Bowl years of the 2000’s, cornerback was one of the only weaknesses to an otherwise outstanding defense.
Pittsburgh had a lot of questions at cornerback prior to the 2019 season. Fortunately, Steven Nelson quickly put those thoughts to rest. Nelson has been as good as we could have possibly expected this sesaon, and his stellar play had helped bolster the whole defense. Nelson has seen his overall grade rise every year since entering the league, according to Pro Football Focus, and he is having the best season of his career.
The former Chiefs cornerback doesn’t always light up the box score with big numbers and he hasn’t earned an interception yet this season. However, he has managed to lock down his side of the field – allowing just 47.9 percent of balls to be completed.
Nelson also has not surrendered a single touchdown this sesaon, and opposing quarterbacks have just a 66.2 passer rating when looking his direction (nearly 20 points worse than Joe Haden’s 85.2 passer rating allowed).
I am thankful he’s on our squad this year.