Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New York Giants: 5 things fans should know in Week 1
Pittsburgh Steelers debut against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. Here are five things fans should know before the game.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are about to make their much-anticipated debut. With the return of their hall of fame quarterback and the return of one of the best defenses in the NFL last year, the Steelers can make some serious noise.
The Giants seemed to be trending upwards after finding the heir to Eli Manning in Daniel Jones. They have possibly the most electric player in the league in Saquon Barkley. They drafted a very talented tackle in Andrew Thomas with the fourth overall pick in the 2020 draft. They added some talent to the defensive side of the ball as well.
While the Giants are hoping to have a winning season after three consecutive losing seasons, the Steelers are hoping to get back into the playoffs after narrowly missing them the past two years. With both teams moving in the right direction what should we know about the Giants in week 1?
The somewhat improved offensive line
The Pittsburgh Steelers would have been happy to face the 2019 Giants with an offensive line that had been quite bad. The Giants have been putting effort into improving their offensive line when first they had picked up Kevin Zeitler in a trade with the Cleveland Browns in 2019.
In 2020 the Giants then spent the 4th overall draft pick on Andrew Thomas as well, after seeing Nate Solder struggle in 2018 and 2019. They also signed Cameron Fleming, who just left the Dallas Cowboys from free agency.
Whoever would have lost the battle for the left tackle position between Thomas and Solder would have been able to compete with Fleming for the right tackle position. Pretty much any of those three would have been an upgrade at right tackle over Mike Remmers who started in 2019. It looked as though the Giants were going to improve both tackle positions with one draft pick and one free agency signing by increasing depth and adding a quality starter.
However, Nate Solder opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID and that immediately gave way to Andrew Thomas taking over the left tackle spot. Cameron Fleming should still be serviceable as the starting right tackle.