This week the Steelers finally reached 30 points for the first time in 23 games in a win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Sunday was a rookie wide receiver, Chase Claypool’s coming out party with a 4 touchdown performance for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The future is bright for this receiving core as a slue of bad defenses are still to come.
Where did the Steelers rank last week?
In week 5, on ESPN.com’s weekly power rankings the Steelers stood in the number 7 spot in the NFL. The Steelers sat at that spot for 2 weeks in a row. In my opinion, this was due to the rust we saw this team have to shake in the first few games against bad teams. Teams that many thought they should have easily rolled gave the Steelers some trouble. Brooke Pryor writes that another reason for the ranking was the stretch of tough games left for this team. The Steelers still have all their division opponents left which will make for some great entertainment but still makes people temper their expectations.
Brooke Pryor went on to write that the Steelers balance is another reason for the top 8 rankings they received. Unlike in years past, it’s hard for teams to predict what kind of game the Steelers will play. They can run successfully, pass in a scoring shootout, or play defensive small ball to win a game.
These guys can find a win in any way they need to get one. It reminds me of Tomlin’s team in 2008-2009 that won a Super Bowl.
Where do the Steelers rank for week 6?
The Steelers moved up this week in ESPN’s power rankings to the 6th spot from 7th. The Steelers put on a show this week on offense against the Eagles. Nobody was more entertaining than Chase Claypool ending Sunday with 7 catches for 110 yards and 4 total touchdowns. Claypool evens scored one of his touchdowns on a 2-yard jet sweep from the left hash. According to Brooke Pryor and ESPN stats & info, Ben Roethlisberger has been one of the worst quarterbacks in the league when throwing over 20 yards. This seems to be one of the reasons we have not seen the Steelers climb into ESPN’s top 5 just yet.
I believe this poor usage of the deep ball will improve, as we saw this week, Chase Claypool is a perfect target to help bring Ben back up to speed on his deep ball. We have seen him throw it with plenty of distance, now it’s time to see him put it in the right spot. Thankfully, even with is inaccuracy we have not seen in interceptions go up. In fact, he is having a career year in that regard.
Is this the right spot for the Steelers?
I do believe ESPN has this right for the time being. The Steelers still need to work on a few things and be consistent. As mentioned before Ben Roethlisberger clearly has the arm strength has before his injury. If not more arm strength than before as he joked in his post-game zoom interview mentioned by Brooke Pryor. However, his accuracy will turn in to a much bigger issue against a bad team that is going to anticipate his deep balls being off-target.
The defensive secondary this week was somewhat exposed after struggling with Travis Fulgham who was a journeyman that Eagles fans hardly knew about. This year the Steelers are not capable of sitting in soft zone coverage and waiting for guys to come to them. They are better at covering man to man across the field. The Eagles found space all over the field, especially on third down and long.
Not holding teams on third and long isn’t something they struggled with last year. Adjusting and getting off the field is going to be crucial as division opponents are quickly approaching.