State of Steelers at halfway mark of 2021 NFL season

The Steelers have some work to do in the special teams department and in the coaching department

We very rarely discuss special teams because, as the moniker implies, special teams should be special by default.  According to ESPN, the Steelers are ranked fourth in FG percentage and are ranked 28th in gross average punt yards per game.

Kudos to Chris Boswell and some words of advice to Pressley Harvin III, be better, because we are going to need some big kicks down the stretch. To be fair, Harvin has been ‘rock solid’ on holds in the kicking game.

Turning our attention to coaching, I am a supporter of Mike Tomlin and have been since ‘day one’.  While I do not agree with every decision he has made over the years, I do agree with what he has done this year to get the Steelers to where we are right now, which is a five-win team.

After having started the 2021 season with one win and three losses, we have won four games in a row.  I think that speaks volumes for the job Tomlin and his coaching staff have done thus far.  That is not to say that we don’t have things to clean up on both sides of the ball, things that only coaching can resolve.

For instance, on offense, we need to start faster, score more points and be more creative in our route concepts.  What I mean by that is this: I am by no means an offensive guru, but I have been watching football for over forty years. The Steelers offense is most effective when we establish the run and employ a ‘middle, high, low’ passing scheme with screens mixed in for good measure.

Right now, our passing scheme is a ‘go route’ to the outside with no post route and hardly anything down the seam or over the middle of the field. That is not sustainable. That needs to change, but, again, only Tomlin can compel that change.

Defensively, this penchant to call ‘single-high’ safety is putting our CBs at risk.  Our defense seems to be more effective when the CBs have safety help either over the top or underneath. Our inability to contain mobile QBs is a problem.

We also seem to take the foot off the gas, as it were. For example, we allowed the Bears to score 21 points in the fourth quarter to make what should have been a pretty easy win into a ‘nail-bitter’.  We were fortunate to have won that game; however, the Steelers cannot rely on luck to win games.

To wrap up this discussion, here’s what I will leave you with: I am grateful that we are a five-win team as the opposite would most assuredly spell our doom. The question is will we be playing meaningful football in January or will be watching the playoffs from our collective couches.

I suppose that depends on the decisions Tomlin and his coaching staff make from here on out.