For the first time since the arrival of Mike Tomlin, I am anticipating the steelers to perform as a bottom half team in 2021. Despite the overwhelming degree of success, Pittsburgh had up until the end, it is really hard to imagine this team repeating what they did as well as competing against the better teams in the league. While the defense is still one of the best, they lost Steven Nelson who was the team’s best corner last year, and also lost Edge rusher, Bud Dupree. In addition, age regression is a likely factor with this team, and with having one of the worst offenses to support the defense, the formula to win in Pittsburgh isn’t strong especially for the modern NFL. The situation on offense is sort of a mess and they still do not have a QB in place to take over for Ben Roethlisberger. While Mike Tomline is certainly a reliable head coach who establishes a standard floor for his team, there are simply too many issues with the state of the roster for him to make something good out of this team. Some fans are hoping this team would just go into a complete rebuild and tank but the Steelers are the type of franchise to avoid that deprivation of success at all costs, even if it limits their upside in the future. The Steelers will be a tough team to play and will likely beat up on the worst teams but struggle more severely against the better ones.

Pittsburgh Offense

The current situation on offense in Pittsburgh is less than ideal and that all stems from the player Ben Roethlisberger is right now in his career. As always the Steelers have a nice balanced group of receivers that gives the passing game a certain floor and guys like Chase Claypool and Deionte Johnson could very well develop to become elite. All of the youth this team does have pretty much comes at the skill positions, with drafting players like Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth plus the receivers in place, there is a lot of potential for this offense to be explosive someday. The big issue here is having 39-year-old Ben Roethlisberger at QB behind one of the worst O-lines in football. As a means of clearing cap space, they basically decided to spare the talent that had on the O-line by cutting guard David DeCastro and moving on from Alejandra Villanueva. The all-pro Center Maurkice Pouncey also retired which left this team pretty depleted at the position, but were able to draft Kendrick Green at least. With an outdated playstyle being run by Matt Canada, the talent at receiver is of less use and this O-line is going to severely hinder efficiency especially with an immobile QB. This offense might have some good weeks when Roethlisberger is on and the defense is playing at its best but I think most D-coordinators will be relieved to see this matchup.

Overall OFF Grade: 71.7 (28)

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Pittsburgh Defense

The Steelers defense had a sudden breakout in 2019 following the blockbuster trade for Minkah Fitzpatrick and they’ve carried on the success from that year pretty well. As mentioned, Pittsburgh lost two key starters on this side of the ball but the same group from two years ago is all pretty much together still. Luckily they were able to pick up Melvin Ingram through wavers who’ll fill the void of Bud Dupree when able to play and Edge Alex Highsmith is also in place for a long-term option. The pass rush should be just as dominant as it has been the past two seasons as they have multiple high-end pass rushers from the interior and edge. The combo of Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuit makes a nightmare of a situation for opposing offenses in both interior pass-pro and run blocking. T.J. Watt is the ideal superstar to lead this defense with his versatility as a 3-4 Edge and there is plenty of depth to rotate between making this the best pass rush in the league. If it weren’t for that elite strength, this defense would struggle severely defending passing offenses as the secondary is a liability. CB Joe Haden is a bit old and washed up to reliably cover number one receivers but even worse, Cam Sutton has to step outside, and Antoine Books is the nickel that makes this one of the weakest corner groups in the league. Minkah Fitzpatrick alone makes this secondary closer to average than the worst and without him, the defense very well may just crack a little and perform significantly worse. Overall the coach and culture give them a nice floor regardless of any injuries and if a corner steps up and Devin Bush has a breakout season, they could very well be a top-three defense.

Overall DEF Grade: 80.2 (5)

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Projected Record: 9-8 (3rd DIV)

Pittsburgh 2021 Schedule

• Individual grades are based on scale of 50-100.