Who's got plans to be in Houston for the 2/5/17 weekend?
I'm feeling pretty good this season that our Steelers are going to be in town that Sunday collecting Lombardi #7. While we have a number of injury and suspension issues heading into the season, I see it a lot of positives that outweigh all the negatives.
The key formula for winning #7 is in tact - Big Ben + Defense = Championships. Notice the plural - Championships. This team is still poised to be in position to win multiple Lombardis and this year is when the next run begins.
Offensively, losing Heath and Martavis are negatives that most teams would struggle to overcome. Having Bell out for the first couple of games isn't optimal. However, can you remember a season during the Big Ben era where we were entering the year with what looks to be a dominant O Line? Offensively, the O Line gives me supreme confidence this unit is positioned to carry this team all the way to Houston. While we still have some of the best skill players in the league, it really doesn't make much difference. The key is, we'll be able to run the ball effectively behind this line. Play action will open up. And Big Ben will have just a little more time in the pocket (of which he'll be sure to use every last millisecond) to perform his magic. Let's break it down a little further to make it crystal clear - Ben and this offense could carry this team with Richardson, Johnson, Grimble, Rogers, and Coates starting at the skill positions. Brown, Bell, Williams, etc. are just the icing on the cake.
Defensively, it all starts up front where I believe we're stacked. Hargrave is an unknown at this point, but I have a strong feeling the 3 man front of Heyward, Tuitt, and Hargrave have the potential to be the most dominant 3 man front the Steelers have ever put on the field. Tuitt is ready to take the next step and has the upside to be even more productive than Heyward starting this year. Hargrave can be even better in time and 31 other teams are going to be asking themselves how they passed on him in the draft.
There remain a number of outstanding questions in the front 7 behind the D Line. We'll still need another big year out of old man Harrison because Jarvis hasn't panned out. The injury to Bud isn't helpful either, but we're solid up this middle with Timmons and Shazier. But the key here is this - for the first time in many seasons, I expect the D Line to keep our LBs clean to make plays all over the field. And no one will benefit from the improved play of the D Line like Ryan Shazier. In fact, he's going to benefit so much and is on such an upswing in his career, that I'm penciling in Shazier as a future multiple winner of the NFL DMVP award. May the football god watch over him and keep him clean and healthy, but I see Shazier as the guy that takes the biggest step forward on the entire team. We'll have to figure a way to generate pressure with our OLBs and have to have some faith that Harrison's body can hold up. No matter who we utilize on the outside, I expect big production because of the improved D Line.
The one area on the team that I really can't say for sure what we have yet is our DBs. But if the front 7 can create pressure and stop the run, I think we'll be fine on the backend. I've always been a fan of Mike Mitchell and think some time in our system puts him on a path to make plays for us. I've also been a big fan of Robert Golden and his work ethic, effort, and coverage skills from the S position. I think he'll be a big surprise performer for this team. The questions for me are more on the corners. What have we got besides Gay and Cockrell? Gay will always be steady for us and I expect Cockrell to improve this season because he's another young guy with a good head on his shoulders and we're going to start to see benefits from the mental side of his game this season. Beyond these guys, we just don't know, but does it matter if we can dominate in the front 7? I think there's a parallel with the offensive skill positions where we could be fine with Thomas, Dangerfield, Burns, and Gilbert on the back end of this front 7.
We've got the horses to stay in any game and play with any team in this league. We just need Ben to get us over a couple humps when it comes to the postseason and he's got to remain healthy for us to have a real chance. I truly believe last year's injury to Ben was the only reason we don't already have #7 in Pittsburgh.
And in today's NFL, you cannot downplay the importance of a Kicker. Boswell gives me extreme confidence when Tomlin wants to put points on the board when we're at 50 yards+ out.
Overall, there's a lot of questions on this team for this season. But I think the key ingredients are there to get us over the hump and to start doing it this season and for many more to come.
Hope everyone enjoys this season and y'all are as amped up as I am. I'm gonna be ready to run through a brick wall by 7pm tonight. Let's get this started!!!!
Who ride?
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