Three Areas the Steelers MUST Improve

Story by Yinzer Crazy Contributor Anthony DiCerbo. Follow him on Twitter @SnarfVenom

It is no secret that the Steelers are struggling. Almost two months into the season things are starting to look bleak and fans are looking for improvement in the team. That begs the question, where do the Steelers need to get better?

For the sake of this article, despite many fingers being pointed at the coaching staff, I’ll steer my focus away from the coaches. 

These three things might not be at the top of every fans list, but these are definite areas that the Steelers need to get better at. 

Pass Rush

When the season began, saying that the Steelers were desperate for pass rush help was something I was not expecting to say, but here we are. 

With Watt missing every game since week one, the Steelers have struggled to get to the quarterback. Despite Alex Highsmith being in the top five of the league with 6.5 sacks, the team is still in the bottom echelon of the league. 

The team still has more sacks in week one than they do during the rest of the season combined. They have had three games in which they did not get to the quarterback, which resulted in three losses. 

The acquisition of Malik Reed has not worked out as expected, and while replacing the production of T.J. Watt should be a difficult thing to do, the Steelers have not come even close to being even average. 

Timely Penalties

The offensive line has been playing far better than I expected them to so far this season. I knew this group had talent, but a lackluster preseason had me worried, now their actual play is not my biggest concern.

My concern has shifted to penalties, specifically, the drive killers. With a struggling offense, the last thing that they can afford to do is get behind the chains. Any coach will tell you that penalties are something that the player can control.

In terms of total penalties, the Steelers are middle of the pack, but watching the games paints a different picture. They may not get as many flags as some teams, but they seem to get them at the worst times. 

Each time the Steelers get an ineligible man downfield penalty I die a little inside. To have any chance in their games the Steelers need to control the things that they can control, and penalties will be at the top of the list. 

Punting

I don’t really want to put a player on blast, but the Steelers punting needs to get better, and that means Pressley Harvin needs to get better. 

The Steelers are a team that is top five in the league in terms of the amount of times that they have punted the ball away, at the same time they are bottom five in terms of average yards per punt. 

Again, with a rookie quarterback and a struggling offense sometimes in order to win the game you need to win the field position battle. Currently the Steelers are consistently putting their defense in tough situations with a bad offense and bad punting. 

Good punting is an underappreciated art, let me prove it to you. The Tennessee Titans are 4-2 and in first place in the AFC South. They don’t have a great offense, they have scored 115 points and the Steelers have scored 107, yet they have vastly different records.

One of the key differences is that the Titans are first in the league in terms of their average yards per punt. They are averaging 54.9 yards per punt, which is over 10 yards better than what the Steelers are averaging. 

While the punting obviously doesn’t paint the full picture it is still an interesting difference between two teams that don’t have fantastic offenses. 

Conclusion

The Steelers aren’t going to fix all of their problems overnight, and these issues aren’t minor ones by any means, but if the Steelers are going to get back to their winning ways anytime soon these are three things that they are going to have to improve at.