Steelers players report to training camp a week from today. And if I've been asked once, I've been asked 100 times how the team can be better in 2022 than it was in 2021?
After all, as much as Ben Roethlisberger struggled at times last season, he pulled the team's bacon out of the fire with a league-high six fourth-quarter comebacks.
But we really don't have to look back to the pre-Roethlisberger era of 2003 to figure out how the Steelers will handle the post-Roethlisberger era. All we really need to do is look at the 2019 season to see how the Steelers, and more importantly, Mike Tomlin will handle life without his franchise quarterback.
The Steelers didn't have Roethlisberger for 14 games in 2019 after he blew his elbow out at the end of the first half in a Week 2 loss to the Seahawks.
All they did in those final 14 games was go 8-6 with a combination of Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges at quarterback.
They were actually 8-3 without Roethlisberger going into a Week 15 game against the Bills, getting themselves to 8-5 after an 0-3 start. And they did so in a very specific way.
The running game, as it has been in recent years, wasn't great. The Steelers averaged just 90.4 yards rushing per game despite averaging just under 25 rushing attempts per game.
Opponents knew the Steelers were challenged at quarterback that season -- both Rudolph and Hodges made their NFL debuts that season -- and loaded the box because of it. The Steelers averaged just 3.7 yards per rushing attempt. They averaged 4.7 yards per play but also allowed 4.7 yards per play on defense. The team did whatever was necessary each week to come away with a win. That meant unveiling a Wildcat attack at times, while at other times they actually allowed Rudolph and Hodges to throw the ball down the field.
To steal a phrase from Tomlin (via Dick LeBeau), if you've got red paint, you paint your barn red.
That's coaching. And what it means is that if your roster can do certain things well, you do those things. If it can't, you don't do those things. You accentuate what you do well and minimize what you don't do well.
As hard as it might be to believe, that's not always the way things happen in the NFL. Some coaches believe it's their system that leads to winning. Former Eagles coach Chip Kelly is a perfect example of that, but there have been many others. Usually, they don't last long. It's akin to playing small ball in baseball. You bunt. You steal bases. You hit-and-run. You do whatever is necessary to manufacture runs.
The difference between 2019 and 2022 is that the Steelers will be better at quarterback and at the other skill positions than they were that season.
Najee Harris is better than James Conner. Pat Freiermuth is better than Vance McDonald. This group of wide receivers is much more dangerous than the group the Steelers had in 2019.
More importantly, Mitch Trubisky is better than the Rudolph/Hodges duo.
• The real question is can the defense perform at the level it did in 2019?
That's the key.
The additions of Myles Jack and Larry Ogunjobi could be the most critical additions toward making that come to fruition.
Remember, the Steelers had Stephon Tuitt for just six games that season before he suffered a torn pectoral muscle. Prior to that, he might have been the team's best defensive player.
But with Cam Heyward, Javon Hargrave and Tyson Alualu, the Steelers were still dominant up front defensively.
Now, they'll have Heyward, Alualu and Ogunjobi up front. That should be a formidable trio.
And remember, the 2019 inside linebackers were rookie Devin Bush and the combination of Mark Barron and Vince Williams. Jack is an upgrade from that group. And Bush should at least be able to get back to the level of play he was at as a rookie in 2019.
• I go on vacation for a week and all hell breaks loose with the Steelers' stadium name.
So, it's no longer Heinz Field. It will now be Acrisure Stadium.
Fans hate it. I'm not exactly sure why.
What difference does it make what the name of the stadium in which the team plays is called? It's still the same place.
Some fans have even started an online petition to get the Steelers to change the name back. Good luck with that.
Fans should actually be happy the Steelers are getting $10 million per year for the next 15 years for the stadium naming rights. It's a heck of a lot more than the $57 million the Steelers got from Heinz for 21 years of Heinz Field.
Acrisure Stadium will help keep the Steelers competitive on the field by adding more money to the team's coffers. That's what fans should be the most concerned about.
• The Steelers will head to training camp next week with $14 million in available salary cap space according to the NFLPA web site.
That's more than enough money to make some legitimate contract extension offers to some of their pending free agents or to continue adding to this team.
• So, who will be first up?
I would expect an extension to happen with Chris Boswell to happen organically. That will be a very easy one.
I'm told the Steelers will at least approach Diontae Johnson regarding an extension in the coming weeks. Whether that gets done or not depends on Johnson's asking price.
And remember, despite all the "reports" circulating out there, neither Johnson nor his agent have come out with any numbers. Everyone is just speculating what he'll want based on some of the other wide receiver contracts given out this offseason.
• If I see one more graphic about how the Steelers have the lowest-paid this or that on offense, I might lose my mind.
Of course they have the lowest-paid offensive line, lowest-paid running back room, lowest-paid wide receiver room, etc. Nearly everyone they have on those units is still playing on a rookie contract.
They also have one of the youngest offenses in the league because of that. But lowest-paid doesn't equal bad.
There are plenty of teams who are paying a lot more money for what's expected to be average to below-average results.
Give me the group with upside potential every time.
• The Steelers are the only team in the AFC North without a major issue hanging over their collective heads as training camps start.
For the Browns, it's obviously the Deshaun Watson situation. For the Ravens, quarterback Lamar Jackson's contract situation remains an open wound, while the team also has a number of key players, including left tackle Ronnie Stanley, running back J.K. Dobbins and others returning from major injuries. In Cincinnati, safety Jessie Bates, arguably the team's best defensive player, didn't get a new deal by the franchise tag deadline last week and has said he won't play on the franchise tag this year. That could turn into a Le'Veon Bell-type situation.
For the Steelers, the biggest "distraction" will be players trying to figure out where everything is at on the campus of Saint Vincent College.
• One interesting note is that both Ogunjobi and left tackle Dan Moore are wearing No. 65 heading into training camp.
That's fine during camp and the preseason, but once the regular season begins, somebody is going to need a new number.
Ogunjobi has worn 65 throughout the course of his NFL career. He also wore it in college at Charlotte.
Moore also wore No. 65 at Texas A&M. And since Moore has been with the Steelers longer, Ogunjobi would have to buy the number from Moore, which also would entail purchasing all Moore jerseys already produced for sale to fans -- not that there would be that many.
It still can get expensive.
Chances are, Ogunjobi will need to find a new number.
• Words cannot begin to explain how excited I am personally to get back to Saint Vincent College.
The access to players and coaches is always outstanding. And that, in turn, allows reporters to better do their job for our readers and listeners.
It's also beneficial for the players. During the pandemic, it was impossible to talk to every player on the roster, even if it was just for a few minutes to ask a single question about something you saw on the field or observed the player doing. Instead, everyone largely had the same stuff from the same players, whoever was made available that particular day. If someone wants to do a story on -- and I'm just picking a random name here -- undrafted rookie cornerback Carlins Platel, now they can do so.
• In many ways, I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. The other beautiful thing about training camp is that we can report what we see and hear.
That's where it's beneficial to be on the field and actually know what you're watching and hearing from the coaching staff.
I always make my way around the fields at Saint Vincent watching and listening. The sideline isn't for social time. It's where you learn things.
And trying to take that kind of stuff in the last couple of years during camps was impossible from the stands or press box.
