It’s week 3 in the NFL and the sky is falling in Pittsburgh. It isn’t just the fact that the Steelers have a 0-2 start, but its how they’ve looked in the their two defeats that has Steeler Nation rattled.
In the HOME OPENER against the Tennessee Titans, the Steelers looked emotionless on offense. It got to the point where fans began emptying the stands with 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter, which would make sense if it were a blowout, but not so much considering it was a one-score game. The fans had no faith in the offense and that carried over to week 2 when the Steelers could only muster 10 pts against the divisional rival Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. Ben Roethlisberger was inaccurate and seemed disinterested – too be fair, he did have to run for his life often enough. Antonio Brown had a sideline confrontation with Todd Haley.
It was so bad that there was a “players only” meeting during the week. Again, might not seem like a big deal, but it’s only week 3. It looks like the Steelers are in shambles, but why?
There are plenty of reasons for the decline in production from this team. Steeler Nation’s whipping boy, Todd Haley, may be the #1 reason. The game planning and play calling with a two-time Superbowl winning QB at the helm has been atrocious. The play that speaks to Todd Haley’s incompetence as an offensive coordinator was an end-around play call to Jerricho Cotchery. Jerricho Cotchery?! The same team with Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, and Markus Wheaton and the play call is a run around with Jerricho Cotchery. Todd Haley is a big reason for the 0-2 start and the 9.5 pts/game offensive output through two games. Oh, but there is a bigger reason.
The biggest reason is the lack of overall depth and talent of the team. The Steelers pride themselves on building quality teams through the draft and they are not normally active in free agency. It’s a great way to sustain a winning football team over time. The recipe seems to have worked oh so well, but the catch is that the GM has to draft well.
Kevin Colbert has been widely considered one of the best General Managers in the NFL for his history of drafting quality first round picks including Ben Roethlisberger and Heath Miller. But the Midas touch lately has worn off. The Steelers only have one player, Ziggy Hood, remaining on the roster from the 2008 and 2009 drafts. Maurkice Pouncey, Steelers first round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, is often injured. Cameron Heyward, Steelers first round pick in the 2011 NFL draft hasn’t been able to beat out fellow first rounder Ziggy Hood or Brett Keisel for either of their starting spots.
Another problem with his drafting lately has been the selections during the middle rounds. Again, the teams relies heavily on the draft for stockpiling talent and adequately filling needs, so the mid-round picks are important for building the depth. From 2008 through the 2012 draft, only seven of twenty five players selected in rounds 3-6 are still on the team. On the surface it doesn’t seem so bad because plenty of teams miss on mid round picks, however, the Steelers hardly make acquisitions via free agency so the lack of mid-round picks that have stuck with this team hurts.
As a result, the Steelers re-sign players they’ve drafted that have no business being on an NFL team simply because in a way, their backs were to the wall. Also, they strap themselves with annual cap problems because there are no promising young players ready to step-up and take the starting spot from ageing veterans demanding multi-million dollar contracts.
How can the Steelers hope to get better if they haven’t been drafting, retaining, or acquiring good young talent for a half of a decade? The answer is they can’t. At the end of the day, 2013 may be a bad season for the Steelers not only because of poor coaching, but because they aren’t talented enough. And if that isn’t an indictment against the GM Kevin Colbert, then I don’t know what is.
Hang tight, Steeler Nation, it’s still early.
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