Last week, it felt like the Pittsburgh Steelers were already buried at 1-3.
After this week’s games, it feels like there’s a pretty clear path to being above .500 within a month. Amazing how much things change in one NFL week, right?
But it’s true. After beating the Denver Broncos 27-19, the Steelers are already four-point favorites to beat the Seattle Seahawks at Heinz Field next week. Then, they probably lose in Cleveland (Oct. 31) upon returning from their bye. But there’s no reason why they can’t beat the Chicago Bears (Nov. 8) and Detroit Lions (Nov. 14) at home after that.
That’d be 5-4 through nine weeks of the 17-game season and reason for the team to believe it still has a chance to make the playoffs.
I mean, I don’t. You don’t have to do so either. But the club can tell itself that.
In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of TribLIVE and 105.9 The X sees some validity to that theory.
“I believe they go into the bye week 3-3, that’s only one game worse than where I expected them to be after six games,” Madden said. “In terms of being able to con ourselves, we are more than halfway home to that. In fact, I think a lot of people out there are conning themselves right now.”
However, one thing that Madden said has to improve is the defense. Particularly the pass rush from the outside linebackers. T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Melvin Ingram all failed to register a sack Sunday. Watt had two gifts that went for sakcs against Green Bay when he tripped Aaron Rodgers once and Rodgers slid into him later in the game. Then none Sunday versus Denver,
The All-Pro hasn’t been his usual, dominant self since a groin injury suffered in Week 2. And he’s seen a ton of double teams, and holding penalties that weren’t called.
“Ingram and Highsmith need to do a helluva lot more,” Madden said. “And T.J. Watt is still playing hurt, I believe. But when you get $80 million guaranteed, the world doesn’t want to hear about the labor pains. It only wants to see the baby.
“He’s getting quarterback money. He needs to do quarterback things. Quarterbacks impact every game.”
Offensively, the line and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger need to keep making progress after the win versus the Broncos. Particularly Roethlisberger who can still work on his mechanics.
“Whenever he does go long, he’s winding up like (Fernando) Valenzuela,” Madden said. “He is putting his whole body into it. Back in the day, one of his biggest strengths was he could throw flat footed, in traffic and put zip on it. But now I just see him pushing the ball. Kind of flapping at it in that situation.”
On the Penguins front, Mark and I talk about some attendance concerns and how they are augmented by the franchise’s early schedule.
Meanwhile, Madden is optimistic about when Sidney Crosby may return. Although, he is feeling a lot less confident in Tristan Jarry in net.
Plus, we have one concern about Kris Letang. And it has nothing to do with how he skates.
