Tim Benz: With preseason games over, Steelers still have 3 big issues to address

For the most part, the Pittsburgh Steelers appeared to have a very positive training camp and a solid preseason.

Friday night’s 34-9 dud of a loss to the Carolina Panthers in the preseason finale aside.

It appears as if a lot of questions surrounding the team’s depth — and even some of the front-line starters — have been addressed.

I’m not ready to say “fixed” yet. But addressed.

Potential problems were identified. Potential solutions have been put into place. There is reason to believe they’ll work.

Rookies Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth look like the real deal at running back and tight end, respectively.

Backup quarterbacks Mason Rudolph, Dwayne Haskins and Josh Dobbs pushed each other to the point that they were much more good than bad — until Friday. Meanwhile, their receivers didn’t seem to have as many issues with drops as they did a year ago.

At outside linebacker, Alex Highsmith might be on the way toward making the oft-discussed Year 1-to-Year 2 leap. His improvement along with the signing of Melvin Ingram and impressive preseason efforts from the likes of Cassius Marsh, Quincy Roche and Jamir Jones should mitigate the departures of Bud Dupree and Ola Adeniyi.

Trading for Joe Schobert from Jacksonville could be a long-sought cure to what has ailed them at inside linebacker. And players such as Carlos Davis, Henry Mondeaux, Isaiah Buggs and Isaiahh Loudermilk might lengthen the rotation along the defensive line.

Even punters Presley Harvin III and Jordan Berry had a strong competition.

But there are three areas the Steelers have yet to fix. One of them, they can’t control. The other two might be bigger tasks than one training camp will allow time to solve.

The offensive line: To be fair, the offensive line has yet to become the train wreck many of us expected before training camp opened. Heading into Friday night’s kickoff in Charlotte, Pro Football Focus graded the Steelers offensive line as the second-best overall unit in the NFL behind New England during the preseason.

Especially left guard Kevin Dotson, who played catch-up in recent weeks after missing some time because of injury.

#Steelers Kevin Dotson this preseason:

???? 92.9 PFF Grade (1st)
???? 52 pass-blocking snaps
???? 0 pressures allowed pic.twitter.com/Vn4AZk3hOw

— PFF (@PFF) August 26, 2021

Just keep in mind, position coach Adrian Klemm’s unit rarely saw a lot of first-team defensive fronts and rarely had the first-team group of five on the field at once.

The run-blocking push still was inconsistent. Dobbs was sacked once. Haskins wasn’t, but he dealt with a fair amount of pressure against the Panthers’ first-team defense. Unless Ben Roethlisberger and the starting skill guys were involved, the red zone was a problem.

Let’s be honest, no matter how well or poorly the offensive line played in the preseason, we weren’t going to believe this completely revamped bunch was going to be functional until it plays in a real game.

That day is coming in Buffalo on Sept. 12.

The search for nickel and dime defensive backs: The further we get away from Antoine Brooks’ injury-related release, the clearer it is the Steelers really wanted him to win that Mike Hilton slot job.

Now it is becoming just as clear that Cameron Sutton is going to have to bounce inside when the Steelers go to five defensive backs, and James Pierre or Justin Layne must mature quickly on the outside opposite Joe Haden.

As far as the sixth guy in the dime, there’s a lot to like about rookie seventh-rounder Tre Norwood. Smarts. Versatility. Instinct. Coachability. But a lack of raw foot speed and some tackling issues have revealed themselves, and his first-half dropped interception against the Panthers was costly.

A blessing in disguise might be that I tend to think Sutton has looked better at times (this season and during his career) in the slot than he has this summer outside.

Even though Sutton may end up juggling two positions at once, keeping him in the slot and letting Pierre or Layne handle the outside duties might be the best combination of five DBs for defensive coordinator Keith Butler and secondary coach Teryl Austin.

The schedule: This is the one thing the Steelers can’t control. It’s going to be a slog. The toughest opponent strength of schedule in the NFL.

If you are looking for a silver lining, though, the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens both have lost prep time for some players who’ve had to deal with numerous injuries in training camp.

The Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills have had covid-19 issues. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is coming off knee surgery. And the Green Bay Packers spent most of the offseason distracted by the Aaron Rodgers saga.

“I’ll take NFL divas for $1000, Aaron.”

So maybe some of the Steelers opponents who have had troublesome camps will take a step or two back, where the Steelers have taken a step or two forward.

Or maybe it’s been eight months since I’ve seen meaningful football and I’m trying to talk myself into thinking it’ll last until mid-January at least.

Yeah. It’s probably that second thing.

But at least the Steelers have done enough to make me believe that prospect exists when I was ready to believe the playoffs were unlikely as recently as March.