Not much went right for the Steelers in 2013, least of all when it counted.
They dropped the first four games of the season and six of their first eight before rebounding for a 6-2 record in the second half. And while their playoff hopes were alive — at least mathematically — until the last day of the season, their future had already been determined long before then.
“We didn’t do enough,” Coach Mike Tomlin said in the press conference that ended the team’s second straight 8-8 season. “We didn’t do enough, particularly early this year.”
But at least one aspect of last season does bode well: Through tinkering with what was broken, the Steelers found a way to turn their season around. It wasn’t enough, but it was also no easy feat, given how the team started.
“There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about what transpired when you look at it over the course of the season,” Tomlin said. “But at the same time, as I look back at the body of work … you’ve got to acknowledge we are what we are — and that’s an 8-8 football team on the outside looking in.”
But this year will be different. The team is younger and faster, and the players are hungry in a division full of teams that are also in transition. There’s also history on the line: Since 1971, no Steelers team has ever posted three consecutive non-winning seasons. The Steelers have put the past behind them, or so Tomlin said at the start of training camp: “I’m singularly focused on the now. I’m going to sell that to the football team. We don’t need to carry last year’s baggage.”
And while he’s known for spouting great lines, it’s easy to believe Tomlin that the Steelers will see success in 2014. Here are five reasons why … and a focus on the no-huddle features in almost all of them.
Head Coach Mike Tomlin
The way some fans and pundits have called for Mike Tomlin’s head the past several seasons, you’d never know that he’d brought the team to two Super Bowls, won one and posted a career record as head coach that sits at 30 games over .500.
In fact, notwithstanding his back-to-back 8-8 seasons, Tomlin has never had a losing campaign — something neither Chuck Noll nor Bill Cowher could boast. That record comes from his ability to adapt to adversity.
Critics will point to last season’s disastrous 2-6 start as a negative. And while that start is the reason the Steelers failed to make the playoffs, Tomlin’s response — like his decision to introduce more no-huddle offense — paid off.
And while last year the Steelers moved to a new defensive philosophy that emphasized the outside pass rush, they were trying to do it with an older, slower defense. This year, Tomlin — a coach with a history of sticking with proven veterans — made some big personnel moves, and now his defense is younger and faster. It remains to be seen how effective that defense can be (see “Five Reasons the 2014 Steelers Are Headed for Disaster”), but Tomlin is the type of coach a player will die for. That leadership could well take the Steelers back to the playoffs in 2014 — and beyond.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger
It doesn’t seem like that long ago that Roethlisberger was often listed as a weak spot in the Steelers lineup — as much for his antics off the field as his performance on it.
But Big Ben has undergone some changes in recent years. He’s more mature and has emerged as a team leader.
At 32, he came to camp in perhaps the best condition he’s managed in years, thanks to work in the offseason. “I just put extra work in [with] personal trainers [and] nutritionists,” he said at the start of camp. “You’re 32 years old and you’re in your 11th year, it’s time to do some extra [work].”
Roethlisberger started to prosper late last season when the Steelers decided to emphasize the no-huddle offense. While in that formation, Roethlisberger is the main play-caller instead of offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Roethlisberger has wanted to be in that leadership position for some time, and the results were obvious: Over the final eight games of the season, he threw 16 of his 28 touchdowns alongside just five interceptions. (He had 14 interceptions on the year).
Based on what they’ve seen in the preseason, fans should be hoping to see a lot of Roethlisberger in the no-huddle during 2014. In the Aug. 16 game against Buffalo, Roethlisberger threw for 128 yards and two touchdowns in limited action. If he can duplicate that proficiency — even if the no-huddle is used sparingly — the Steelers should find a lot of success.
Wide Receiver Antonio Brown
Two seasons ago, Brown was just one of a trio of talented receivers the Steelers had to depend on, along with Mike Wallace and Emmanuel Sanders. He was, in fact, seen as the No. 2 pass-catcher behind Wallace. But that all changed last year when Wallace followed the money to the Dolphins — and Brown stepped up in a big way.
His 1,499 receiving yards ranked second in the NFL last year. And with the introduction of more no-huddle offense, Brown is likely to get far more than the eight touchdowns he scored in 2013. Prior to last year, Brown had more than 1,000 receiving yards just one other time in his career — in 2011, before falling off to 787 yards in 2012. He’s looked good in the preseason: In the game against Buffalo, he took a seven-yard pass from Roethlisberger over the middle 76 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown.
Brown is also one of the team’s leaders: Fellow Steelers have twice named him team MVP. With young receivers all around him, he’ll need to step up and he knows it.
“Everyone’s watching me this year — my attitude, my demeanor and my approach,” Brown says. “[Wide-receiver Coach Richard Mann] says I’m the guy to look to on how to do things, and that’s all part of being a leader.”
Ryan Shazier
Over the past several seasons, the Steelers roster became a Who’s Who of the game’s best-known linebackers: James Harrison, Lamarr Woodley, Larry Foote and James Farrior. But those guys are gone and the Steelers are hoping a younger, faster group will lead the team into the future.
It’s too early to tell whether the unit as a whole will be able to solve the defensive woes that have plagued the Steelers for the past two seasons. But rookie linebacker Ryan Shazier, out of Ohio State, might be the player to make Steelers fans forget the veterans they’ve lost.
In his first preseason game, Aug 16 against Buffalo, the super-fast Shazier made his presence known by notching nine tackles and an interception. He didn’t appear as dominant in the team’s third preseason game, but still managed six tackles.
“I thought he did some good things,” Tomlin said of Shazier after the Buffalo match-up. But that was no surprise, Tomlin added: “From the instant he’s got here, he’s proven that [playing at the pro level] is not too big for him.”
Offensive line
When you think of the Steelers offensive line the past few years, several words come to mind, few of which are positive: injured, soft, just plain bad. The Steelers have spent a lot of time, money and draft picks to give Roethlisberger the kind of protection that he needs, and none of it has paid off.
This may be the year when that changes.
If the line stays healthy, it could be the biggest reason the Steelers find success. If Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro, Marcus Gilbert, Ramon Foster and Kevin Beachum remain in the line-up, they stand to be a tough unit to penetrate.
They’ve got new leadership under veteran line coach Mike Munchak (see “Moving the Line,” page ??) and a no-huddle offense that will allow them to take advantage of fewer defensive substitutions. The quicker pace should allow them to keep Roethlisberger clean — a feat the O-line hasn’t accomplished much since the QB entered the league in 2004. Last year, Roethlisberger was sacked 42 times, the fourth-most of his career. However, that number dropped significantly in the second half of the season once the no-huddle became a focus. He was sacked just 11 times in the final eight games, and in five of those games he was dropped just one time or not at all.
The line still isn’t perfect. Questions remain about the team’s run-blocking and its success outside the no-huddle. In the Aug. 21 preseason game against Philadelphia, the no-huddle was jettisoned early after it looked flat on the first drive. From that point on, Roethlisberger looked pressured, and the run game failed to produce.
Even with those concerns, however, this should be the season when the team’s patience with its line will pay big dividends.
“We’re young, we’re athletic,” says Pouncey, the center who missed all of the 2013 season with a knee injury. “All the guys here have the same goals in mind, and we’re hungry this year. … I think that it’s just going out there, putting the work in and showing everybody instead of talking about it. That would be the best thing for us this year.”
Jody DiPerna contributed to this report
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2014.
