Steelers Breakdown from PennLive.com

All indications are the Steelers are preparing to go big or go home in the 2023 draft. The Steelers' motto might as well be that old Wendy’s tagline from the Clara Peller commercial – “Where's the beef?” As his history with the Ravens and the Eagles shows, new Steelers assistant GM Andy Weidl loves is beef.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rush the quarterback on defense, play ball control on offense, and don’t turn the ball over. This is the Steelers’ tried and true philosophy for winning football games. But does it still work in Today’s NFL? In wake of the Kanas City Chiefs’ 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57, the Steeler way not only seems outdated and stale but dead-wrong in a quarterback-driven NFL wher...

As the NFL prepares to crown its 57thSuper Bowl champion on Sunday night, the Steelers are sitting home, biding their time, and fully believing they’re on track to get back to the Big Game. Every move the Steelers didn’t make early in this off-season communicates this quiet confidence.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here’s what a 7-2 stretch run will do for you in Pittsburgh: Save the job of an off-criticized offensive coordinator despite subpar production over two seasons. Convince the team owner  their no-longer-rookie quarterback is the guy to return the Steelers to the Super Bowl. Instill belief in offensive teammates and legions of fans that all the positive momentum and continued development will not on...

It’s a doubly depressing time for Steelers fans. Not only is their favorite football team home for the NFL postseason, extending a dubious streak of Steelers’ playoff futility to six years, we’re watching helplessly as division rivals Joe Burrow and the Bengals usurp the once-sterling Steelers’ standard.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Down the stretch, the Steelers were hot. Their rookie passer, Kenny Pickett, was picking up his play and making big plays in the fourth quarter to win games. Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren and the offensive line became a wrecking crew to be feared on the ground. Harris, in particular, found another level of play in his many angry runs for extra yardage. The defense, led by stars T.J. Watt, Cam Heywar...

The weary eyes of Steelers Nation now look to 2023. But what do they see? Most eye a Steelers’ glass that’s half-full and then some. The reason for optimism, despite the persistent Pittsburgh playoff drought, is personified by rookie passer Kenny Pickett and the equally young guns on offense: second-year stars Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth, along with the seeming superstar in the making, rookie...

With the NFL frozen in place as Damar Hamlin continues to fight for his life in the ICU at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin appeared at his regular weekly press conference on Tuesday, like clockwork. But Tomlin didn’t talk football initially. Rather, he began the session, unprompted by the assembled media, by speaking very personally – and emotionally -- about h...

It’s such a shame the late Franco Harris won’t be there Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium for the Raiders game. The Immaculate Reception hero won’t get to hear one last roar from Steelers Nation. One final stadium-unifying chant of his name: Franco! Franco! Franco! One last mantra for any occasion black-and-gold-clad faithful gather: “Here we go, Steelers!” The game to mark Franco’s iconic play n...

What a pounding Kenny Pickett took on Sunday. Forget that Pickett being swung violently to the Acrisure turf should have resulted in a roughing penalty on Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith. Smith had Pickett by the face mask on the play, to say nothing of whipping him down, resulting in the Steelers’ rookie landing in concussion protocol for the second time in eight weeks. Pickett sat on the turf aft...

Forget all the Steelers’ receivers sulking on the sidelines. Dismiss lip-reading the TV clips of rookie George Pickens shouting, “Throw me the (bleepin’) ball.” This Steelers passing attack belongs to the big dude with a quite mouth. I’m talking about second-year tight end out of Penn State, Pat Freiermuth. Certainly, Freiermuth has gained the trust and favor of rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett, w...

Week by week, we’re witnessing the maturation of Kenny Pickett as he proves himself franchise quarterback worthy in Pittsburgh. It’s happening right before our eyes. On a national stage Monday night, Pickett turned in his best game yet. Against the Colts in Indy, Pickett was decisive, getting rid of the ball rather than holding it and taking a sack. He sensed defensive pressure, moving in the pock...

In the social media firestorm following the Steelers’ 37-30 drubbing by the rival Bengals came a tweet that summed up a game, a season, a team: “The Steelers have so many needs. They basically need an entire new offensive line, especially at offensive tackle. They need a defensive lineman, a linebacker, a true No. 1 cornerback. Another wide receiver. I’m I missing anything?” It fully captures just...

It was a slice of Steel City heresy. There were actual Steelers’ fans in the 412-area code advocating for their favorite football team to shoot for a high 2023 draft pick, rather than get off the mat and fight for respectability this season. All the nonsensical talk of a tanking Steelers team landing next year’s No. 3 draft pick has evaporated into the ether.  Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

The 2022 Steelers officially became a ghost on Halloween. That’s when this team, this season disappeared -- and everyone in Pittsburgh turned the page to 2023.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mitch Trubisky just played the best two quarters of any Steelers’ quarterback this season. In reward, he’ll be promptly shown the bench, so long as rookie passer Kenny Pickett can pass NFL concussion protocols in order to start Sunday night vs. the Dolphins down in Miami.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The startling demise of once-touted first-round running back Najee Harris is a symbol of all that ails the floundering Steelers, who are fast on their way to reaching rock-bottom. Simply put, the 1-4 Steelers’ deadly disease has been diagnosed as decided lack of talent caused by a history of bad drafting. Najee Harris is the posterchild for the problems in Pittsburgh.  Learn more about your ad cho...

Just 3 1/2 games into the season, the Steelers ripped up their entire 2022 gameplan. This opened the door for rookie QB Kenny Pickett to begin what’s expected to be a rocky path toward trying to establish himself as the future of the franchise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s mutiny in once-loyal, black-and-gold loving Steelers Nation. Cries for changes in the Steelers’ inept offense have reached a fever-pitch. The Pittsburgh public demands that coordinator Matt Canada be gone and Pitt product Kenny Pickett be plugged in as the Steelers’ starting QB, replacing Mitch Trubisky. But it’s not just disgruntled Yinzers shouting their heads off high in the Acrisure St...

Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin loves to preach against living in one’s fears. But his offensively stymied football team has been playing in theirs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Steelers are still shuffling their porous offensive line. Coach Mike Tomlin has yet to officially name a starting quarterback. And now we find out star running back Najee Harris has been hobbling around on a Lisfranc foot sprain since Aug. 1. This is not the way to go into the 2022 regular season that was always going to be a challenge and a changing of the guard. First and foremost, the Steel...

A wise NFL coach once said if you listen to the fans in the stands, you’ll soon be sitting with them. So to all those Yinzers in Pittsburgh yelling for Kenny Pickett to start Week 1 of the regular season vs. the AFC Champion Bengals – you’re wasting your breath. If you haven’t noticed by now, Coach Mike Tomlin & Company have mapped out a carefully plotted plan for how to handle their three quarter...

One day soon, Steelers Nation won’t have Mason Rudolph to kick around anymore. Will they regret it? Perhaps. The Steelers’ long history mistreating Mason has turned the hard-battling quarterback into a sympathetic figure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pittsburgh hasn’t been this excited for a Steelers’ preseason game since I don’t know when. These typical ho-hum affairs are usually greeted with apathy. But this season, the first without established starter Ben Roethlisberger, there’s so much change going on, and Steelers fans are dying to see what they have. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a rapturous return for the Steelers to their traditional training camp home at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. The wait after two COVID-cancelled years has been well worth it.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices