Why The Pittsburgh Steelers Have A Real Chance To Be A DANGEROUS Team In The AFC Come Playoff Time

Why The Pittsburgh Steelers Have A Real Chance To Be A DANGEROUS Team In The AFC Come Playoff Time

[Music] Steelers fans, I believe this year’s Pittsburgh Steelers team could be a very dangerous team come playoff time and down the stretch of this 2025 campaign. Um, and even though they haven’t exactly looked the part of a Super Bowl contender so far in the in the in the season, I certainly think that they have what it takes to potentially get there. And I think that they’ve found the winning winning formula on both sides of the football that could get the most out of this year’s roster. Now, before we get into the content today, make sure you click that thumbs up icon if you haven’t already. If you believe in this year’s Steelers team like I do, I believe in the talent that they have accumulated here in Pittsburgh for the 2025 season. And I believe they’re starting to figure out how to play with these guys together um schematically, but also the chemistry starting to come together. I really think this team can be dangerous down the stretch. If you with me on that, click that thumbs up icon. So, let me start with this. Like I said, you know, in my intro, Pittsburgh has largely not played like a title contender for probably the entire season, maybe outside of the Colts game. All right? And even in the Colts game, the offense didn’t play great. You know, you take a look at both sides of the field. We’ll start with the offense here. You know, it’s an above league average offense. I would say they’re doing a really good job protecting the football. They’re doing a good job in the red zone. And because of those things, you know, and they’re kind of about league average and kind of everything else, you know, that all accumulates in an above league average scoring offense with 25.3 points per game, which currently ranks 13th in the National Football League. So, this offense is the best it’s been in years, but even then, it’s just been a good offense. It hasn’t been a great offense. It’s not like just completely lighting it up, uh, where they’re putting up like 30 plus points a game and, you know, they’re they’re an elite offense. That’s just not what this team is. I think that they’ve played very efficient football at times. I think they’ve done really good job protecting the football and scoring when they get into the red zone. Those things have been huge for the Pittsburgh Steelers on offense this year. But, you know, we’d be kidding ourselves if we said that this offense was playing at like a truly elite level at this point. And then on defense, it’s been extremely disappointing. They’ve done a pretty darn good job in the red zone and they’ve taken the ball away pretty darn well. They’re second in the league in takeaways, but 11 of those takeaways came in two ball games. All right. So, they’ve certainly been feast or famine in that regard. And then in terms of the efficiency, I mean, there’s no way to slice it, man. They’ve been a bottom half of the league defense for pretty much this entire season. Um, and this includes that excellent performance they just had versus the Indianapolis Colts. And they’re still not even ranking in the top 20 in many of these key areas, which obviously is extremely disappointing given the fact that this team was buil as probably the best defense in football heading into the year. Um, and I think that, you know, the defense has generally been pretty dependent on turnovers to this point in the year. And that’s kind of like the main criticism that people make when it comes to this defense. So, it begs the question, all right, Jack. Well, if those things are wrong with the Pittsburgh Steelers, uh, why do you think that they could be dangerous down the stretch? Well, coming up here, I’m going to explain exactly why I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be an absolute force in the AFC once we get to playoff time. But before we get into the rest of today’s show, let’s have a word from our sponsor today at Prize Picks and the hard-hitting football action. This football season is even better with our friends at Prize Picks, which is a free app you can download on your phone today. The weather might be changing outside, but the feeling of being right never gets old. So, keep the season rolling on with Prize Picks by getting $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5. Prize Pix is super simple to play, guys. You just pick more or less on at least two player stat projections. If you get your picks right, you could cash in. On prize picks, how you play is up to you. If you want flexibility, choose the flex play where you can get paid even if one of your picks misses. And if you want the biggest payouts, go for the power play. No matter how you play though, prize picks is a great way to put your takes to the test. 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So, the reason why I think the Pittsburgh Steelers can be dangerous come playoff time and down the stretch of the 2025 NFL season and why I think this team can absolutely win the AFC North Championship this year is I think that they found their winning formula not only on the offensive side of the ball, but also on the defensive side of the ball now. And I think that this Steelers team has a chance to be one of the more balanced football teams in the entire league as we approach January when the games really matter. Now, let’s take it one at a time here and let’s start with the offense here. And I think that the winning formula on offense, and we’ve known this really since week four when this team beat the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, is that it’s a ground and pound run game with jumbo personnel packages uh to kind of get the ball rolling, forcing teams into heavier personnel into single high safety coverages, and then uh paired with a smart and efficient passing game with Aaron Rogers leading the way under center. And frankly guys, ever since the Pittsburgh Steelers went to their quote unquote jumbo personnel packages back in week four in Dublin, everything really changed. Before that, the run game was one of the worst in the league. Um, you know, the passing game really couldn’t get anything going outside of short passes because, you know, teams were just sitting in two high safety shells and they couldn’t get those teams out of those two high safety shells and, you know, it just wasn’t a very good product on offense through the first three weeks. And then after that, they’ve done a really good job. Uh they’ve been a top five rushing game in the league since then. Uh you know, it’s they’ve thrown the ball down the field more often because there’s more single high coverages, opening up more space for guys down the field. And just generally, this offense has been better um you know, in the in the in the second quarter of the season than they were maybe in that first quarter, those first three weeks. But the truth of the matter is, guys, Pittsburgh cannot win a title this year without a great defense. I like we talked about earlier, this offense is certainly good enough. It’s the best that it’s been in a very long time. And I think Rogers with his experience can captain the ship there. But like this team’s not going to win a Super Bowl because of their offense. All right, I think we all understood going into this season, the Steelers going to win a Super Bowl this year. It’s going to be because they’ve got a good to really good offense, but they have a great to an elite defense that’s leading the way and causing havoc on that side of the ball. And the good news is I think Pittsburgh may have figured out uh their winning formula on that side of the football with some very key changes that they made last week versus the Indianapolis Colts that I think are sustainable and are going to allow this defense to play really good football as we head down the stretch of this 2025 season. And that winning formula on that side of the ball is to play with a two high safety structure kind of base defense with Jaylen Ramsey and Kyle Duggar at safety. then also rely on fourman pass rushes, not blitzes, to get home and create havoc for opposing quarterbacks while keeping the maximum amount of uh defenders out in coverage to force quarterbacks to hold the ball for longer. And before, you know what what they would do is they’d play a lot of single high coverage, they’d play a lot of man, they’d play a lot of blitzes. And I think that the Steelers’s plan heading into the year, and the reason why they got guys like Jaylen Ramsey and Darius Slay was these guys along with Joey Porter Jr. are going to be able to lock down anybody we play in man coverage and they kind of like overestimated what Darius Slay and Jaylen Ramsey still are as athletes at this point in their careers cuz once upon a time ago that plan might have worked. They were some of the best man corners in the league, but those guys are just not those guys anymore. And I think they had to come to that realization and in week nine everything changed. They traded for Kyle Duggar to create kind of this tandem at safety with Jaylen Ramsay where you got two big safeties uh playing in two high safety uh pre-nap alignments. They blitzed less versus the Colts than they did at any point during this season. They played a lot more man match coverage as opposed to pure man and they put more double teams on slot receivers to prevent them uh and prevent quarterbacks from just getting the ball out to the flat or get the ball out on a quick slant to that slot receiver. Now, the big benefit of playing and basing out of two high safeties and why you should do it if you can get away with it is because it keeps what you’re running post snap in terms of pass coverage pretty ambiguous to the opposing quarterback and they have to uh you know they have to process the defense post snap uh to determine what it is. Because if you have those two high safeties up there, it could be a lot of different things. It could be quarters, it could be quarter quarter half, it could be Tampa 2. You could rotate a safety down and play cover three. You could rotate a safety down and play true man coverage. Like there’s a lot of different things you can run out of a two high safety shell and it’s a lot easier on the defense because if you try and do these rotations from a single high alignment, it makes it a lot more difficult and frankly you put a lot of players out of position to make plays if you do it that way. So, um I think that what the Steelers did was they kind of figured out that if they play too high safeties, they’re going to be able to uh stop the passing game a lot better. Uh the downside usually to playing two high safeties, and this has been true forever, is that it leaves you more vulnerable to the run game because you got one less player in the box. So the so the offense has the numbers advantage in the box to be able to run the football. And you know, despite having that numbers advantage, the Pittsburgh Steelers were still able to shut down Jonathan Taylor in this ball game. All right, Jonathan Taylor only had 45 yards on 14 carries, averaged just over three yards a carry, obviously had no touchdowns. Um, so what did the Steelers do to be able to survive in these two high safety coverages pre- snap, but also shut down maybe the best running back in football currently running? Well, the answer to that question is they involve Jaylen Ramsay and Kyle Duggar, their deep safeties, quote unquote, in the run fit. And they use these guys as almost like pseudo linebackers where they’re big, they have long arms, they are relatively athletic, and you know, they can take on blocks, they can do all the things that linebackers typically do. and they’re also really really solid tacklers. So you get these two rundefending safeties in there that are also very, you know, solid in coverage and you can kind of, you know, survive in these two high safety shells, but also sty one of the best running backs in the National Football League today. So that was the big change and really the genius move that Mike Tomlin, Terrell Austin, and Omar Khan kind of conjured up last week that I think is probably going to completely change the Pittsburgh Steelers season. Because before, let’s face it guys, Chuck Clark and Juan Thornnehill were very big liabilities at safety. And it kind of hearkens back to the season when they traded for for Minka Fitzpatrick. The safety play that year before they got Minka was terrible. And the defense, frankly, was one of the worst in the game to that point. And then you simply inject Minka Fitzpatrick into the lineup and all of a sudden the defense just just starts flying and they’re one of the best defenses for the rest of the season. And I think we’re looking at something pretty similar here with injecting Jaylen Ramsay and Kyle Duggar as big rundefending safeties in a two high safety system. Um, and I think that, you know, the Steelers defense has found their winning formula in that regard. And really how it all came together is that, you know, you put Jaylen Ramsey and Kyle Duggar at safety. You play those two high safety structures, which kind of camouflages what Pittsburgh’s doing post snap uh to the quarterbacks, which forces the quarterback to hold the ball for longer. And because they’re holding the ball for longer, it allows Pittsburgh’s pass rush more time to get after that quarterback because before quarterbacks were just getting it out super fast, you know, in the flat and in the slant and, you know, they would be able to make a guy miss and take it for lots of yards after the catch. That wasn’t the case this week, man. And, you know, the pass rush was as good as we have seen it over the last several seasons. And I got to tell you, man, if this defense is going to, you know, live up to its billing and be, you know, one of the best defenses in football down the stretch, the pass rush, which carries a lot of money, man, TJ Watt over $40 million per season, Alex Heismith with a hefty contract, Cam Hayward also with a hefty contract, like with all the money and really the talent and the resources that have been put into this pass rush, it has to be the reason why this defense is elite. And frankly, the reason why you give this pass rush so much money is because, you know, it allows you to have enough talent to give you the advantage of only being able to rush four. All right. What do bad teams, teams with bad pass rushes do? They blitz a lot. And they try to get creative with the way that they send blitzes because they don’t have enough talent to win the one-on-one matchups to win with just four rushers. But how did the Philadelphia Eagles shut down Kansas City and the Chiefs last year in the Super Bowl? They got home with just four. Uh, and they played coverage on the back end. That’s what the Pittsburgh Steelers need to do and that’s what they did versus the Indianapolis Colts and they shut down the best offense in the National Football League with that plan. And listen, man, with the chaos that the pass rush creates, that leads to turnover production. As we talked about earlier, you know, when this this team is playing at its best, when it’s creating a lot of turnovers, the two best wins that this team has this year against New England on the road and against Indianapolis at home, they created 11 total turnovers in those two games. All right. So, you know, with that chaos, it forces quarterbacks to make decisions faster, which forces mistakes, which forces strip sacks, all that stuff. And, uh, you know, if that’s here to stay, then I think we’re looking at one of the best defenses in the National Football League. And frankly, if this defense does play this way, and you combine that with an offense that has been very, very competent, let’s call it, this year. It hasn’t been elite, but it’s been very competent. Uh, you know, you’re looking at a team here with an elite defense that can beat anybody and an offense that can get after anybody as well and put up points and capitalize when defenses get these big turnovers as well. So, I think the key to the seventh Lombardi trophy, the record seventh Lombardi Trophy, if they’re going to do it this year, is this defense plays the way it did versus the Indianapolis Colts. So, let me know down there in the comments section. Do you believe, is there a nonzero% chance that the Steelers win the Super Bowl this year? Okay, type yes if you think they have any chance to win the Super Bowl this year. Type no if you think the Steelers season is already over and there’s no chance of them hoisting a seventh Bombardi trophy. That’ll be it for today’s edition of Steelers Talk by Chat Sports. Thank you guys so much for stopping by here this afternoon. I’ll see you guys later and until next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers. [Music]

Steelers Talk by Chat Sports on Friday, November 7th, centers around why host Jack Sperry believes the Pittsburgh Steelers may be on the verge of becoming one of the most dangerous teams in the NFL this season as we approach the 2nd half of the 2025 NFL season. Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS and use code CLNS and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup!

On today’s show, Jack breaks down how and why the Steelers have not played like a legitimate Super Bowl contender throughout most of the 2025 campaign, and why he has hope and optimism for the team to be playing their best football and to live up to their potential when it matters most down the stretch in the coming weeks.

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Here’s some more Steelers YouTube segments for you to check out if you’re looking for more insight on the Black & Gold:
– How Steelers GM Omar Khan Is Setting PIT Up For The Future While Maintaining A ‘Win Now’ Approach – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjPtNFMbi9w
– Steelers News: Asante Samuel Jr. VISITING Pittsburgh + Aaron Rodgers HAPPY With PIT’s WR Rotation – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49rslM49Z60
– Steelers vs. Chargers Preview: Keys To Victory & Score Prediction | Mr. Rodgers Returns To Malibu – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vXY03aw3SY

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