Coming off an important victory versus a division opponent, the Pittsburgh Steelers will play their 14th game of 2025 on Monday night against another surging team, the Miami Dolphins. Winners of four consecutive games and in the hunt for playoff spot, the Dolphins will be a challenge.
Below are five key things I believe the Steelers will need to do to come away with their eighth win of the year.
Go Back to the Well – Throughout the entire season, the Steelers passing offense was a heavy dose of short passes, many of which were behind the line of scrimmage. Heavily reliant on yards after the catch, something in recent seasons they were extremely poor at accomplishing.
Last week, the offense looked refreshing.
From the first offensive play last week, there was a concerted effort to push the ball down the field. Their hunt for bigger plays was successful with four completions over 20 yards down the field. That doubled their season total. And they could have had others with Pat Freiermuth down the field on the Jaylen Warren touchdown, as s well as new receiver Adam Thielen open down the middle of the field on the pass that was batted back and caught by Aaron Rodgers.
It will be a challenge this week. While Miami does allow the highest completion percentage in the NFL (69.9 percent) the Dolphins don’t allow a bunch of big plays down the field. They are tied for 10th best allowing 35 pass plays of 20 or more yards. They are second best with just two plays over 40 yards. Add Minkah Fitzpatrick lurking on the back end. You know he would love to make a big play against the team that traded him.
Just a couple of big plays would make a stark difference.
Cast a Net Over Achane – In the 2024 regular season, the Steelers defense allowed 1,678 yards rushing. In the 2025 regular season, they have allowed 1,629 yards rushing, and they still have four games to go. In the last two games alone, they have allowed 466 yards rushing.
Time to make a change and try something new.
We can look at a bunch of statistics, and none of them are that good. For instance, the run defense with Derrick Harmon allows 96 yards per game. When Harmon does not play, it doubles to 191 yards per game. It is unsure if Harmon will be able to play in this game.
On the season, Miami is averaging 126 yards rushing per game. Pittsburgh is allowing 125. Over the last four, Miami’s offense has increased to 192 per game. Pittsburgh’s defense, 167.5 allowed per game.
De’Von Achane is the main cog in the Miami offense. Over 1,100 yards on the ground, averaging 5.8 yards per carry. He’s a really good receiver too with 55 receptions. Additionally, he is one of the best in the league at making tacklers miss.
Pittsburgh must be better defending the run to force the warm weather quarterback beat them in the chilly weather of Acrisure.
Force Tua or Three – Winning the turnover battle is goal for Pittsburgh every week. And it is truly a team effort. They have 11 interceptions by 10 different players. Sixteen forced fumbles by 11 individuals. And 14 fumble recoveries by defense or special teams by 13 different players.
Enter Tua Tagovialoa. He is tied for the league lead in interceptions with 14. He has fumbled five times though he lost only one. Twelve of his turnovers have come in the Dolphins seven losses.
We are used to seeing Rodgers get the ball out quickly. He averages 2.67 seconds per throw in the season. Tagovialoa is actually slightly quicker. He gets the ball out in 2.60 seconds. The average depth of target for him is 4.6 yards from the line of scrimmage. Therefore, the coverage near the line of scrimmage needs to be tight.
Bigger jams at the line of scrimmage by the corners on the receivers. Linebackers need to look to undercut the slants and in breaking routes from the quick Miami passing game. And if Miami tries to test downfield, I am confident that Tua will underthrow a couple of those routes in the wintry weather.
Don’t Let Their Best Beat You – When the Steelers are on offense, if they want the offense to run effectively, they need to block well. A key to being effective is by neutralizing Miami’s best defenders.
There needs to be a hat on inside linebacker Jordyn Brooks on every play. They need to try to limit him at what he does best, and that is making tackles. He currently leads the NFL with 142 total tackles. That is 44 more than any other player on his team. According to Pro Football Reference, he has missed just 6 tackles this season. That’s impressive.
Against the pass, the man they need to identify is Bradley Chubb. He is the team leader with 6.5 sacks. Whether the Steelers start with Andrus Peat or Dylan Cook at left tackle, they should be given help. Let tight ends or running backs chip on that side to give Rodgers time in the pocket.
Neutralize their best, and the offense has a better chance to keep the momentum from last week.
Finish What They Started – The second half of games have not been kind to the Steelers. They only have themselves to blame.
Their struggles have been consistent. Last week, they went three-and-out on their three fourth quarter possessions. They were up 7-3 at the half against Buffalo and got outscored 23-0 in the second half. Against Chicago, they had a lead at halftime and were outscored 14-7 in the final quarters with the Steelers’ score coming late in the fourth quarter.
And there is plenty of blame to go around. The offense has become stagnant on multiple occasions. The defense has been unable to stop the run long enough to get off the field.
The offenses of Pittsburgh and Miami are both bad in the second half. The Steelers are averaging 10.7 points in the second half. And even worse, just 5.7 points in quarters three and four over the last three games. The Dolphins are worse at 9.2 second half points on the season and 7.3 over the last three.
Pittsburgh needs to win the second half.