{"id":1022050,"date":"2026-10-08T14:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T14:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1022050\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T14:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T14:51:15","slug":"steelers-know-what-needs-fixed-now-comes-the-hard-part","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1022050\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers know what needs fixed. Now comes the hard part."},"content":{"rendered":"

Four games were apparently enough for Mike McCarthy<\/a> to reach a pretty simple conclusion about his Pittsburgh Steelers:\u00a0\u201cOur house is not clean right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 2-2, it would be difficult to argue otherwise. The Steelers have shown enough through the first month of the season to believe they\u2019re capable of being a good football team, with stretches where the offense moves the ball, the defense creates turnovers and Pittsburgh looks capable of competing with anyone. The problem is that we\u2019ve rarely seen all of those things happen at the same time.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the extended break following last Thursday\u2019s 27-24 loss in Cleveland may have come at a good time. Rather than immediately moving on to Indianapolis, McCarthy adjusted the schedule and gave his coaching staff additional time to self-scout the first four games before beginning preparations for the Colts.<\/p>\n

There was no shortage of material to examine. Third downs continue to stall the offense, missed tackles have become a concern on defense and opponents have found too many explosive plays. Pittsburgh\u2019s passing game is also searching for more consistency against the amount of man coverage it has seen.<\/p>\n

The Steelers have had four games to identify their problems. Now comes the harder part: actually fixing them.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Third down remains the biggest offensive concern<\/p>\n

McCarthy didn\u2019t leave much doubt about Pittsburgh\u2019s biggest offensive emphasis this week, calling third down the team\u2019s \u201cnumber one focus on offense.\u201d What\u2019s particularly frustrating is that the Steelers aren\u2019t always putting themselves in impossible situations. McCarthy pointed toward the number of opportunities Pittsburgh has had in the third-and-2 to third-and-6 range, where the offense should have plenty of options available rather than being forced into obvious passing situations.<\/p>\n

We saw both sides of the issue in Cleveland. Pittsburgh opened the game with a sustained touchdown drive aided by successful third-down conversions, only to have the offense disappear for a stretch later in the game. Offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio<\/a> specifically pointed toward the third quarter, when the Steelers went three-and-out on three consecutive possessions.<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers<\/a> and company don\u2019t necessarily need to become an offensive juggernaut overnight. Extending another two or three drives can completely change a game by creating more scoring opportunities, controlling possession and preventing Pittsburgh\u2019s defense from repeatedly being asked to get the offense another chance.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

The receivers have to win their matchups<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s third-down problems connect to another trend the coaching staff identified during its self-scout. Opponents haven\u2019t been afraid to challenge Steelers receivers with man coverage, including press-man looks in important situations. McCarthy discussed improving everything from releases to route stems and being physical at the breaking point, while Angelichio mentioned examining formations and concepts that can help receivers create separation.<\/p>\n

There are schematic ways to help, but eventually somebody still has to beat the defender across from him. That\u2019s why the closing stages of the Cleveland game may have provided something Pittsburgh can build upon, as DK Metcalf began winning his individual matchup down the sideline and Rodgers connected with him on consecutive throws during the comeback attempt.<\/p>\n

Angelichio said those plays looked like what the Steelers saw from the Rodgers-Metcalf connection throughout the spring and training camp. More importantly, Cleveland left Metcalf singled up and he made them pay for it. If defenses continue challenging Pittsburgh\u2019s receivers one-on-one, the Steelers need more of the same.<\/p>\n

The missed tackles can\u2019t continue<\/p>\n

Of all the problems Pittsburgh identified during its self-scout, tackling may be the most concerning heading into Sunday. The Steelers missed too many against Cleveland, with McCarthy calling the number \u201cnot acceptable.\u201d Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham<\/a> pointed toward pursuit angles, getting off blocks and properly populating the football as areas that have to improve.<\/p>\n

Graham also pushed back on the idea that the problem comes from a lack of effort. A poor angle or being a step late getting off a block can put a defender in a terrible position before he ever attempts the tackle. Regardless of the cause, the result can turn what should have been a short gain into an explosive play.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an especially dangerous problem to carry into Sunday\u2019s game. Graham made no attempt to hide where his defensive preparation for Indianapolis begins, saying, \u201cIt starts with the running back.\u201d We\u2019ll get much deeper into Jonathan Taylor<\/a> and that matchup before Sunday, but the basic assignment isn\u2019t complicated: Pittsburgh has to get defenders to the football and finish tackles when they\u2019re there.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

A changing defense needs some new faces to step up<\/p>\n

Correcting Pittsburgh\u2019s defensive problems becomes more complicated because the Steelers won\u2019t be doing it with the same personnel. Derrick Harmon<\/a> is headed to injured reserve, removing an ascending piece from the defensive front, while the secondary continues undergoing changes following the Joey Porter<\/a> Jr. trade.<\/p>\n

Jamel Dean<\/a> has been working his way back from injury and DeShon Elliott<\/a> continues progressing toward a return, creating opportunities for younger players to take on larger roles. Daylen Everette<\/a> is one of them, with McCarthy saying the young corner has been pushing for playing time and is ready for a larger opportunity.<\/p>\n

Robert Spears-Jennings<\/a> also gave the Steelers something to build upon in Cleveland. He came away with an interception and a pass breakup, with Graham praising his physical traits, football intelligence and ability to learn without repeatedly making the same mistakes.<\/p>\n

The Steelers have talked about their confidence in these younger players. With injuries and roster moves forcing their hand, they\u2019re about to find out how ready they really are.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to see what the self-scout accomplished<\/p>\n

Four games aren\u2019t enough to define an entire season, especially for a team with a new coaching staff and several significant personnel changes. They\u2019re more than enough, however, to identify some trends.<\/p>\n

Third down isn\u2019t good enough. Pittsburgh\u2019s receivers have to consistently win against man coverage. The defense has to tackle better and eliminate explosive plays, and some younger players are going to have to grow into larger roles sooner than expected.<\/p>\n

McCarthy summed up the urgency of the situation with another comment this week: \u201cTraining camp is over and we\u2019re 2-2.\u201d That\u2019s the reality for a Steelers team that has spent the last several days examining itself and determining what needs to change.<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t much value in talking about what this team might eventually become anymore. Pittsburgh has identified its problems and had extra time to work on them.<\/p>\n

Sunday against Indianapolis is where we start finding out if anything actually changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four games were apparently enough for Mike McCarthy to reach a pretty simple conclusion about his Pittsburgh Steelers:\u00a0\u201cOur…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1022051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,32201,340,3455,2870,7,7343,6,520,57,2360,44626,426,5226],"class_list":["post-1022050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-daylen-everette","tag-derrick-harmon","tag-deshon-elliott","tag-dk-metcalf","tag-football","tag-jamel-dean","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-robert-spears-jennings","tag-steelers","tag-t-j-watt"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117405855504303693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1022051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1022050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1022050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}