Top 5 Offseason Stories: The Pittsburgh Steelers

Note: A big part of the Cleveland Browns’ chances in any season is the outlook on teams they play two times each in their own division. This week, we will be going over the Top 5 stories from each of the Browns’ divisional rivals as we head closer to training camp and the 2015 NFL season. Any visitors to the site who are fans of these teams, keep in mind, I’m extremely biased against them. 🙂

Of course the Pittsburgh Steelers won 11 games in 2014. Of course they did. The (stupid) Steelers always seem to make the most out of their seasons, don’t they? Even after two straight years going 8-8, the Steelers’ reputation is good enough to be completely infuriating.

In 2014, the Steelers started 3-3, including a 21-point loss in Cleveland, which was their third “L” of the year. That 31-10 Browns season highlight seems to be what woke the Steelers up as they ended up winning the next three straight. The Steelers finished the year 8-3, including wins over the Colts, Ravens, and twice they found ways to smack the Bengals in four games. The Steelers made the playoffs and finally something good (and bad) happened in a Wild Card playoff game — a loss to the hated Baltimore Ravens 30-17.¹

It was certainly a painful way for the Steelers to end their year, but it ended the Steelers’ streak of two years winning only eight games in 2012 and 2013. It’s easy to see why Steelers fans would be encouraged by their 11-win 2014, but what did they do to prepare for 2015?

Here are the top five offseason stories for the Steelers.

1. Ben Roethlisberger’s contract extension

There might not be a fan base in the entire NFL that knows more about what it means to not have a quarterback than that of the Cleveland Browns. So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the Steelers went and enriched one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and one of the greatest quarterbacks in team history. Ben Roethlisberger is living large with a brand new contract that paid him a $31 million signing bonus, $60.75 million guaranteed for injury, and $53 million in the first two years of the deal.²

Ben Roethlisberger might slow down over the next few years as he keeps aging past his current 32 years, but he showed no real signs of doing so in 2014. Roethlisberger was third in the NFL in terms of completion percentage and he was sixth in interception percentage. He was sacked 33 times which put him at No. 12, just behind Josh McCown’s 36 in Tampa.

The Steelers had no choice but to extend Ben Roethlisberger and it feels good as a Browns fan that there’s really no depth behind him, but it isn’t like the giant Miami (OH) grad really ever misses time.³ Roethlisberger should just feel lucky that all his off-the-field issues occurred at a time before the league started punishing the living daylights out of anyone and everyone they could justfiy punishing. (Stupid Steelers get all the breaks.)

Speaking of…

2. Who will run the ball?

Le’Veon Bell is a good running back. That’s easy to say considering he had a three-game streak with over 200 yards rushing in 2014. He got himself into trouble with some smokeable substances during a traffic stop during the 2014 season and finds himself slapped with a three-game suspension to start 2015. That’s not great news for the Steelers, who will now have to find someone else to help them run the ball so they don’t get off to a slow start against the Jaguars, Packers, and Bills.

The Steelers have the diminutive Dri Archer as well as Josh Harris, both coming into their sophomore NFL seasons. These two guys ran the ball just 19 times for 56 yards combined in 2014. The Steelers did add veteran DeAngelo Williams to the team, but he’s 32 years old and only carried the ball 62 times for 219 yards last season. So maybe he’s fresh, Steelers fans? It’s running back so maybe the Steelers find a short-term solution (or even a long-term one) in training camp with some unnamed player. That’s the way of the NFL world now with the continued devaluation of the position. Who knows? Maybe they can bring back Browns cast-off Ben Tate, who gave them a bit of time a season ago. It’s also only a three-week layoff for Bell, and it could be shortened on appeal. You never know.

3. Changing of the guard with Troy Polamalu “retiring”

Isn’t it so disgustingly Steelers that an older player who was losing his effectiveness was convinced to retire and save his team all kinds of cap space and heartache from having to cut him? It’s “feel-good” enough to make a Browns fan sick. But even in his elder state, Troy Polamalu was better than a lot of safeties that get playing time around the league.

Who could take over for Polamalu? Maybe Shamarko Thomas. Whether or not Thomas — a player drafted with fourth-round pick originally owned by the Browns — is remotely capable of filling the eight-time Pro Bowler’s shoes remains to be seen. It’s pretty much impossible to predict. Shamarko Thomas played fewer than 200 snaps his rookie season and only two snaps in 2014 because of hamstring injuries. It’s one of the biggest question marks for the Steelers in 2015 as they look to improve against the run. The Steelers gave up 4.4 yards per run in 2014, just slightly better than the woeful 4.5 yards the Browns gave up.

4. Keith Butler promoted to replace Dick LeBeau

Speaking of the woeful yards-per-rush stat, the Steelers made a big change on their coaching staff. Dick LeBeau was with the Steelers from 2004 to 2014 in his latest stint before he “resigned”⁴ with the news that he wouldn’t be retained. Keith Butler takes his place, and you might remember that name. Butler got his “professional” coaching debut with the “professional” 1999 expansion Cleveland Browns as a linebackers coach. Those were the days of Wali Rainer, Jamir Miller, and Rahim Abdullah, among others. He spent a few years in Cleveland before moving over to the Steelers in 2003, again as a linebackers coach.

Even as the Steelers let a legend go, they welcome in an incumbent, long-time assistant, who is 59 years old. Those are kind of meaningless details if Butler turns out to be a failure, but it has all the ingredients of a perfect Steelers storyline. Even when the Steelers make a change it smells of continuity rather than reeking of trying too hard or reaching.

5. Will the Steelers be able to rush the passer?

It’s kind of a generic question, but if you look at what the Steelers’ identity has been over the long term, it’s been defense and getting to the quarterback. The Steelers only sacked opposing QBs 33 times in 2014, which was 26th in the NFL. They know it’s a problem as can be seen with their switch at defensive coordinator and their off-season activities.

Namely, the Steelers drafted a pass-rusher named Bud Dupree from Kentucky. He needs to be a quick study as the team tries to figure out the pass rush with a recently retired Jason Worilds now gone and with an aging James Harrison back once again as he approaches 40 years of age. Arthur Moats, Jarvis Jones, Ryan Shazier, and others fill out the defensive front with Steve McClendon at nose tackle and Cameron Heyward at end. Regardless of who does what where, the Steelers’ most important offseason task appears to be in fixing its defense.

The Steelers better hope they didn’t reach on Dupree.⁵ Pro Football Focus has an inkling that it might have been a reach on a guy who looks really good in a combine-type environment.

The Conclusion for Browns Fans

The Steelers always seem to make smart moves, but most of that is born out of the past performance when things have worked out for them. The Steelers had a big year in 2014 after two mediocre seasons preceding it, but they’re still in a state of transition with younger players expected to step up for older and departing players. It’s not impossible that 2014 was an outlier and the Steelers might be more of an 8-8 team than an 11-win one. I can dream of a Browns-ish four or five-win season, but it’s hard to bet on that. It starts with the quarterback and at least for three or four more years, you have to think the Steelers have a really good answer to what is always the Browns’ biggest depth chart conundrum. Until proven otherwise, the Steelers are to be considered a perennial contender in the AFC North and beyond.

1. Steelers lose good. Ravens win bad. [↩]
2. Source: Steelers Depot [↩]
3. Reverse psychology. [↩]
4. Steelers get players they would cut to retire and coaches they weren’t going to retain to “resign.” Browns fans have Kyle Shanahan PowerPoint presentations. [↩]
5. I hope they did reach on him. [↩]