2013 Pittsburgh Steelers Preview

2013 Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers are a proud franchise led by a great young coach in Mike Tomlin and a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. They really struggled last year and did not make the playoffs, as they fell to third place in the AFC North. Their offense sputtered at times, as Mike Wallace missed some time (he will now be missing permanently, as he is with Miami), and they never got a ground game working. Their defense was stout and elite, as usual, but they really hurt themselves by not creating enough turnovers to bail out the offense. They are also another year older, but that has not stopped them before, and they replaced James Harrison with new outside linebacker Jarvis Jones, whom they selected in the first round of this past draft. The offense lost Heath Miller to a torn ACL in Week 16 last year, which is a truly devastating injury for them, as he was Big Ben’s security blanket. His only true weapons on the outside now are Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders, neither of whom have ever had that one true breakout year yet proving he is number one receiver material. I love the drafting of running back Le’Veon Bell, but as of right now it looks like he is down on the depth chart. If he ever gets the starting job, I’m really high on him. There are plenty of questions surrounding the Steelers: will Big Ben return to form? Can the defense continue to play at the same high level as years past? Which receiving threat will step up? Can the offensive line keep Roethlisberger upright? These are all valid concerns, and maybe too many for a team to make the playoffs.

Schedule

Week 1: W vs TEN (this will be something like 28-3)

Week 2: W at CIN

Week 3: L at CHI

Week 4: L at MIN

Week 5: Bye

Week 6: W at NYJ
Week 7: L vs BAL
Week 8: L at OAK

Week 9: W at NE

Week 10: W vs BUF

Week 11: L vs DET

Week 12: L at CLE

Week 13: L at BAL

Week 14: W vs MIA

Week 15: W vs CIN

Week 16: L at GB

Week 17: W vs CLE

WHOA. All throughout my divisional previews of the AFC North teams I’ve talked about how I expect three teams out of the four to make the playoffs. I literally changed my mind about that as I was going through the schedule. That’s how crazy the second tier of teams in the AFC is. So now, it looks like I have the 2013 Pittsburgh Steelers at 8-8, which is unlikely to grab that final wild card spot. Their lack of offensive weapons scares me a little bit, along with the fact that in this division, you need more than just a stud defense, because all four teams have that now. The question now becomes, who do I think will beat out the Steelers and make the playoffs come January? Maybe we’ll get our answer when I continue with the AFC South previews. Take a guess, you might get Lucky. Until next time.

Bold Prediction: Le’Veon Bell will be the Steelers’ leading rusher and score 10 touchdowns.