I know, I know...

[GBMelBlount]

It's way too early....

BUT I would love to know your gut feeling about our squad after watching the younger players play two pre season games.

Personally I feel if our young defense gels in the first half of the season it could be a fun year.

[polamalubeast]

But the pass rush need to be better....

[ALLD]

No way no how will we be in the Super Bowl this season. Maybe next year if Ben can stay healthy and we address the CB situation. Too many new squads that need more experience for a deep run. They will probably look better and win the games they are supposed to instead of losing to sub .500 teams.

[SteelerFanInStl]

While I'm excited about a number of the young guys, my #1 concern in the offseason, our CBs, is still a big concern, especially if we can't get a consistent pass rush.

It's looking right now like our 5th round pick, Richardson, won't even make the team. That's two years in a row that we've waited until the fifth round to take a CB and then he was cut. We've done nothing the last two years to improve at this position.

[polamalubeast]

Our CB will be fine if the pass rush is very good...If the pass rush is not good, the Steelers are in trouble


The pass rush is by far my biggest concern...The pass rush vs Bills was awful(with the starter)....The DB is not a concern for me, since you can have a dominant defense with a great pass rush and average or bad DB....The Panthers to last year is the best example

[X-Terminator]

Our CB will be fine if the pass rush is very good...If the pass rush is not good, the Steelers are in trouble


The pass rush is by far my biggest concern...The pass rush vs Bills was awful(with the starter)....The DB is not a concern for me, since you can have a dominant defense with a great pass rush and average or bad DB....The Panthers to last year is the best example

I would like to chalk that up to it being preseason and running a "vanilla" defense, but yes, it is a big concern. Though I am still very disappointed that they did nothing to address the glaring problem at CB, either in the draft or in FA. As much as I love Ike and appreciate all he's done, he really has no business starting at CB this season.

[fansince'76]

The pass rush is by far my biggest concern...The pass rush vs Bills was awful(with the starter)....The DB is not a concern for me, since you can have a dominant defense with a great pass rush and average or bad DB....The Panthers to last year is the best example

They really didn't look that bad to me. They got several pressures on EJ Manuel that would have been sacks against a statue like Peyton Manning. It wasn't like Manuel was getting 10 seconds to throw every time.

[BigNastyDefense]

We won't really know how our pass rush is until week one against the Browns. The Steelers aren't going to show anything scheme-wise in preseason. Everything is vanilla.

I believe this team is Championship material. I am expecting a better pass rush from both of our OLB's. If we can disrupt the QB rhythm, and hopefully get some sacks too, our corners will look at least average. If they have to cover for 5+ seconds every snap because the QB has all day to find an open receiver, it doesn't matter if we have two Pro Bowl corners.

I think we will see a lot of no huddle on offense (finally). I don't think we will need the defense to bail out a stagnant offense like in years past. We might see the best season out of Big Ben yet this year.

[GBMelBlount]

We won't really know how our pass rush is until week one against the Browns. The Steelers aren't going to show anything scheme-wise in preseason. Everything is vanilla.

I believe this team is Championship material. I am expecting a better pass rush from both of our OLB's. If we can disrupt the QB rhythm, and hopefully get some sacks too, our corners will look at least average. If they have to cover for 5+ seconds every snap because the QB has all day to find an open receiver, it doesn't matter if we have two Pro Bowl corners.

I think we will see a lot of no huddle on offense (finally). I don't think we will need the defense to bail out a stagnant offense like in years past. We might see the best season out of Big Ben yet this year.

Great post.

I think there is a LOT of very good young talent on this team.

[Steeldude]

Too early. I'm not even sure about the veterans lol.

[GBMelBlount]

Too early. I'm not even sure about the veterans lol.

How many "older" starters do we even have anymore? Ben, Heath, Troy, Taylor?....

[Steeltreal]

The whole 13' class has alot to prove, most important being making it through 16 games. Its a wait and see approach for me.

The Three players Im most excited to watch this year are Bell, Decastro and Pouncey

[Steeltreal]

Too early. I'm not even sure about the veterans lol.

Is Antonio Brown a top 5 WR?

[steelreserve]

I'm excited. Yes, it's too early to tell for sure what's going to become of all the new players, but seeing Shazier on track to start and do so well, Tuitt making a serious push for playing time, Archer apparently not being a complete waste, and McCullers looking like a guy with potential rather than a stiff who is only there because of his size - well, that's better than it would've turned out a lot of years. It sure beats the hell out of the one where we led off with Ziggy Hood and Kraig Urbik ... or the one where we took Mendenhall first and then went Sweed, Bruce Davis, Tony Hills, Dennis Dixon, Mike Humpal, Ryan Mundy. Talk about your all-time bust draft classes; I don't know if there's a bigger one from top to bottom that I can remember.

[st33lersguy]

Too early, but I really like what I saw from Shazier and Archer. Tuitt has held his own as well

[Steeldude]

Is Antonio Brown a top 5 WR?

Why do you ask?

[Devilsdancefloor]

too early, but i like the flashes thus far

[GBMelBlount]

too early, but i like the flashes thus far

I bet you do.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6519/1629/400/flash.jpg

[HollywoodSteel]

I think there is a spark of hope. Our biggest upside: our offensive potential. This is a team that, if the right calls are made and the no huddle is employed well, can outscore people.

Obviously corner is a weak spot, but to me the biggest question mark that can really make us or break us - in terms of a pass rush, thus helping the secondary - is Jarvis Jone. Chris Carter got manhandled as a pass rusher against the Bills. He's a joke of a pass rusher and the talent around him at LB can only do so much without a hard core, fear-inducing, pass rusher at OLB on that side. Last year Jones looked lost and he had no real moves to beat left tackles. If he can live up to his potential, we could have one of the best linebacking cores in the NFL.

My other huge concern with this team is depth. We have none, except maybe at ILB if Spence continues to look good, but he's no Shazier and he's no Timmons. Everywhere else, we are totally screwed if someone goes down. Maybe we enough talent at receiver if Bryant comes into his own, but even at that position we can't take too many hits. Our starting O-line looked very good at pass protection but not that great at run blocking. But I'm not too worried about the starters. The Bills have a good front 7 and are hard to run on. Our O-line will continue to gel and improve at run blocking. But if one (or God forbid, more than one) of our starters goes down, I'm really worried. Our back ups looked horrible, and that was against their back ups.

The health fairy has not been our friend the last couple of years and we just don't have the depth to overcome that kind of bad luck this year. Really, that's what our 2014 season is going to depend on: health and a lot of it, or at least at the right times.