Steelers at the Bye 3-3, so where are we?

[Fire Goodell]

Not so sure about that - the Seahawks weren't playing that great with Wilson under center either.

10 TD's / 1 INT in 4.5 games, which isn't bad at all. They definitely would have moved the ball better and possibly scored more points. They more so lost games because their defense is terrible.

[teegre]

A couple of questions:

Did Alualu make that big of a difference? And if so, will Tuitt fix the run defense issue we have had since we lost Alualu? Does he come back after surgery?

OL, we should be at full health after the bye, but is that going to be good enough to get the run game going?

What surprise players are you all happy about for future seasons?

I am hopeful that Tuitt can make a difference, because he is actually better than Alualu. But, as others have said, I’m a tad bit scared that Tuitt is simply going to be out for a lot (all?) of the season. Cam & Tyson and Cam & Stefon can stop the run in those “2 D-linemen sets”. Buggs (et al) simply are not as effective… requiring a third D-lineman to be on the field.

The O-line is young; two rookies and a second-year player on that left side. As I’ve mentioned every week, teams are lining up 10 guys in the box, but only bringing 5. The O-line has to guess which 5. Sometimes they guess correctly, but a lot of the times, the young players choose incorrectly (and end up blocking air). I am confident that they will get better each week… and be a top five O-line by next season.

There are so many good, young players. Look at the rookies:
-Najee stud
-Freirmuth stud
-Green will be good
-Moore grading as good as any roookie OT
-Norwood a steal!!!
-Loudermilk might surpass Buggs by November
-Harvin has already paid dividends

[Fire Goodell]

Norwood has been the biggest surprise of this draft class, the kid is solid. I usually never expect anything from 7th rounders but he already looks to be one of the better secondary pickups we've had in a while

[ETL]

.500 record at the end and middle of the first round draft pick and destined to stay in this purgatory for years to come

[Steeler-in-west]

.500 record at the end and middle of the first round draft pick and destined to stay in this purgatory for years to come

that’s fine, Ben was taken 11th, we could easily move up a few spots

[Mojouw]

They are averaging less than 6 yards per attempt and 4 yards per carry. Unless those numbers increase by a pretty decent amount...then it is just going to look like this over and over again until the season ends. Around .500.

Beyond 2021...they are setting themselves up for developing a young QB or being attractive to a veteran FA.

OL revamp seems to be moving forward with reasonable results.
TE - as soon as PF makes the normal gains as a blocker in Year 2 -- he is going to break out in a major way.
WR - more than enough talent there to excite any QB
RB - Harris is a weapon

[steelreserve]

This is a very good summary of the team, except I wouldn't quite say "adequate" at this point. I always say you can never judge a Steelers team until we have played the first six games. This year, we've played the first six and we still don't know who the team really is. In years past, the run or the pass game would start to solidify by now, or it'd be falling apart. The defense would show strengths or it too would start falling apart. This year, none of that is true. In some ways, it's seems they're just going through the motions. And yet, I know that's not true either as they gutted out the win last night (but against a 2-3 Seahawk team).

So, I'd have to rate this team fair to middling right now.

I guess "adequate" means they CAN win any game, but like you said, you don't really know which team is going to show up in any given game or even any half. It's weird this year because much/most of the team are young guys who we're hoping can live up to their potential, or old guys we're hoping can hold it together. Other than Watt and Heyward, very few consistent known quantities.

The thing is, sometimes the modern NFL rewards that with a playoff berth. Usually if you are in a bad division, though, and it doesn't look like we are this year. And I think you are correct that we are "fair" inasmuch as some teams are clearly better than us.

[86WARD]

Season is a lot like the 2002 season. I think that started 3-3 and they went to the playoffs? So maybe there’s hope…

[Edman]

Season is a lot like the 2002 season. I think that started 3-3 and they went to the playoffs? So maybe there’s hope…

The 2002 team started 1-3 and rallied to 10-5-1 after a QB change from Kordell to Maddox.

[fansince'76]

10 TD's / 1 INT in 4.5 games, which isn't bad at all. They definitely would have moved the ball better and possibly scored more points. They more so lost games because their defense is terrible.

Considering he got almost half of those TDs (4) in week one, not really all that impressive...

The 2002 team started 1-3 and rallied to 10-5-1 after a QB change from Kordell to Maddox.

And promptly went 6-10, including being out of realistic postseason contention by Halloween, in 2003.

Am I the only one who remembers just how bad Maddox was?

[Rotorhead]

Well, after the Broncos Browns game, the Broncos run defense is hot garbage, and the reason our running game looked so good when we played them. 3rd strong undrafted kid looks like Derrick Henry.

[Edman]

Considering he got almost half of those TDs (4) in week one, not really all that impressive...



And promptly went 6-10, including being out of realistic postseason contention by Halloween, in 2003.

Am I the only one who remembers just how bad Maddox was?

The first sign that Maddox wasn't what we thought we was came in that 24-6 debacle against Houston that year when the Steelers lost by multiple scores despite outgaining the Texans 4 to 1 in yardage. Maddox was awful in that game.

[Steeler-in-west]

Maddox was the comeback player of the year in 02. I wouldn't call him bad, maybe had a bad game here and there but overall was a good QB for the steelers until he went down.

[Craic]

The first sign that Maddox wasn't what we thought we was came in that 24-6 debacle against Houston that year when the Steelers lost by multiple scores despite outgaining the Texans 4 to 1 in yardage. Maddox was awful in that game.

That's for making me remember that game!