Hogs Haven
At 6-2 and leading their division, are the Steelers a tougher opponent than the Ravens?
It’s week 10 of the NFL season and the 7-2 Washington Commanders will be facing a 6-2 Steelers team at home in Northwest Stadium in Landover, MD on Sunday at 1:00 pm EST. The Steelers have only lost games to the Colts and Cowboys so far this season, winning their matchups with the Falcons, Broncos, Chargers, Raiders, Jets, and Giants. The Steelers had a week 9 bye, and so will be playing Washington with an extra week to heal and prepare.
On offense, the Steelers are in their first year with Arthur Smith as OC. Smith’s offenses are traditionally known for heavy use of play action and feature TEs heavily as blockers and pass catchers. The Steelers started the season with Justin Fields at QB and made heavy use of his dynamic rushing and improvisational ability, but made the somewhat controversial decision to switch to Russell Wilson once he healed from a calf injury suffered in training camp. Wilson quickly quieted any controversy by opening up what had been an anemic passing game.
Although the Steelers struggled to score much more than 20 points in a game early in the season, they have scored 26 or more points in each of the last two games since Russell Wilson took over as their starting QB. In many ways, Arthur Smith’s offense is similar to the Seattle offense in which Wilson excelled for most of his career. Wilson’s greatest strength as a passer is his ability to make deep throws down the sideline, which forces opposing defenses to play safeties deep and opens up the running game that is the foundation of the offense. The Steelers have also just acquired Mike Williams from the Jets via trade, a deep threat, contested-catch WR who pairs well with Wilson’s “moonball” passing style. The biggest challenge facing Pittsburgh’s offense has been a slew of injuries along their offensive line, with starting RT (and 1st round rookie) Troy Fautanu and starting RG James Daniels done for the season, while rookie C Zach Frazier only returns from injury this week.
On defense, the Steelers are led by defensive-minded HC Mike Tomlin as well as DC and defensive playcaller Teryl Austin (former DC of the Bengals and Lions). Mike Tomlin has had a top 10 defense in 11 of his 17 years as a head coach, which is an incredible feat given that defensive performance is usually less stable and more dependent on schedule than offensive performance on a year-to-year basis. The Steelers run an aggressive 3-4 base defense that often rushes 5 and typically features a high rate of man coverage, favoring cover 3 and cover 1. The Steelers defense is studded with talent, including All Pro players in OLB TJ Watt, DT Cam Heyward, and S Minkah Fitzpatrick, as well as an emerging lockdown CB in Joey Porter Jr. The Steelers defense will likely be the most talented the Commanders face...
