With the NFL season days away, Pittsburgh Steelers fans are in full speculation mode, looking ahead to the team’s outlook for 2013. The preseason is largely meaningless, but needless to say that hasn’t stopped us all from tuning in to check up on the Steelers and start guessing as to what we’re about to see this season. So, what’s the outlook?
Well, from a broad perspective, the Steelers are right in that good-but-not-great territory, as far as most analysts are concerned. However, the specific outlook depends where you look. At CBS Sports, the Steelers are projected to finish 10-6, tied for first in the division with Cincinnati and Baltimore. At Betfair news, Pittsburgh is tied (with the Giants) for the 10th best fixed odds at winning the Super Bowl. In short, no one’s counting the team out, but there’s a good deal of uncertainty. And a lot of that is coming from the wide receiver position. Let’s take a look at the WR corps, and what we can expect from the key players.
Antonio Brown
With Mike Wallace now in Miami following a somewhat subpar 2012 campaign in Pittsburgh, the load of #1 WR status is squarely on Brown’s shoulders. Brown was so-so in 2012, but he was battling injury for much of the season, and appears healthy heading into Week 1. He’s not a prototypical deep threat or dominant WR1 option, but his quickness and good hands make him a good fit for Ben Roethlisberger. He could surprise fans with a very strong season.
Emmanuel Sanders
Sanders is almost like an Antonio Brown clone in some senses. The two are nearly identically sized (at right around 5’11” and 180 lbs), and both excel more with short pattern quickness and skilled hands than sprints and deep threat offense. Again, this style is more of a fit for Roethlisberger and coach Todd Haley anyway, so Sanders should provide a fairly deadly compliment to Brown.
Markus Wheaton
The rookie out of Oregon State is – you guessed it – roughly around 5’11” and 180 lbs! Wheaton looks like a third clone, and offers the same set of threats (with perhaps more breakaway speed and upside) than Brown and Sanders. Wheaton is actually having a very strong preseason and could be a player to watch among rookies. You may want to grab a jersey at the Steelers shop before he gets big time! Some Steelers receiver has to step up, and Wheaton isn’t a bad candidate.
Beyond these three, the WR list consists of over-the-hill veterans (Cotchery) and unproven young guys (Moye), so really it’s Brown, Sanders and Wheaton who will need to get the job done. There’s no superstar in the bunch, so it’s easy to understand skepticism. But it’s also easy to see this bunch becoming a very pesky offense.
