Here we are, Pittsburgh. October is a day away and the Pirates continue to be more relevant than the Steelers. For the first time since 1968, the Pittsburgh Steelers are 0-4.
Yikes.
With the slow start, there continues to be a need to blame someone for fans. Again, it continues to be Todd Haley and Mike Tomlin.
The thing is, the offense isn’t the problem. Sure, there are some calls that make you scratch your head, but over the past two games, do any bad calls really stick out to you?
So far, the Steelers have 79 points over their first four games. Let’s compare that to teams of the past, shall we?
2012: 93 points
2011: 64 points
2010: 86 points
2009: 85 points
If you look at it, the pace is similar.
The thing that is slowing the team down is the defense. Last year, the Steelers were the top-ranked defense in the league. But they didn’t have the look of it. Where were the splash plays at? Well, that’s a question that remains as the Steelers are still the only team in the league that doesn’t have a takeaway yet.
It’s not just the takeaways — or lack thereof — either. The Steelers have been able to slow down the opposition from getting into the end zone. Let’s take a look at this year’s points allowed through four games compared to those from the past four seasons.
2013: 110 points
2012: 89 points
2011: 72 points
2010: 50 points
2009: 78 points
The offensive line continues to be subpar, but aside from that, the offense is doing its job. While I’m not one who thinks that blame needs to be assigned to someone, you may want to look at the play of the defense before calling for Haley’s head.
