QB, RB AND WR
The 2018 Pittsburgh Steelers’ season was a tumultuous and disappointing
one. There were some bright spots and low spots and we are here to review and
give an outlook moving forward into 2019.
The Pittsburgh Steelers at one point in 2018 were riding a
six game winning streak and sitting at 7-2-1. It all came crashing down as they
finished the season just 2-4 to finish 9-6-1 and miss the playoffs completely.
The season went a lot different from what most planned and
that is in large part due to poor execution at key moments as well as off the
field drama. The Steelers need to take a long hard look in the mirror in the
offseason if they want to make it back to the playoffs next year.
We are going to wield the mirror for them now and look at
the first group of positions in this three-part series. Today is quarterbacks,
running backs and receivers, which also happened to be the main source of most
of the team’s drama.
QUARTERBACKS
Obviously the only person in this position group that
mattered most of the year was Ben Roethlisberger. He had one of his best years
of his entire career in 2018, which is very disappointing for the fact it was
essentially wasted.
Big Ben finished leading the league in yards (5,129), fifth
in touchdowns (34), first in attempts (675), first in completions (452) and
14th in the league in completion percentage among quarterbacks with a minimum
of 400 passes attempted (67.0).
Even with the year Ben had, the Steelers could not find a
way into the playoffs. It is disheartening because regardless of the stats,
people still seem to say he is washed up.
Roethlisberger is past his prime, that I will concede, but
he is not washed up. He is coming off his best season yet and has a couple of
years left in his tank.
The Steelers are good at QB now with Ben and they have two
young guys to learn as much as they can before they may battle it out. Mason
Rudolph and Joshua Dobbs will likely remain backups in
2019 to a future first-ballot hall-of-fame guy.
RUNNING BACKS
The biggest story out of the Steelers running back room
was Le’Veon Bell and when he was going to
show up. Eventually that story turned into if he would even show up and finally
it came to reports about the impact of him really not showing up to the team.
All the while, James Conner had stepped up huge for
Pittsburgh.
Conner burst on the scene when he stepped into the starting
role during Bell’s eventual permanent absence. Conner ran all the way to a tie
for 11th most on the list to end the 2018 season with 973 yards on 215 carries
and 12 touchdowns in just 13 games.
He suffered an injury against the Chargers and would then
miss the next three games before returning week 17. Fear not, for Jaylen Samuels stepped in to help out
in a big game.
The Steelers faced New England down to starting their third
string running back in a must win game. Samuels exploded for 142 yards on 19
carries helping the team win a crucial game at the time.
The Steelers may try one last time to secure Le’Veon Bell
but it looks like his time here is done. They saw a lot from Conner and Samuels
to show they are capable of being their top two backs moving forward. The team
will likely look to upgrade the depth as Stevan Ridley is not a long-term
answer and that could be done in free agency or in the later rounds of the 2019
draft.
WIDE RECEIVERS
The season saw great production from the Steelers top two targets
in Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster. The two combined put
up 215 catches for 2,723 yards and 21 touchdowns between them.
Antonio Brown had a “down year” according to most but you
know you are a top-tier receiver when 100-plus catches 1200-plus yards and 15
touchdowns is “down”. JuJu continued where he left off in his rookie year to
put together a great 2018 season leading the Steelers in yards and receptions.
The team also selected James Washington in the draft and
envisioned him being a more disciplined Martavis Bryant after trading him.
Washington disappointed most of the season before showing some spark over the
last few games.
The Steelers have some trouble in paradise to go with the
Le’Veon Bell saga and that is Antonio Brown’s recent run of headlines. He
became very disgruntled in the last week of the season and rumors of a trade
began swirling.
Make no mistake about it; the Steelers will lose a lot if it
comes to having to move on from Brown. He is one of, if not, the best receivers
in the game and losing his production and a player of his caliber would be
crippling to any offense in the league regardless of remaining players.
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