Lowered expectations give Steelers an opportunity to find their identity

It’s been a crazy season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. With all that’s happened, they’re still trying to find their identity.

It’s safe to say the Steelers’ season hasn’t started as they had planned. Mason Rudolph is now at the reigns of the offense and the defense still looks completely lost. After an 0-2 start, their chances of making the playoffs took a major hit.

Even with an 0-2 record, there’s always a belief the Steelers could possibly pull through and still make a run. But with Ben Roethlisberger now needing reconstructive elbow surgery and done for the season, just about everyone has written off any chances, as slim as they were already, of making the postseason.

The Steelers don’t even get a break this upcoming week. They have to travel out west to face an up-and-coming 49ers team that’s started their season with a 2-0 record. Under Mike Tomlin, the Steelers are 2-7 when they have to travel to the pacific time zone.

With the expectations of making the playoffs gone, or even having a winning season, the Steelers are now free - free to find out exactly what they have in a lot of their players, especially the younger ones.

They’ll find out if Mason Rudolph can play quarterback at the NFL level. He’s got a lot of great tools and the Steelers had a first-round grade on him coming out of Oklahoma State. He looked good in the second half against Seattle, but now with the pressure of being the starter, they could find out what they really have in Rudolph.

With Ben out, it will be difficult to truly gauge just how good JuJu Smith-Schuster is. He had a comfort level with Roethlisberger and now has to get used to a young quarterback who is still learning the game at the NFL level.

This is, however, a great opportunity to see which players can take the bull by the horns and carve out a spot for future seasons. Receivers like James Washington and Diontae Johnson could see more opportunities given how poorly Donte Moncrief has played. If Vince Williams is out for any length of time with his hamstring injury, Devin Bush could be thrown into the fire a lot quicker than Mike Tomlin or Kevin Colbert intended. And the jury is still out on Terrell Edmunds to see if he can become a legitimate safety in this league.

With the Steelers trading for Miami’s prized young defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick, Kevin Colbert has added more elite talent to the defense. It’s the first time since 1968 that the Steelers have traded away a first-round pick. It’s a clear message from the Steelers’ leadership that they do not intend to punt on the season. They are going to give them every opportunity to compete week in and week out, which just became much more difficult without their future Hall of Fame quarterback.

Part of the Steelers’ struggle in these first two games is not having a clear identity. The Steelers have been inconsistent, and at times lost, on both sides of the football. They need to figure out what this team is going to look like going forward.

On offense, they’ve been shy and ultra-conservative. A lot of throws have been around the line of scrimmage or in the “short throw” range. They also haven’t disguised what they are doing very well. It’s very clear and obvious when they went to run or pass. The lack of play-action in the offense has also been alarming.

The Steelers haven’t made it difficult to game plan against when the majority of their plays happen around the line of scrimmage. Adding more intermediate throws and play-action in run-disguised formations could help the Steelers open the defense up a bit.

Defensively, the biggest issues have been communication and in-game adjustments. If that’s the reason why there’s continuous mismatches in coverage, then they need to simplify the communication. If it’s part of the scheme to have linebackers cover receivers in the slot, they’ve got much larger problems.

Take a look at this past game against Seattle. Their most dangerous weapon at receiver is D.K. Metcalf. He was held to three catches on the day, but gained 61 yards and scored a 28-yard touchdown late in the game that helped seal the win for Seattle.

Metcalf was held to only one catch for 16 yards in the first half, primarily lining up outside. Steven Nelson was on him most of the game and did a fantastic job neutralizing him. Seattle adjusted in the second half and lined up Metcalf in the slot more often. He caught a quick pass on a 2-and-12 when Mike Hilton lined up across from him, but came in on a corner blitz. Metcalf was not picked up with Hilton blitzing and Wilson made the right read and throw.

The third and final catch by Metcalf was the big dagger. Again, he was lined up in the slot and Terrell Edmunds lined up across from him in coverage. Metcalf was able to get by Edmunds just enough to catch a perfectly placed ball by Wilson for the touchdown.

As great as the throw was by Wilson, Edmunds should not be lined up on a receiver like Metcalf, especially given how successful Nelson had been all game long in shutting him down. This was a clear lack of in-game adjustments by the defensive scheme. This is just one example of small issues the defense has that can drastically impact the game.

By adding Fitzpatrick to replace Sean Davis at safety (who was placed on Injured Reserve on Tuesday), the Steelers have more than enough talent to be a formidable defense. Maybe they’re not quite good enough to be near the elite in the league, but they should be better than they are. The trade for Fitzpatrick may be the final chance for Keith Butler to fix things. Colbert has supplied him with more than enough talent to put a better defense on the field.

The Steelers aren’t laying down this season. Mike Tomlin was clear of that on Tuesday at his weekly press conference. With outside expectations lowered, this team has a great chance to establish their identity now. If they can’t do it, the front office may need to seriously consider some major changes to the coaching staff. Tomlin’s job will be safe, but coordinators Randy Fichtner and Keith Butler may not be so lucky.

This franchise prides itself in competing year in and year out. Even before Ben Roethlisberger went down with a season-ending injury, they had major issues they needed to fix. Maybe a blow to the roster like this is the wake up call they need.