The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t quite coming from as bad a place as the New York Giants, in terms of results last season. But they aren’t coming from a good one, either. Taking a dive into the opponent in week one reveals that both teams have a lot riding on this season but for different reasons.
The Steelers had an 8-8 finish last year. Not the worst season, but not good enough to compete for the AFC North. They have some tough competition in that division this year, too. They’ll be looking to get off to a good start against the Giants, but what do the Steelers bring to the game?
Ben Roethlisberger as a key piece
Big Ben is still with the Steelers and the Giants can expect the result to heavily hinge on dealing with him or not. The Le’veon Bell era is no more in Pittsburgh and the Giants will have to key in on Roethlisberger to shut down the other side.
There’s good reason to believe that Big Ben will be a factor. While he only played in two games last season and the Steelers were left trying out other players such as Mason Rudolph, he threw for 5,129 yards the season prior. That was also a 34 touchdown season, which is the most Roethlisberger has thrown for in his career. He also beat out Patrick Mahomes that season as the passing leader for the league as a whole.
The Steelers have an alright receivers group which should be enough to give trouble to the Giants secondary. The Giants, after all, had to deal with replacing Xavier McKinney and DeAndre Baker close to the start of the season. They also added Eric Ebron as a target at tight end. While Ebron largely hasn’t gotten the desired results, he was a top ten draft pick as a receiving tight end.
Minkah Fitzpatrick will try to lock down Giants
It’s hard to understate the impact from cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick after joining the Steelers. The Dolphins didn’t utilize Fitzpatrick as well as they could have but he proved to be a better fit in the Steelers system and they had a significant reduction in points against after Fitzpatrick entered the lineup. The Giants can expect to have Fitzpatrick on one of their top receivers. Despite a minor injury scare for the Giants receiver, it looks like that will be Darius Slayton.
The Steelers have an otherwise good defense even outside of Fitzpatrick. It looks like they’ll have multiple Pro Bowlers. One of the contenders for that title is T.J. Watt, who had 14.5 sacks last season and managed to outclass his more famous brother.
The defense will be a challenge for the Giants in general but Watt will require specific focus. Especially with the offensive line not being the strongest point for the Giants right now. It’s reasonable to cut rookie Andrew Thomas some slack if he ends up going against Watt directly.
The verdict
All in all, it looks like this is a tough game for the Giants. The Steelers defense isn’t an easy one for second year quarterback Daniel Jones to take on. Additionally, the Steelers may exploit a new offensive line. However, the Steelers themselves are coming off a mediocre year and Ben Roethlisberger is bouncing back from a season where he only played in a couple games. The Giants themselves may find a few things to exploit on the Steelers, and they certainly shouldn’t be written off here.