Steelers vs Raiders: Areas of concern for this week
This week the Pittsburgh Steelers travel out to Las Vegas for a Sunday night showdown with the Raiders. Pittsburgh currently sits at 1-1 and is hoping to keep the momentum going after beating the Cleveland Browns last week.
Meanwhile, the Raiders are 1-1 and after starting the season with two road games, get their first game of the year at Allegiant Stadium. Both teams are staring up at the rest of their respective divisional teammates and are looking for answers on offense.
The game is basically a pick ‘em and is going to come down to which offense can find a way to crack the code on the opposing defense. Last week was a win for Pittsburgh but it hardly inspired confidence. Here are our big concerns for this week.
Matt Canada is still employed
We joke but we kind of don’t. The fact that Canada is still running the Steelers offense means no one should expect any big changes this week. It is really going to come down to the players making the best of a bad situation.
The offensive line can’t run block
Maybe the most disappointing thing from a personnel standpoint has been just how poor the offensive line has played as a run-blocking group. The addition of Isaac Seumalo was supposed to solidfy this group but it looks far worse than the group from the second half of last season.
Distribution of labor at running back
Pittsburgh has mismanaged their tandem of running backs this season. Running Najee Harris out the outside while using Jaylen Warren in the middle of the line is completely counter intuitive. This is just another example of what seems to be such a simple fix for the offense that the coaches seem to ignore.
How about those tight ends?
There’s no reason the Steelers aren’t running the majority of its plays out of 12 personnel. They are already short-handed at wide receiver and can’t run the football so why not use more of the players like Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward who can help with both?
Josh Jacobs is still a great player
Thanks to his holdout, Josh Jacobs has struggled to get going this season. But the Steelers run defense has been gashed two weeks in a row on the ground. This could be the week Jacobs gets things going.
