NFL Preview: Pittsburgh Steelers

by Eric Horowitz, ShakedownSports

In case you didn’t hear, the Steelers have had only two coaches in the last 35 years. According to a special report by ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, that means this year there’s a lot of pressure on new coach Mike Tomlin. So far, Tomlin has shown that not only can handle the job, he going to absolutely dominate it. The way Tomlin dealt with the Alan Faneca situation this summer tells you all you need to know about his fire, focus, and all around head coaching ability.

A few months ago, Faneca, the Steelers All-World guard, became very unhappy. He is still unhappy. You see, Faneca has an insecure future—at least as much as an athlete who’s earned more than $25 million in his career can have an insecure future. He’s a 30 year-old guard set to make $5 million in the final year of his contract, but the team he’s given his whole career to isn’t ready to risk giving him a lucrative extension. Meanwhile, all around he sees guards with half his talent (Derrick Dockery anyone?) signing $50 million deals. In addition to all of that, the Steelers passed up his position coach (Russ Grimm) and his offensive coordinator (Ken Whisenhunt) to hire some random 35 year-old defense guy. Although he hasn’t held out, Faneca has repeatedly made it known that he’s unhappy and will never, ever, ever, ever, sign another contract with the Steelers.

It’s not easy for a rookie coach to walk into a situation where his most respected veteran player is basically marching around chanting “Viva La Revolucion!!”, but Tomlin has handled the situation masterfully. Publicly, Tomlin prevented the situation from becoming a distraction by mostly ignoring it. He rarely addressed Faneca’s contract status and only fed the media uncontroversial quotes along the lines of “Alan is a great player and we’re counting on him to anchor the line this season.” Privately, Tomlin met with Faneca, and was eventually able to convince him that the right thing to do was play out his contract in this difficult situation, and then cash in next year.

Instead of having Faneca believe that the best thing for him was the worst thing for the Steelers (holding out or mailing in the season), Tomlin engineered a situation where the best thing for the Faneca (having a good season) was also the best thing for the Steelers. Faneca is still unhappy, but he has not become a distraction and should anchor the Steelers line this year.

Tomlin’s next task will be finding some way to coerce the much maligned Ben Roethlisberger into once again becoming the quarterback he was during his first two seasons. Unlike last year, this summer Roethlisberger managed to avoid becoming a modern day Job (as in the disaster prone biblical Job, not Job Bluth). However, if the Steelers are to return to the playoffs Big Ben must avoid Job-like performances (as in the idiotic mistake prone Job Bluth, not the biblical Job) on the field. If Roethlisberger can do that, the Steelers offense should be humming all year.

New offensive coordinator Bruce Arians is going to throw the ball down the field, and that’s a good thing because the Steelers have the best secret weapon in the NFL in Santonio Holmes. A first round pick last year, it took Holmes most of the season to acclimate himself to playing receiver in the NFL. Now he’s finally ready showcase the speed and open field ability that will make him the second coming of Steve Smith. It should take about half the season before teams realize they’re shooting themselves in the foot by double teaming Hines Ward instead of Holmes.

Overall, the Steelers offense should be a lot more wide open this year. With two quality tight ends (Heath Miller and rookie Matt Spaeth), and for quality wideouts (Holmes, Ward, Cedric Wilson, and Nate Washington), pounding the ball up the middle from the I-formation may no longer be the Steelers bread and butter. Willie Parker wills till touch the ball 25-30 times a game, but it will frequently be from single back, three wide sets.

Defensively, the Steelers will once again be one of the best in the league. Joey Porter is gone, but that won’t be a problem. He play has slipped over the last few years and despite the fact that Porter still gets his sacks, he’s not the complete linebacker he once was. James Harrison should do an admirable job filling in for him, and if he struggles, first round pick Lawrence Timmons is there to back him up.

In the secondary, cornerback Ike Taylor has regained his 2005 form and won back the starting job that was stripped from him last year. Deshea Townsend will start alongside Taylor, and 3rd year pro Bryant McFadden is there to take his place if he should falter. Ryan Clark appears to have held off Anthony Smith for the starting free safety job, but both players will are capable center fielders. If the Steelers pass rush can do a slightly better job of collapsing the pocket than they’ve done in the past, it will be tough to throw on the Steeler defense.

This year the AFC North is more wide open than people think. The Ravens are getting old and are one Steve McNair injury away from disaster, the Bengals still can’t play defense, and the Browns are soon going to be quarterbacked by 1980’s rock star with an ambiguous sexuality. The core of the Steelers team that won a Super Bowl 20th months ago is still intact, and other than the Patriots rampant off-season cheating (Randy Moss, Adalius Thomas, and Wes Welker!?), there’s no reason to think the Steelers aren’t capable of returning to the glory days of 2005.

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