Five games into the 2024 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers are sitting at 3-2 and on top of the AFC North. As we have gone back and gone over each game during the bye week, here are our five biggest surprises from the first five games.
The play of Kenny Pickett
If you watched Kenny Pickett work in training camp and the preseason, you’d have never predicted just how bad he’s been so far this season. Pickett is only throwing for 205 yards per game and had five touchdown passes compared to four interceptions. Hopefully the bye week does right by Pickett and he can pick things up.
The offensive line's poor performance
It isn’t enough that new guard Isaac Seumalo took five games to start player but the other offensive linemen who returned from last season have regressed. The play of Mason Cole and James Daniels are the most disappointing as both guys were much better in 2022.
Underwhelming cornerbcks
I’ll admit I bought into the Patrick Peterson hype in the offseason but he hasn’t lived up to his reputation. Matched with underwhelming play from Levi Wallace has made the secondary a liability.
The absence of the tight end
After seeing Connor Heyward get reps late last season and drafting Darnell Washington, we expected Pat Freiermuth and this group to be a focal point of the offense. Instead, they’ve been missing for much of the season and it just doesn’t make sense.
Nothing about this team makes any sense
Worst 3-2 team in the NFL? Maybe. But you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth. No reasonable person thinks this type of play is sustainable but it is shocking just how timely the big plays have come to pick up all the poor ones the team makes.
