Steelers' Mike Tomlin Insecure With Excitement Surrounding Special Teams In 2023: "We’re Going To Need More Work"

The Pittsburgh Steelers continued to fuel their preseason hype in the form of a resounding 27-15 preseason victory against the Buffalo Bills. After closing the books on another training camp, there has been a lot to look forward to regarding the 2023 depth chart and as we inch closer to the cut deadline, every player’s rep and in-game opportunities carries more weight. From a coaching perspective, there is accumulating pressure to get as many of those opportunities to players on the roster bubble to ensure they make the right decision come August 29th.

The game against the Bills highlighted a lot of promising details for the Steelers first-team players on both sides of the ball. The offense continued to meticulously move the ball down the field and score touchdowns. In terms of their second preseason performance, the Steelers starting offense scored by way of land and air in their opening possessions with the help of Jaylen Warren, Kenny Pickett and Pat Freiermuth. After watching an offense that ranked in the bottom third of the league in almost every category in 2022, those sights add a level of anticipation that was missing a year ago in Pittsburgh.

Most notably, Pickett’s sophomore campaign is set to explode. In just his first three series with the offense, Pickett has posted an overall quarterback rating of 149.1 with 113 yards, two touchdowns, and an 82-percent completion rating. However, even with all the excitement surrounding the young offense and what they’ve been able to do thus far, Head Coach, Mike Tomlin is seemingly tempering the hype train. In fact, he is looking to see more from the group. Tomlin spoke after the team’s exhibition game against the Bills.

“I like the fact we’re beginning to get some splash, but you know its just not a large enough sample size,” Tomlin explained. “It’s a limited sample size. If you’re looking to feel good, you can find it. But I don’t know that I or we are looking to feel good with just working.”

The obvious overhaul of the roster has been intriguing through the team’s minicamp and training camp. General Manager, Omar Khan and Assistant General Manager, Andy Weidl completely gutted the Steelers 2022 depth chart and rebuilt it from scratch. That overhaul left a lot of question marks and positional battles in leading up to the regular season. To narrow that scope, the special teams unit is going through a facelift of their own.

The unit has been a regular sore spot on the roster and Special Teams Coordinator, Danny Smith has had a difficult time in finding the right mix of talent and skill sets to improve that. But after some impressive glimmers of hope from Calvin Austin III fielding punts, the turning of the tide seems to be in full swing earlier than expected. Tomlin knows the work isn’t done even after Smith’s group posted solid reps against the Bills.

“We got so much growth ahead of us there. We got to acknowledge that we’re kind of turning over the guts of the core of our teams, if you will. You know, guys like Derek Watt, Marcus Allen, and Robert Spillane aren’t a part of us anymore. So, we are working with an edge in that space and some guys have to prove that they can hang their hat, we can hang our hat there and be solid. So, we got good work from them tonight, but boy, it’ll have our attention. We’re going to need more work continually from that group to establish that core that I mentioned that you build and work from in that phase.”

As Tomlin alluded to, that strong core of special teams specialists has a lot of work to do in 2023. Each of those names he mentioned in Watt, Allen and Spillane were utilized as much in kickoff and punt coverage and return packages as they were in their traditional roles on offense and defense. But with that said, the 2022 numbers were less than stellar. This led to that overhaul at the hands of Khan and Weidl to trickle down to improving that key third phase of football to help the team win the field position battle. So far, it looks like it may be working.

The Steelers Special Teams Unit Is Looking For A Leap Forward In 2023

Similar to the offense, the Steelers special teams sat in the bottom third of the league in almost every statistical category in 2022. They averaged 21.3 yards per kick return which landed them tied at 25th in the league in that area. Looking at punt returns, the Steelers were one of only three teams to average below six yards per return and sat at 5.9 yards per return, landing them at the 30th spot in the NFL. On paper, the need was obvious for the front office and Tomlin to act swiftly to change that narrative for 2023.

With Tomlin’s caveat of being such a relatively small sample size, the preseason numbers look to be trending favorably. Looking at the second game’s numbers, the punt return duo of Austin III and Gunner Olszewski tallied 78 yards on three returns for an average of 26 yards-per-return. Of course, there was a significant outlier when Austin III took his only punt return of the season for 54 yards. But even Olszewski’s average of 12 yards-per-return is still a step in the right direction. 

If we account for rookie Jordan Byrd's numbers from the prior game of being zero return yards on two attempts, that equates an early preseason average of 15.6 yards on punt returns. Looking back to the 2022 numbers, that would land the Steelers at second in the NFL in that category.

With only one more game left in the preseason, there is still a lot to be decided in time for the regular season. Tomlin can try to temper the hype and excitement surrounding the offense, but it is hard to ignore what Pickett and the first team has been able to do so far. After missing the entirety of his rookie season in 2022, the presence of Austin III is warmly welcomed and adds an element that has been missing in Pittsburgh. Tomlin can call the 2023 preseason a “small sample size” but to everyone else, this has been a significant step in the right direction.

What were your takeaways from the second preseason game? Has the new special teams unit impressed you? Let us know in the comments below!

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