Steelers need to get offensive to keep up in today’s NFL
After a day of watching each of their division opponents do something they haven’t done in 23 games, the Steelers discovered one significant aspect during their impromptu bye week.
If they want to keep up with the rest of the NFL, they need to start scoring at least 30 points in a game.
Either that, or hope their No. 2-ranked defense keeps playing at their same attacking, larcenous level.
The Steelers have not scored 30 points in a game since a Week 12 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in December 2018 — a 23-game drought that is the longest in the NFL. They were the only team in the 2019 season not to score at least 30 points. That is a strange departure for a team that did it seven times in the 2015 season.
That might need to change the way the NFL game is being played after four weeks of the season. And it’s been especially true in the AFC North.
Of the 13 games played since Thursday night, 10 of the winning teams scored at least 30 points. At the head of the list was the Cleveland Browns (3-1), who scored 49 points against the Dallas Cowboys after scoring 35 and 34 points in their previous two games. The Browns lead the AFC in scoring (124 points).
The Baltimore Ravens (3-1), who are third in the conference in scoring (122), have scored at least 31 points in all three of their victories. Even the Cincinnati Bengals (1-2-1), who beat the
Jacksonville Jaguars, 33-25, have scored over 30 points twice this season.
That, though, is merely reflective of what is happening with the rest of the league.
Including the two games Monday night, 52 teams have already scored 30 or more points in a game this season ,21 more than at the same four-week point last season and most in NFL history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The total has more than doubled in a decade, when only 24 teams scored at least 30 points after four weeks in 2010. The numbers are even more disparate going back to 2005 and 2001, when only 20 teams managed to score at least 30 points in the first quarter of the season.
Previously, the highest number of teams to score 30 or more points in the first four weeks of a season was 36 in 2013. Yet that number has already been obliterated by these modern-day pinball offenses.
If this keeps up, the league’s record scoring average for a season — 23.4 points in 2013 — could be obliterated, too. It’s already more than two points higher at 25.6 after four games.
So much for defenses being ahead of the offense early in the season.
“You see the way it’s going — it’s an offensive league,” said Steelers cornerback Steven Nelson. “It’s pretty much 7-on-7 out there sometimes. Playing defense is a hard job. Offenses definitely have the advantage.”
What’s the reason for all the points?
Well, it’s hard to blame it on rule changes because the league did not enact any new rules for 2020 that might impact the game, whether offense or defense. The NFLdid do away with the horrid pass-interference replay rule, but, if anything, that decision would favor the defense more than the offense.
A valid reason might be the infusion of college-style offenses in the NFL. More mobile, athletic quarterbacks running spread offenses has become more and more prevalent in the league, leading to more scoring. Even the Steelers have adopted a number of the college concepts — pre-snap shifts, motion, misdirection — into their offense.
Fewer offensive holding penalties — they are down 59% over the first three weeks last season — is another reason, allowing quarterbacks more time to complete passes.
Whatever the case, scoring points has become a means of survival in the league. The Steelers are averaging 26.7 points after three games, more than eight points higher than their Ben Roethlisberger-less offense last season (18.1), yet rank 15th in the league in scoring offense. Their defense ranks fifth in fewest points allowed (19.3 points).
“People are just air-raiding it,” outside linebacker Bud Dupree said. “It’s turning into an offensive league. The best defenses will end up being one of the best teams, so wehave to work harder and harder to defend those types of explosive offenses to keep the numbers down.”
Nonetheless, the Steelers might have to start scoring more if they want to keep up in the NFL, if not their own division.