What’s been most impressive and most disappointing?

Welcome to the Acrisure Fan Advantage Steelers mailbag. You can submit your questions all season long via the Fan Advantage online portal, or contact Brian directly @BrianBatko and bbatko@post-gazette.com

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Ed H: At the quarter mark of the season, what’s pleased you so far? And what’s been disappointing?

Brian: Ed, I give you credit for even daring to ask what’s been good so far about the Steelers. Yes, they’re .500, but being 2-2 with a minus-38 point differential is actually hard to do (the six teams with a lower margin are 1-3 or 04).

I will say special teams have been solid. Chris Boswell has bounced back from a rough 2022. Pressley Harvin III is off to his best start, although he’s not 100% because he’s dealing with a hamstring injury. Beyond that highhangtime fruit, let’s go with Calvin Austin III. He looks like a real asset. T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, while coming off their quietest outing, are arguably the best edge rushing tandem in the league. And, uh ... Markus Golden has been productive at times behind them. Those are some reasons for optimism, I suppose.

What’s been disappointing? Tough to know where to start. I wouldn’t say I’m surprised by the offense under Matt Canada because I didn’t necessarily expect that the preseason fireworks would seamlessly translate to the real thing. Full disclosure: I was buying those exhibition performances enough that I upped my preseason record prediction from 9-8 to 10-7, but some of my media brethren were predicting Super Bowl appearances or wildly successful seasons by any measure.

Kenny Pickett’s play has to be the No. 1 buzzkill. For a team that used a first-round pick on a QB thought to be the most polished prospect at the position in his draft class — who showed legitimate signs of being “the guy” down the stretch last year — these first four games are nothing but a wet blanket, save for the win at the Raiders.

If you want to go by the eye test, Pickett looks skittish and perhaps unsure of what he’s seeing on the field. If you want to take a more statistics-based look, Pickett is bottom-six in the NFL (of quarterbacks with at least two starts) in QB rating (29.3), passer rating (76.3) and completion percentage (60.6). If you want to check the advanced stats, he’s also near the bottom in on-target throw percentage (69.1) and at the top in bad-throw percentage (23.6) per Pro Football Reference.

The rebuilt secondary has been weaker than expected, and the George Pickens Show has been more of a cameo other than the Cleveland game. It’s almost like the worstcase scenario I wrote about in this very mailbag coming to life — and they’re still 2-2.