The Pittsburgh Steelers are 6-2 heading into the bye weekend.
Jim Wexell of 247sports.com spoke with WESA All Things Considered host Jeremy Scott about the season.
Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Jeremy Scott: Jim, the Steelers get their bye smack dab in the middle of the 17-game season. So with three sleeps left until the general election, I want you to put on your presidential hat and tell us, President Wexell, what is the state of the Steelers as we head into the second half of the 2024 season?
Jim Wexell: So if I'm president, I only have three more days left, right?
Scott: I guess that would be the case in this scenario.
Wexell: Okay. Well, my parting gift to you. Yeah, the state of the Steelers. I want to complain about their defense. But, you know, teams have been running against their nickel. And I think they're just going to change schematically a little bit.
Scott But let's clarify for the non-football fanatics among us. "Nickel" refers to a defensive package with five defensive backs on the field as opposed to just the base.
Wexell: Teams have been running against their five defensive backs package and only two defensive linemen up front and two outside linebackers. And they're sturdy outside linebackers, so they come off as 4-3, old school, four-man line defensive ends, but they're all light. Their tackles are light. They don't have those big beefeaters. They don't have Casey Hampton, they don't have what the Ravens have up front: a couple of 340 pounders to stuff the run.
Mike Tomlin doesn't like that. He likes speed. He likes getting after the quarterback. Cam Heyward can stop the run and get after the quarterback. Keeanu Benton is playing nose whenever they do play nose. But he was drafted to do that, too. Larry Ogunjobi's more of a speed guy; a smaller speed guy. And their inside linebackers are more coverage guys because they've been getting burned so much in coverage over the years from their inside linebackers. They do have Roberts in the middle, Elandon Roberts, and he just doesn't play that much. He's an old school, run-stuffing, tough inside linebacker, but they like their pass coverage guys.
And after getting burned so many years by so many teams, yeah, okay I understand all this, but there are no-name running backs like Tyrone Tracy running for 145 yards against them. It's a bit of a problem, these no-name running backs. The Cowboys had one. Indianapolis, of course, had Jonathan Taylor. He's very good. But they've been giving up their share of yards per carry and I just am thinking that with the Ravens coming, the Eagles coming, all these old school power run teams, they might just go back to their base defense.
So, as I want to complain about the run defense, the answers might be in their own locker room, and they may see that and they may lean to that, themselves.
It's the same with the second wide receiver, though. The answers maybe inside. Calvin Austin really came on last week. Two touchdowns; one was a punt return, but he could be part of the answer. Van Jefferson caught as many passes as George Pickens last week. He could be part of the answer. Russell Wilson may be making those guys into the number two receiver they need, so the answers could be in house there, too. So whatever I want to complain about, the answers could be within and that's a good thing.
Scott: What or who has been your pleasant surprise?
Wexell: Pleasant surprise. Well, you know, I don't want to go too far with Beanie, but when you tell me Beanie Bishop would be the defensive rookie of the month for October, that would be a great surprise for me. But when you look at it, he has been getting picked on to a degree. Two of his three interceptions were on deflections. And Cam Sutton's coming back. I know Mike Tomlin's taking a lot of pride in teaching Beanie the nickel corner. He is the slot corner, the nickel cornerback position. Cam Sutton's been suspended eight games and Beanie, the undrafted rookie, has been playing there. And Mike Tomlin's taken a lot of pride in teaching the nickel back. That's his specialty. He told Bob Labriola that he did that with his old Tampa Bay nickel back. He taught him.
Scott: Ronde Barber.
Wexell: Yes. Ronde Barber. Sorry. And so will Tomlin make the move? I think he should. Will he? I don't know, because Beanie has three picks in two games and is coming off October rookie of the month. Do you bench him? Cam Sutton would put things more at ease and he'd be a better run tackler, too. So my surprise might get benched.
Scott: All right. So you mentioned the run defense. My next question to you was going to be what or who has been your biggest disappointment?
Wexell: I don't want to call Keeanu Benton a disappointment. I just was expecting to see more. I want to see more. And we probably will see more as the season goes on. Maybe he's not a nose. Maybe he's a better tackle, as Cam is. Maybe he's better for that position. Ogunjobi's smaller and playing that. Benton is the only guy that can play the nose. So he gets pushed around a little bit and that is kind of surprising me.
Scott: Not only is Tuesday Election Day, it's also the NFL trade deadline. Should we expect any November surprises?
Wexell: I've been calling for trades. And so if I say it's not going to happen now, you know it's going to happen. You know, the tricky part is, they have their sixth and fourth [round draft picks] tied up in Justin Fields. It's a conditional pick. If Justin Fields plays more than half the snaps this year, that sixth round pick becomes a fourth to the Bears. So they can't trade either one because they can't answer that question right now. So then they don't want to trade a first, second or third. So that leaves them with a fifth round or a seventh rounder. And what are you going to get for that? If they do make a trade, maybe Mike Williams, and you're just praying for potential right there because he's coming off an ACL injury, really hasn't done much, is often injured, but he's a big man. He could catch Russ's moon balls deep. Might be an interesting guy. That would be a guy. I mean, a fifth or a seventh. I would hope it's a seventh for him. But I don't know that the Jets want to give up on that kind of potential for a seventh.
