NFL Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers Need a Better Secondary for Christmas

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Pittsburgh Steelers Troy Polamalu

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The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t made the playoffs since 2011, but have a very real chance of getting in this season. It is now in the players’ hands, as two wins will guarantee a playoff berth. Unfortunately, the road is not an easy one, as the Steelers will face two other playoff-hopeful teams in the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals. A lot of factors will go into deciding Pittsburgh’s playoff fate, but the biggest of them will be the performance of the Steelers’ secondary. When Santa loads up his sleigh this year, Pittsburgh has to hope that a better secondary is on his list next to Mike Tomlin’s name.

There were never very high expectations for this secondary unit going into this season, but as a whole, they haven’t even met those low expectations. The safeties aren’t on the same pages and the cornerbacks struggle to cover just about everyone. It will be asking a lot at this point in the season, but most of the secondary unit needs vast improvements as quickly as possible.

The unit is led by veteran safety Troy Polamalu, who, in his prime, was one of the best defensive players in the game. Now, however, he is merely a shell of himself and this looks to be his last year in the league. Not only has he lost a step, but he hasn’t been on the same page as his safety partner Mike Mitchell. There have been a lot of blown coverages this season because of the two of them seem utterly confused as to what the other is doing. As if this weren’t bad enough, the cornerbacks have been struggling all year, and Pittsburgh has been forced to rely on career journeymen and no-names.

When a team enters a new season with Ike Taylor as its best corner, then there are bound to be issues. Taylor broke his arm early in the year and struggled once he returned. This will probably be his last year as well, and now Pittsburgh’s best corner is William Gay, who barely held onto the nickel role last season. To his credit, Gay has become a decent cornerback and will need to continue to improve for the Steelers to make a push for the playoffs. The other cornerbacks who have seen significant playing time are journeyman Brice McCain and the untested Antwon Blake.

While stopping the run is more important this week against the Chiefs, the secondary needs to improve, otherwise the playoffs will be short-lived for Pittsburgh. While it is unlikely that the secondary will see vast improvements over the remainder of the season, it wouldn’t be outrageous to see enough improvement to help Pittsburgh progress into the playoffs. It would take a Christmas miracle to see an entirely new secondary this season, but maybe if the city of Pittsburgh is good, Santa will bring some new players for next year.

Andrew Lenz is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @RealAndyLenz, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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