Steelers Read & React: Welcoming the new guys!

This week, Read & React gives their first impressions of Mike Williams and Preston Smith, highlights some of the Steelers’ strengths and weaknesses as they enter divisional play, and takes a moment to appreciate the enigma that is George Pickens.

The Steelers enter the first Ravens week of 2024 in an optimal position. Pittsburgh is tied atop the AFC North standings and will take the outright lead with a win. Ravens week is always a tense but fun time as a Steelers fan, and it feels like this season is setting us up for the most meaningful rivalry games in some time. We’ve got an exciting game ahead of us, so let’s dive right into this week’s questions.

Both Mike Williams and Preston Smith made an impact in limited snaps against Washington. What’s your first impression of the new guys?

Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

RB: I’ll go with new outside linebacker Preston Smith. He played some rotational snaps against the Commanders before stepping into a larger role after Alex Highsmith was hurt. Even with Nick Herbig expected to be back against the Ravens, I still expect Smith to see a sizable number of snaps — Herbig’s athleticism will play a role against Baltimore, but Smith’s size, play strength, and veteran savvy will be essential.

Smith is big for a stand-up rusher; he won’t beat you with a speed rush, but he brings a lot of power. The ball came out fast on this play, but Smith was driving the offensive tackle back quickly.

Here’s another play where Smith is utilizing his size, this time with the Steelers essentially using him as a defensive lineman in a three-outside linebacker package. He holds up well at the line of scrimmage and goes on to make a smart, athletic play.

It’s eerily similar to Smith’s first play as a Steeler. The effort in this play was all it took to know that he would be a steal.

As for what’s not referenced in the clips, Smith didn’t have a ton of run defense snaps on Sunday, and even less when the running back was headed his way. But in those occasions, he held up well. He’s certainly a starting-caliber player at outside linebacker and a very good one at that.

Smith isn’t the quickest defender, which could pose some problems defending Lamar Jackson (even if the Steelers handled Jayden Daniels just fine in Week 10). However, between him, Herbig, and Defensive Player of the Year candidate T.J. Watt, the Steelers’ stable of pass-rushers should be just fine even in Highsmith’s absence.

RP: We got considerably less tape of Mike Williams this week. Williams played just nine snaps this week, two of which resulted in halfback rushing attempts. Williams was clearly still being integrated into the system as he didn’t appear to be the primary read on any of the plays prior to his touchdown grab. I do think it’s worth noting Pittsburgh has already had their bye and the Jets haven’t yet had theirs yet. Perhaps Pittsburgh was motivated to keep him on a semi-flexible snap count.

I’ll be curious to see if there are more looks designed for him this week, but I’m already intrigued by the ways the Steelers will deploy him to create space in their passing attack. Like I said last week, Williams looks to be moving as well as he ever has. He still has plus-speed for a player of his size. That was apparent on his game-winning touchdown catch, where the Steelers had him fill in for Calvin Austin’s route while Austin was being evaluated for a head injury.

But even if that was his only target, Williams impacts the game in other ways.

He’s great working as a “sacrificial X” a term coined by Matt Harmon for a player who fulfills the X role to primarily create space for others. Line Williams up as a traditional X or in a power slot role, and his size, speed and threat as a pass catcher both forces a defense to respect him, and also allows Arthur Smith to manipulate defenses into creating openings for the other receivers, especially George Pickens.

The timing and spacing should get even better as Williams familiarizes himself more with Wilson, Pickens, and the rest of the Steelers offense. I’d expect more targets to come his way moving forward, but it’s good to know he can help create for others in the offense too.

The Steelers enter the second stretch of the season at 7-2 with all of their division games ahead of them. What has you concerned/confident as they enter division play?

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

RP: At this point, I’m fairly confident the Steelers can hang with anyone. I want to see how the offense fairs against the Ravens and Bengals — two top offenses that could push the Steelers’ defense and require Pittsburgh’s offense to keep pace — before I’m ready to call the Steelers true Super Bowl contenders. But the vision is clear and the Steelers are in that second tier of teams that could win the whole thing if they get hot at the right time.

In a way, that encapsulates my main concern with this team. The Steelers have not played any of the NFL’s elite offenses on the way to 7-2. I know the Commanders rank highly in several stats, but Tomlin and his staff usually gameplan well for rookies. No, what I’m concerned about is whether Pittsburgh’s offense can keep up if the Steelers defense has a bad day against a Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow or CJ Stroud in January.

The offense has improved drastically under Russell Wilson, but it has also been highly inefficient. That’s to be expected with the playstyle Russ brings as your signal caller. Russ thrives on the deep ball outside the numbers, but he isn’t automatic. No quarterback is on those routes. We saw the highs of that playstyle against both of the New York teams when Russ went a combined 5-for-7 on throws 30-plus yards downfield, for a total of 189 yards and a touchdown. On Sunday, we saw Wilson struggle to hit these as easily, going 3-for-8 for 72 yards and interception, yet still paying it off with two touchdowns. If you’re asking me to come up with a concern, then that’s it right there. Will the Steelers be able to overcome a day where the touchdowns aren’t there on those throws. If the run game doesn’t open up. Can Pittsburgh win in a shootout? Is Pittsburgh’s rushing attack good enough to propel the offense if the opposing defense takes away the deep outside ball?

I think they can, but we’ll know for sure by the end of December. The Steelers are essentially in playoff mode from here on out.

RB: There’s actually a lot to be confident in, so I’ll go with what first came to mind: Pittsburgh’s front seven. Obviously, the Alex Highsmith injury resulted in a hit to the depth, but the aforementioned Preston Smith trade alleviates a lot of my concerns. Highsmith’s injury isn’t season-ending, either, and he should provide a boost to the lineup later this season.

Frankly, as long as T.J. Watt is healthy and there are good-to-solid defenders rushing opposite him, the Steelers’ outside linebacker room will be a threat.

But that’s just one group in the front seven. The Pittsburgh defensive line hasn’t been quite as consistent this season, but Cam Heyward is playing undeniably lights out in his age 35 season. He’s still strong as ever and even recorded a two-sack game on Sunday.

Elsewhere, you have two of the more underrated Steelers defenders in Keeanu Benton and Larry Ogunjobi to finish out the starting D-line. Benton made one of the bigger plays in the Steelers’ win over the Commanders.

The Steelers’ inside linebackers are probably the most worrisome group out of the front seven, with Patrick Queen underperforming early this season and Payton Wilson having some expected rookie growing pains. But they stepped up against Washington, with Queen especially having his best game of the season, reading and reacting better than Ryan and I this week. I’ll direct you to Brian “Baldy” Baldinger hyping him up below; Queen’s speed is something truly special:

Wilson’s athleticism remains an asset, as does Elandon Roberts’ stellar run defense. I expect he’ll play a big role next week against the Ravens. Roberts’ snap counts already saw a big boost on Sunday against the Commanders’ rushing attack, and the results were good.

The Steelers’ front seven is a deep, multifaceted group that can beat you in a number of ways: There’s experience, youth, speed guys, power guys, hard-nosed run defenders, and stars who can do it all. Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is also starting to dial up the pressure with more blitzes later in the season, adding a new wrinkle. If Pittsburgh makes some noise in the playoffs this season, the front seven will be what’s leading the charge.

As for what I’m most concerned about: After years of Matt Canada, Pittsburgh’s offensive explosion in recent weeks still doesn’t feel entirely sustainable, like the clock could strike midnight at any moment. Will the George Pickens-Russell Wilson connection finally cool off? Will the running game return to early-season levels of inefficiency?

But Pittsburgh just keeps getting better and my concerns feel unwarranted. Where it does seem rational, however, is regarding the offensive line depth. The Steelers are already down two starters this season in Troy Fautanu and James Daniels, with top interior backup Nate Herbig also lost for the year.

The current lineup, which includes two rookies and a struggling second-year tackle playing out of position, has over-performed, but there’s not much wiggle room left for injuries or bad days with some tough defensive line assignments still on the schedule.

Add in Russell Wilson’s declining mobility and the fact that the Steelers are still moving the pocket a lot on game day, and it’s hard not to be a little worried. Can the Pittsburgh O-line continue to hold up, improve, and stay healthy? That’s a crucial puzzle piece regarding the Steelers’ success this season.

We got another viral George Pickens moment Sunday against Washington. Pickens has put some unique tape out there, what’s been your favorite “Psycho” George moment?

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

RB: There is an absurdly long list to choose from here. Even though Pickens slamming a defensive back post-interception and then head-butting his neck like a vampire this week might go down as the best one yet, it feels too recent to choose here. Instead, I’ll go with a deeper cut from last year, where Pickens took his rare talent of having absurd body control while still looking like a newborn fawn and decided to try it in the blocking game:

This one made me audibly laugh while watching the game, and unlike some of the other Pickens “psycho” clips, this was at least an effort to go above and beyond for his team — maybe a bit too much. Pickens just decides to completely launch himself backwards into the path of an NFL defender sprinting at full speed — I’m dying to know what he was thinking in the moment here.

Funny enough, it’s still a completely unnecessary play as Kenny Pickett was already well past the defender Pickens was trying to block. No. 14 just wanted to inflict as much pain on the defense as humanly possible.

The feather on the cap is the block failing and resulting in Pickens getting bulldozed by Robert Spillane. It’s the thought that counts, I guess.

RP: You have to give it to Pickens; he’s appointment television for more reasons than one. Sunday was an all-timer. You had the interception where I believe George Pickens attempted to execute an RKO on rookie corner Mike Sainristil. You had the hurdle into a four-Commander stiff arm. The catch where he broke a tackle and then started button mashing. And that doesn’t even cover the ridiculous touchdown catch or the sideline toe drag.

That was a vintage Pickens game, but he gave me my all-time favorite “psycho” moment earlier this season. Like Ryland, I picked one that I truly laughed out loud watching in the moment. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen.

I’ll set the scene. The clock is winding down in the final five minutes of the game. The Steelers are up 26-18. Russell Wilson climbs the pocket and scrambles, but fumbles the ball on the way down from a shoestring tackle and the Giants recover. The refs would rule the defender was down where the ball was recovered, but that ruling came after an attempt to advance the ball by the Giants defender. That’s when, in a fumble return that ultimately meant nothing, George Pickens decided to do this.

Flabbergasting. Cartoonish. Unhinged. Sloppily executed elbow drop. And absolutely hysterical.

The only two reasons I believe this doesn’t get flagged are:

1. The refs this season have been having a tough go this year and there was just too much going on for them with the turnover.
2. Poor Dan Moore Jr. ends up taking the brunt of it.

George Pickens is one-of-one and I can’t wait for Hard Knocks.

Join in on Steelers R&R by sharing your takes on this week’s topics. What are your thoughts on the Steelers’ latest additions? What are you the most confident and concerned about heading into Week 11? Funniest George Pickens moment? Let us know in the comments! Feel free to pitch future questions in the comment section or on Twitter/X: tag @_Ryland_B or @RyanParishMedia.