Pittsburgh Steelers take home a lot to learn after Cincinnati Bengals end playoffs hopes – NFL News
Pittsburgh Steelers’ last hope to stay alive in the playoff race was ended by their rout by the Cincinnati Bengals on a road game on Sunday (Dec. 23), and although the season is over for them they have a lot to take home with regard to
their rebuilding and preparations for next season.
First, the Steelers genuinely suffered with a number of injury scares, and those kept occurring to their key players both on offensive and defensive lines along the course of the entire season. Obviously, here they do not have anyone including
themselves to blame.
An important lesson they can learn from the high number of injuries is that they should come hard on the players as far as investment of their time in the training and workout is concerned. In this regard, they must settle the deals and
other issues with players earlier in the offseason so as to not provide them opportunities for holdouts.
Wide receiver Mike Wallace’s case is an example here. The receiver skipped the entire training camp in protest to his demand of a pay raise, which was not met until start of the season. It is still pending.
Second, the team has to give some serious thought to its offensive line. They should seriously weigh the significance of present offence leader QB Ben Roethlisberger in the squad. Even if they do not seek an immediate replacement for him,
the team must groom and train a QB who could replace him in next couple of seasons.
The veteran is fast approaching maturity of his career. He even himself knows that he has to part ways with the team in about two years. It is not just his age, but the number of injuries is taking a toll on his health and fitness, and
the Steelers should proactively plan for his replacement.
Apart from injury scares, the quarterback did not have a good season this year due to deteriorating terms with offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Although all the stakeholders have kept on downplaying controversy it remains a fact that
Big Ben never got along well with Haley, and this was one of the factors behind his subdued performance during the season.
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