The Pittsburgh Steelers come into this season like they do most, with Super Bowl aspirations. This team looks a bit different than the last few years, though, and the storylines are different. Let's breakdown the four biggest storylines heading into 2019 for the Steelers.
Will This Year be Just About Football?
The name of the game is football but the last few years with the Steelers that seems to be the secondary attraction with the media circus surrounding the team. Gone is Le' Veon Bell and Antonio Brown and the hope is this season that the team can focus on playing football and all the distractions will be gone.
The players have been saying all the right things this offseason about how they want to play football, but that can change with one bad egg in the bunch. Ramon Foster said last week that this group is closer than it has ever been.
“I’ve said it time and time before just talking to guys this offseason – I don’t think I have talked to more guys on the other side of the ball than I have in my entire career,” Foster said via Larry Brown Sports. “And that’s a really good thing. That means communication is there, understanding and there are guys who are genuinely caring about each other. And that’s a good thing.”
How will JuJu Smith-Schuster Handle Being the No. 1 Receiver?
JuJu Smith-Schuster has said all the right things about being the number one receiver with Antonio Brown gone but talking is one thing, and proving it on the field is a different thing.
There has been some talk that Smith-Schuster has had a lot of his success because Brown was taking all the double teams.
Now if Smith-Schuster can prove he is that star receiver he is going to be the one getting double-teamed, and he is going to still need to find a way to get open.
How Much Impact will Devin Bush Have?
Since Ryan Shazier had the devastating injury that many thought would leave him paralyzed the Steelers have had problems filling his linebacker spot. The team moved up in the draft to take Devin Bush, and the expectations are that he will be an impact player right away.
It's only OTA's but Bush has already been showing off his versatility, and the expectations are high he will be able to lead the defense early in his career. So how much of an impact will he have in year one?
What Will the Running Game Look Like?
With Le'Veon Bell the starter the Steelers didn't run the typical smash mouth running back that the team has run through their history.
Bell is now gone, and with James Conner, Jaylen Samuels, and Benny Snell Jr now on the team, it should be back to smash mouth football.
It will also be interesting to watch how those three guys split carries. All three guys should get plenty of chances to run the ball and prove they can help the team out.
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