The Steelers made a couple of trades this week to bolster their roster at the trade deadline, acquiring wide receiver Mike Williams and edge rusher Preston Smith.
They might not have been the blockbuster deals for which many had hoped, but they are deals that make the Steelers a better team if just by improving the team's overall depth.
And that has been a hallmark of general manager Omar Khan's tenure thus far. With the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger and the massive salary cap hit involved with having a "franchise" quarterback, the Steelers over the past couple of seasons have had much more available cap space with which to build a deep and complete roster.
That has shown itself over the first half of this season, when the team has placed more than a dozen players on the Reserve/Injured List, including three offensive linemen, and still found ways to win games. And that doesn't even include both starting left guard Isaac Seumalo and starting center Zach Frazier both missing multiple games each with injuries that didn't land them on IR.
Despite those issues, the Steelers find themselves at 6-2 coming out of their bye week and positioned well in the AFC hierarchy. And they've done that because the team has approached player acquisition with the idea that they always want one more of whatever it is they are acquiring.
Why select two offensive linemen in the draft when you can take three as they did this season with first-round pick Troy Fautanu, second-rounder Frazier and fourth-round pick Mason McCormick?
At the time, it seemed the selection of McCormick was something of a luxury pick with both Seumalo and James Daniels, a pair of veterans who had played well in 2023, firmly entrenched as the starters. But Seumalo missed four games to start the season and Daniels was placed on IR after four games with an Achilles' tendon injury that forced McCormick into the starting lineup after veteran Nate Herbig was lost for the season in training camp to an injury.
You just don't know what's going to happen at a given position over the course of a seven or even eight-month NFL season.
The Steelers found that out the hard way in 2023 when they were beset by injuries at the inside linebacker and safety positions. Leaving training camp, it appeared they had good depth at both. But when multiple injuries hit, it turned out that was not the case.
So, in the offseason, the Steelers clearly made it a priority to acquire players who had starting experience to provide depth. The signings of players with lengthy resumes such as defensive lineman Dean Lowry, wide receiver Van Jefferson, tight end MyCole Pruitt and running back/kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson are prime examples of this.
None were "splash" signings. But all have played a role in the Steelers getting to 6-2.
Williams and Smith fit into the same category.
Yes, the Steelers were interested in perhaps adding another big-time weapon to their offense. They were reportedly interested in trading for San Francisco's Brandon Aiyuk and a number of other wide receivers who have been traded this season.
They're always interested in improving the roster – if the price is right. But they're not going to overpay for a player.
And both Williams and Smith make the Steelers a deeper and more complete roster.
While the Steelers were fine with what they had on the roster at wide receiver – Russell Wilson has averaged over 270 passing yards in his first two starts, the second-most on a per game basis in the NFL – nobody wanted to see what this offense would look like if George Pickens missed a game because of injury.
Williams, a big, outside-the-numbers target with a big-play background, mitigates some of those concerns.
Likewise, the acquisition of Smith, a veteran with six seasons of 8 or more sacks under his belt, including last season, means the Steelers don't have to necessarily continue to have T.J. Watt play more than 90 percent of the defensive snaps as he has done to this point.
That's why when head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about what immediate impact the acquisitions would have on the team, he was quick to mention these were not deals made with short-term goals in mind. These were trades made with an eye on season-long goals. And they continued the Steelers' trend of acquiring veteran, proven talent to supplement the roster.
"We're just stacking our chips. This is an arms race," Tomlin said. "It's highly competitive. As the road gets narrow, we better have capable people."
• The Steelers have the NFL's best red zone defense, allowing a touchdown on just 37.5 percent of opponents' trips inside the 20.
A big reason for that is because it's nearly impossible to run against them when teams get close to the goal line, as the Steelers allow just 2.8 yards per rushing attempt inside their own 20.
Opponents also have found passing more difficult. Opposing offenses have completed just 14 of 35 passes for 95 yards against the Steelers inside the 20 with a passer rating of 47.9.
Finally, the Steelers have forced six turnovers inside the red zone, including three of T.J. Watt's four forced fumbles. They also have four red zone interceptions.
The most amazing Steelers' red zone stat, however, is that 18 of the team's 19 sacks this season have come when the opponent gets inside the 20.
Teams are getting the ball out quickly to move the ball against the Steelers. But once they get into the red zone and things get more condensed, they can't necessarily do that. And that leads to sacks, turnovers and, more often than not, a field goal attempt.
"Obviously, we've got some good players that are able to make plays," said defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. "They don't shrink up when it gets tight and crunchy down there. I think our guys are doing a good job of working at it, recognizing some tendencies of other people, seeing what they do, putting themselves in position to make plays and finishing it off."
That could come into play this week against the Commanders on Sunday. As good as Washington rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels has been – and he's been great – his numbers in the red zone are just OK. Daniels, who is completing more than 70 percent of his passes, sees that completion percentage drop to just over 51 percent inside the 20. His passer rating, which is 106.7 overall, falls to 85.7 in the red zone.
• Making trades in the NFL has gotten much easier than it used to be.
It used to be that players didn't move at the deadline all that often. In fact, as recently as 2015, just one player was dealt within a week of the trade deadline. This season, there have been 18 trades involving 19 players since the season began, including eight deals that were made in the closing hours leading up to the deadline.
One reason for that is because there is a definite division between the haves and have nots in the NFL. Entering Week 10, nine teams have two or fewer wins. On the other hand, 11 teams have six or more wins. That's a huge chasm just halfway through the season.
And it's nothing new. Teams are now seemingly more willing to cut bait and start setting plans for next season more than ever before.
Another reason for that is that the NFL has gotten away from giving out the long-term deals it used to do in free agency. Both teams and players are seemingly more willing to give or accept one- or two-year deals and reassess things after the season ends.
With fully guaranteed deals not on the horizon – unless you happen to be a quarterback – it makes sense for both the teams and players. Teams no longer have to structure deals that often included funny money that the player was never going to see. And players are more willing to gamble on themselves with a shorter-term deal that allows them to test free agency again more quickly.
Those short-term deals make the players easier to move. There isn't as much dead money involved for the team that is trading them and the team that is acquiring the player is only on the hook for the remaining base salary.
Finally, later round draft picks aren't quite as valuable as they used to be. College football gave players additional years of eligibility because of COVID-19, which led to players staying in school longer. That also was coupled with the advent of NIL money in the college game, which has had the same effect.
So drafts haven't been quite as deep because many of the underclassmen are staying in school.
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
• Tomlin must do something right when it comes to handling bye weeks. The Steelers have won their past seven games coming off a week of rest and are 13-4 overall coming off a bye under Tomlin.
Tomlin likewise does something right against rookie quarterbacks. The Steelers are 25-6 against rookie quarterbacks in Tomlin's tenure, including a win over Bo Nix and the Broncos earlier this season.
That .806 winning percentage is third-best in NFL history in such games and will be put to the test this weekend against Daniels.
Daniels' seven wins in his team's first nine games matches Ben Roethlisberger as the most by a rookie over such a span. The only difference is that Roethlisberger didn't start the Steelers' first two games in 2004.
Daniels will be hard-pressed to match Roethlisberger's NFL record of 13 wins as a rookie, though if the Commanders win Sunday, he could challenge it.
Considering just eight teams have gotten to at least 13 wins over the past four seasons since the league went to a 17-game schedule, that one will be hard to match for any rookie QB.
• Just over the halfway mark of the 2024 NFL season, the Dynamic Kickoff rule has had somewhat of the desired effect on those plays. Entering Week 10, there has been a return on 31.8 percent of kickoffs. That's up from a historic-low of 22.1 percent in 2023.
It remains, however, the second-lowest percentage of kick returns in the past decade, well below the 36.8 percent of kick returns attempted in 2019.
One team that has bucked the trend to simply kick the ball into the end zone is the Steelers' opponent this week, the Washington Commanders.
Washington has allowed a league-high 41 kick returns this season, six more than the next-closest team, the Saints. And those two teams are clearly the outliers, as no other team has permitted more than 21 returns.
That could bode well for Steelers kick returners Cordarrelle Patterson and Jaylen Warren this week. Patterson and Warren have combined for just one return this season, as most teams have chosen to kick the ball well into or through the end zone when they have been deep to receive.
Of course, that the Commanders have had the opportunity to kick the ball off at least 41 times to opponents is noteworthy. They're averaging 3.05 points per possession this season, in part thanks to placekicker Austin Seibert having 25 field goals.
That's the fourth-most points per drive in the NFL since the 2000 season.
