The Pittsburgh Steelers are gearing up for the 2024 regular season, and with it being the team’s sixth game fans’ hopes remain high heading into the second quarter of the season. The hope is there is a winning performance on the horizon on Sunday in Week 8 when the team hosts the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

What exactly do the Steelers need to do to on offense to claim their sixth victory of 2024? Let’s break it down…

Offense

Run the rock

When talking about the New York Giants defense, they are a Top 10 unit vs. the pass, giving up 179.4 yards per game, but struggle vs. the run, surrendering 138.1 yards per game. In fact, their pass defense is 6th in the league, while their rush defense is ranked 25th prior to the Week 8 games being played. The Giants defensive front, anchored by Dexter Lawrence, loves getting after the quarterback, but the run game can stymie their pass rush. Have to be able to exploit the Giants weakness.

Convert

The Steelers 3rd down offense hasn’t been good all season, and that includes last week’s win with Russell Wilson at the helm. In that game the Steelers 3rd down offense finished 5-for-14 on the day, and this will be a big part of the game considering the Giants defense is a Top 5 3rd down defense. The Giants are surrendering conversions on just 30.1% of attempts, and that ranks 3rd heading into the game Monday night. Hopefully Arthur Smith realizes the Steelers don’t have to use all three downs before getting a first down, it might help the offense tremendously.

TDs, not FGs

Whether you’re talking about Justin Fields or Russell Wilson at quarterback, the Steelers offense has been moving the ball but struggled at times when it matters most, the red-zone. Last week the Wilson-led offense finished 4-for-6, and that will have to continue vs. a middle-of-the-road red-zone defense. New York’s red-zone conversion percentage is 53.3%, and that is T-13 in the league. Meanwhile, the Steelers red-zone offense is currently converting on 54.17% of their red-zone trips, which ranks T-18th. The Steelers need touchdowns in this game, not field goals, to put the Giants away early.

Don’t Aid the Enemy

The Giants defense is known for a lot, but taking the ball away isn’t one of those things. Through seven games the Giants have just 6 takeaways (1 INT, 5 FR). Want to know how to lose a game which you should win at home on primetime? Turn the football over, but that hasn’t been the Steelers MO this season. To date the Steelers have just 4 turnovers on the year (1 INT and 3 Fumbles), so if they can keep it clean it will make it even more difficult for the Giants to pull off the upset.

I talk about this, and MUCH more on the “Let’s Ride”, and you can hear that podcast in the player below this article. In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the team as they gear up for game time!