The Pittsburgh Steelers are four games into the regular season, and that means it’s time to track who has done well, stock up, and who hasn’t, stock down, as the team turns the page to the latest road game vs. the Las Vega Raiders coming in Week 6 of the regular season.

As always, these are just my lists, so feel free to voice your opinion in the comment section below.

Stock Up

Tight Ends

Don’t look now, but the Steelers are starting to target their tight ends more by the week. Let’s take a look at the trajectory of this trend throughout the first 5 games of the regular season:

TE Targets

Week 1: 7
Week 2: 5
Week 3: 6
Week 4: 9
Week 5: 9

Is this because the quarterback is starting to see the field better? Is it because the coordinator is starting to loosen up the reigns and opening up the offense? It could be both, but it’s good to see the tight ends getting more use the past few weeks. If those targets go up, and the production goes up with it, then so be it.

Takeaways

The past two games the Steelers hadn’t been able to get a takeaway on the defensive side of the football. It was a stark difference than what they saw the first two weeks when they were near the top of the NFL in turnover differential. Sunday night vs. the Cowboys the Steelers got three takeaways, and they needed every one of them to keep the game close. Nonetheless, the fact the Steelers are back on the takeaway train should be huge moving forward, as long as this trend continues on its current path.

Offensive Line Continuity

Don’t look now, but the Steelers are about to do something they haven’t done all year. And that is having the same offensive line, from left to right, for the second straight week of the season. It’s hard to believe, but the Steelers are about to see some continuity along the offensive line.

Take a look:

Week 1: Moore/Anderson/Frazier/Daniels/Jones
Week 2: Moore/Anderson/Frazier/Daniels/Fautanu and Jones
Week 3: Moore/Anderson/Frazier/Daniels/Jones
Week 4: Moore/McCormick/Frazier/Daniels and Anderson/Jones
Week 5: Moore/Seumalo/Frazier/McCormick/Jones

We all know how important continuity is along the line, and maybe, just maybe, Steelers fans will start to see that come to fruition.

T.J. Watt

I don’t think Watt’s stock has ever gone down, but after obtaining his 100th sack of his career, and doing it before turning 30, is amazing. There are times when players are pressing for a variety of reasons, and if Watt was honest he might say that’s exactly what he was doing in the games prior to breaking the 100 sack plateau in Week 6. Could we see a more free-and-easy Watt with that proverbial monkey off his back? I doubt it, but the defense will need him to be his usual Superman impression with him being the only true edge pass rusher who will be suiting up in Week 6 vs. the Raiders.

Stock Down

Justin Fields

Say what you want about the Steelers quarterback situation, but the team clearly doesn’t fully trust Fields when it comes to the offense. Did Fields play awful on Sunday night? I don’t believe so. Did he play great? Didn’t do that either. He was just “okay”, but when you look at how the Steelers have, or have not, sculpted the offense around his skill set you can’t not help but to feel his stock is trending in the wrong direction.

Fan Confidence

The Steelers are 3-2, and tied for first in the AFC North. Still very much alive in the grand scheme of things, but the fan base is absolutely losing confidence in the team after back-to-back losses. It isn’t necessarily the losses themselves, but how they’ve lost. In Indianapolis it was a sluggish defense who couldn’t make enough plays to get the job done. Against Dallas it was an offense who never truly got started, and a defense which made plenty of plays, except for the key one at the end of the game. Winning cures all, but confidence from the fan base is trending downward.

RB/OL/OLB Health

When it comes to positions which have been hit hard with the injury bug, there are none greater than the three mentioned above. The only viable option at running back this week, if we’re being honest, is Najee Harris. Likewise, at outside linebacker it’s going to be T.J. Watt and Jeremiah Moon.

Not ideal, and no shock these positions are trending down due to these issues.

Pass Defense

The Steelers have been absolutely gashed in the passing game the past two weeks. The players and coaches chalk it up to miscommunication, but I find that to be a tough pill to swallow. To me, it isn’t just about communication, but also putting your players in the best position to succeed. If the defense can’t run zone concepts, let’s not try and focus solely on those concepts at critical moments in the game. Or, let’s see why the defense struggles with zone concepts. Either way, this group is trending hard in the wrong direction heading into Week 6.

Be sure to follow SCN for all the latest news and updates as the team prepares for the Raiders in Week 6 of the 2024 regular season.