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 home game vs. the New York Giants coming in Week 8 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

Danny Smith

I have neglected to put Coach Smith in the Stock Up category for a few weeks now, and readers have let me know about it in the comment section. It’s time for me to make it right by giving Smith and his special teams units their due. Blocked point-afters, blocked field goals, blocked punts, good kicking/coverage units. Danny Smith has his units at the top of their game, but I’m also old enough to remember when fans wanted Smith on the first bus out of town just a few years ago. Good for Bazooka Joe and his special teams units.

Najee Harris

I said this last week, and I’ll reiterate it once again. I don’t know what got into Najee Harris, but I like it. Harris is coming off back-to-back 100 yard games, and not games where he averages around the 3 yard per carry mark. No, he is running hard, but being decisive with his reads. Harris also is punishing would-be tacklers to the point where he is getting the majority of his yardage in the second half of the game when the defense has to make “business decisions”. I’d love to see them use him more in the passing game, but he absolutely seems to have turned the corner this season.

George Pickens

I was able to watch the game Sunday night with my dad and he made the comment at one point, “Boy, Pickens is going to love Russ as the quarterback.” My response was simple, “Receivers love any quarterback who will throw them the ball.” It wasn’t that Justin Fields wasn’t throwing Pickens the ball, but there was a disconnect on more than one occasion. Pickens had some drops, but didn’t vs. the Jets, and let’s hope this is a positive trend for the talented receiver moving forward, regardless of who is the quarterback.

Arthur Smith

The Steelers offensive coordinator hasn’t had it easy these past few weeks. Having to prepare game plans for two completely different quarterbacks has to be a challenge in the modern day NFL. Nonetheless, you have started to see Smith find his groove, and hopefully he has his quarterback who he can sculpt the game plan around week-in and week-out. Now if we can only figure out a way to start games faster on the offensive side of the ball.

Mike Tomlin

I have to give credit where it’s due, and in this case I’m talking about the decision Mike Tomlin made at quarterback. He could have easily said he’s sticking with Fields, but he made the call to see what Wilson could do at quarterback. And it paid off. This is a small sample size, but if Russell Wilson continues on this trajectory the Steelers offense could be flipping the script on the league and finally showing an offense to match their stellar defense.

Beanie Bishop

Bishop is still a “feast or famine” type of player, but he was feasting vs. the Jets and Aaron Rodgers in Week 7 on Sunday Night Football. What a game, what a stage, and what a performance from the undrafted cornerback. Can we expect this type of performance every week from Bishop? That might be a bit too much at this point, but you can expect the Steelers to have better depth at slot cornerback moving forward, especially with Cam Sutton slated to return to the lineup after the Week 9 bye week.

Russell Wilson

Of course I have to put Wilson on the stock up list. After a rocky start to the game, Wilson started to get acclimated to the game once again. Wilson hadn’t started a game in a long time, not to mention he lost out on valuable repetitions throughout training camp and the start of the regular season. Wilson’s arrow is pointing straight up right now, and it will be up to him to keep that stock trending in a positive direction, but if his play in the second half of Week 7 was indicative of how he will play moving forward, Steelers fans should be ecstatic with what they have at the quarterback position.

Stock Down

Pass Rush

The Steelers are known for their pass rush, and always have been known for this, but the most recent iteration of the defense hasn’t necessarily lived up to the billing. Now, don’t get me wrong, the defense has been playing tremendous football, but I would like to see the pass rush/sack totals start to increase here in the coming weeks. The Steelers have 15 sacks so far this season, which puts them comfortably in the bottom half of the league. There have been a lot of injuries at the outside linebacker position, so hopefully this remedies itself, but more production in the sack department from Cam, Larry and Keeanu would also be welcome.

NFL Officiating

Another week, another blown call where New York tells Mike Tomlin they got it wrong. The most recent culprit was the “leverage” penalty against Minkah Fitzpatrick on a blocked point-after vs. the Jets. This is the second “oops, sorry” flag the league has thrown on No. 39, and just goes to show how the officiating in the league is getting worse. I don’t expect anything to change anytime soon, in fact I’m preparing for it to get worse before it ever starts to improve.

Be sure to follow SCN for all the latest news and updates as the team prepares for the Giants in Week 8 of the 2024 regular season.