The other day I was thinking about my time writing about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Throughout my career doing so, I’ve essentially done it all.

Commentary, news, breaking stories, features and even took a stab at simple film room breakdowns.

The one thing I’ve never done is work on just a random thought type format.

I can’t speak for you, the reader, but I am always thinking about writing and the Steelers. Thinking about different aspects of the team and game. Thanks to reading Myron Cope’s biography I decided to put a unique spin on this type of feature.

Now, for the name of the article, anyone who is familiar with the Styx song “Renegade” should know where it came from. If not, this is where it came from…

The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Nevermore to go astray
This’ll be the end today of the wanted man

The jig is up…time for some randomness.

Passes…over the middle?!

If there has been a common theme among the Pittsburgh Steelers offenses dating back to 2020, it’s the downright refusal to want to throw the ball over the middle. This wasn’t just a Matt Canada thing, for those who don’t remember. These same passing charts were around in 2020 when Randy Fichtner was coordinating the offense, and they’ve stuck around ever since.

Well, in Week 3 of the 2024 regular season, with Arthur Smith at the helm, it seems the chart has changed…at least for one game.

So, are we still talking about the over the middle passes? #Steelers pic.twitter.com/Dn7PY25vB1

— Jeff Hartman (@JHartman_PIT) September 23, 2024

One game doesn’t completely buck the trend, but if this was the beginning of a “new norm”, it would be a breathe of fresh air for the offense and the fan base.

Do the semantics matter?

Last week I bemoaned people calling Justin Fields a back-up, based on the fact he has so many starts in his career under his belt. This week there seemed to be a large contingent of the fan base who was enamored with Mike Tomlin making Fields the QB1 “official”. Some even look at the team’s official depth chart on a weekly basis, but the more I think about this mental dilemma from some people the more I wonder if Tomlin isn’t playing his cards perfectly in this situation. Why make anything official when you don’t have to? Would it make Fields more at ease? Maybe. Could it cause other issues with Wilson? Possibly. Just avoid it altogether and keep the status quo until Wilson gets healthy…which might not be for a while anyways.

The Justin Fields internal dilemma 

When the Steelers traded for Justin Fields this offseason there was something odd about the transaction. No, not the conditional draft pick sent to the Chicago Bears, but how we never saw or heard from Fields. He didn’t come into Pittsburgh for photos of him in his black-and-gold gear. He wasn’t interviewed by someone within the Steelers organization.

It was radio silence.

Fields never missed a workout during Organized Team Activities (OTAs) or minicamp, and was the benefactor of early training camp repetitions with the starters due to Russell Wilson’s injury. With Fields in the spotlight, we got to hear more and more from the former 1st Round draft pick.

Every time Chicago was brought up, you could both see and hear a level of disappointment with Fields.

As Steelers fans we expect every player who comes to the team to be ecstatic with their new home. To rave about their new opportunity.

But with Fields, you could tell he was appreciative of the opportunity in Pittsburgh. He was appreciative of the Bears for placing him in Pittsburgh via trade compared to other teams who have an entrenched starter. But you can just see and hear failure in the way he spoke.

If you haven’t heard Fields on Cam Heyward’s podcast, I’d recommend you go check it out. For the first time he talks about Chicago, how he feels as if he left something behind, but seems to have turned the page. Maybe he’ll feel more at peace with his current situation once he is the entrenched starter himself, but in the meantime I can’t help but sympathize with his plight of a missed opportunity with the Bears.

Monday Night Madness

This past week the NFL did something they’ve done before, but with a slight adjustment. What was that? They did a Monday Night Football double header. This was common practice in Week 1 of past seasons, with an early game at 7:30pm EST and a late game on the west coast following. Now? They are essentially putting two games in the same time slot, with one starting just a half hour after the other. My question is why two at the same time? To me this ruins the novelty of Monday Night Football. If you play the MNF theme music, it brings back some great memories of years gone by, but with multiple weeks with more than one game being played Monday night, does it still carry that same significance? Maybe I’m just getting older, but I am not a fan of the new set up.

Division race far from over, but the lead is nice

The Steelers 3-0 start has been a tremendous boost for their division odds, but it’s still early. While I see plenty of fans posting “Kings of the North” images with Justin Fields and T.J. Watt donning crowns, it’s way too early to be talking about division titles. Things can change quickly, and while the lead in the race is nice and welcome, they haven’t even gone through the first leg of the marathon which is the NFL regular season.

Let’s give some credit to the offensive coaching staff

When it comes to the Steelers offensive success, and I’m using that term loosely considering the offensive output has been far from an explosion, a lot of credit has gone to Arthur Smith and even Mike Tomlin. But are we short-changing some other coaches who likely have just as much to do with the Justin Fields turnaround than anyone else.

So, big shout out to quarterbacks coach Tom Arth and senior offensive assistant Mike Sullivan. When you see clips of the Steelers sideline during games you always see Fields and Arth talking and discussing what happened. Take it a step further and watch the Steelers “Sights and Sounds” videos which has players and coaches mic’d up and you can both see and hear how Arth is impacting Fields development.

Fields isn’t a finished product, but wanted to give credit to some of those coaches who aren’t discussed as much as Arthur Smith.

How complete is this roster?

Thursday I was asked to join a radio show in Indianapolis to talk about the Steelers vs. Colts game, and I was asked a myriad of questions about the Steelers roster. Questions like how to beat the defense, and what they plan will be on the offensive side of the ball. It got me thinking, especially on defense, how complete this 2024 roster can be. On paper it seems to me this is the most complete roster we’ve seen in a long time in Pittsburgh. The defensive roster is stout, and the offensive roster, when they get healthy, should be more than capable of completing their end of the bargain. Not about to say it’s the best roster since 2010, the Steelers last Super Bowl appearance, but kudos to Omar Khan, Andy Weidl, Mike Tomlin and the front office for making huge upgrades on the roster the past two seasons.

Bulletin Board Material a real thing?

Earlier this week the Colts put out a social media post with T.J. Watt and Colts rookie pass rusher Laiatu Latu next to each other. It got the attention of the Steelers faithful.

Shoe meets Steel. ⚒️ pic.twitter.com/0uU0mZ2oOu

— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 25, 2024

The image even made it to the mainstream media with many suggesting this could be bulletin board material for the Steelers. I’m not about to go that far, or that Watt even cares about a social media image, but it does make me think if “bulletin board material” is even a thing? In this regard, I don’t think it is; however, when a player comes out and says something publicly it can absolutely get a team more fired up than they would be otherwise. When you are talking about two teams who are division rivals, bulletin board material means little considering there is already disdain there between two teams. But some of this “bulletin board material” seems to be generated more by the media than anything else.

Lucas Oil Field (aka the RCA Dome) is one thing

Lucas Oil Field is the new home of the Colts, but if you are not a young Steelers fan you remember the RCA Dome. And when you remember the RCA Dome you remember the Payton Manning led Colts which tormented opponents with regularity in that home. Steelers fans remember the 26-7 thrashing on Monday Night Football in 2005 when Manning and the Colts embarrassed the Steelers in prime time. But what followed in the AFC Divisional Round might be one of the most memorable games in Steelers history, including Super Bowl victories.

I’m not suggesting the Steelers Super Bowls were less significant as that divisional round game, but the Steelers vs. Colts playoff game in 2005 had it all.

• Steelers throwing their way to a lead
• The Pittsburgh defense controlling ever aspect of the game
• Troy Polamalu’s would-be interception which was overturned
• Joey Porter’s sack of Manning
• Jerome Bettis’s fumble, and “the tackle” by Ben Roethlisberger
• Mike Vanderjagt’s horrible miss which sent the Steelers to the AFC Championship Game in Denver

What a game…

This week’s official assignments

Land Clark’s crew has been assigned the Steelers vs. Colts game in Week 4. Let’s take a look at this crew, shall we?

As a former teacher (Middle School Physical Education/Health) for 16 years, I can’t help but look at the individuals above and ask some questions. Paul King is labeled as a “teacher”. Shouldn’t that be more specific? What is he teaching? Who attends his classes? Also, Jabir Walker is a “middle school teacher”. As someone who was around these young adults, if you want to call them that, you might want to know what you’re getting yourself into when walking into a Middle School.

When it comes to Bob Hubbell, the dude sells steel, how can he not be pulling for the team from the steel city? And, yes, I know the steel industry isn’t in Pittsburgh anymore.

As you can tell, I take way too much enjoyment out of this weekly exercise…

That does it…the jig is up, they’ve finally found me. This renegade is outta here…be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the Colts Sunday at 1pm EST.