The Pittsburgh Steelers have emerged as an AFC contender as the 2024-25 NFL season races past the halfway point. On Sunday, the Steelers picked up a huge win over the Baltimore Ravens in an 18-16 slugfest to establish themselves as one of the teams to beat in the AFC.
This win gave the Steelers a 1.5 game lead in the AFC North and the inside track to a home game in at least the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Mike Tomlin and company were able to get that win despite not scoring a touchdown for the entire game. Instead, kicker Chris Boswell drilled six field goals to lift the Steelers to the win.
Of course, there’s no pictures on the scoreboard, so the Steelers will take a win any way they can get it. However, they know that they will need to start scoring some more touchdowns down in the red zone in order to make a deep playoff run.
On Wednesday, legendary quarterback Ben Roethlisberger proposed a possible solution to the Steelers’ problems getting the ball in the end zone involving backup quarterback Justin Fields, according to Brogan Noey of Steeler Nation.
“I love bringing him in for that,” Roethlisberger said, per Noey. “I would like, what about bringing Fields in in the red zone a little bit? I would love to see a change up in the red zone a little bit, just to utilize his legs. We know he’s got, I think five touchdowns this year. Why not bring him in in the red zone a little bit to mix it up?”
Steelers red zone woes must get fixed moving forward
The Steelers offense has been very up and down this season. Mike Tomlin made the decision to bench Justin Fields for Russell Wilson in the middle of the season, and while the results have been better, it is still an inconsistent unit.
Sunday was no exception. Against a Ravens defense that hasn’t been playing very well this season, the Steelers couldn’t find the end zone even one time, and instead relied on Chris Boswell to score all 18 of their points.
That is enough for the Steelers in some games where the defense forces. a few turnovers and Justin Tucker misses a pair of field goals on the other side, but it isn’t a winning formula moving forward. Entering Week 12, the Steelers are scoring a touchdown on just 44.4% of their red zone trips, which is good for 30th in the NFL. Only the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants fail to get in the end zone more often when inside the 20.
Leaning into the quarterback run game, whether it be with Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, is one way to try and help make things a little bit easier down in the short areas of the field. The Steelers could also try to get George Pickens more targets, as he has shown the ability to go up and make tough catches against good coverage. Whatever the solution is, the Steelers need to find it quickly.
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