By: Jonathan Clark
SteelerNation.com
The deadline for players to opt out of the 2020 NFL season was August 6th at 4 PM EST. In a season where many starters throughout the league have decided to opt out of the year due to concerns regarding the coronavirus, these decisions by the individual players will put more teams in an even more uncomfortable situation then already advertised for the 2020 season. While no one can blame the players for making these tough decisions, teams will have to adjust going out there on Sundays with possibly a different set of starters then were previously advertised.
Lucky enough for us Steeler fans, Pittsburgh was one of the three teams to not have a single player opt out of the upcoming season (along with the Los Angeles Chargers and Atlanta Falcons). What does this mean? Well it obviously means that we are going to see our whole unit together -- offense, defense and special teams. More importantly, it means this 2020 roster is ALL IN; which as fans, we love to see.
Of course everyone remembers the early days of Ben Roethlisberger, when the Steelers operated as a "defense first" team, and rightfully so. We have always had play-makers on the offensive side of the ball, whether it was Mike Wallace or Hines Ward, Jerome Bettis or Willie Parker, but our defensive group always found a way to trump it all. They were the anchor of our football team and did not fall short of coming through on Sundays. Imagine that in 2020? Well we might not have to imagine it much longer.
Coming into this season, I think the Steelers have the best group offensively and defensively that they have had in a long time. This team really does remind me of those late 2000’s, early 2010 teams, except this current team might even have more play-makers on both sides of the ball.
Although coming off an injury, many around the team say that Roethlisberger looks as good as ever, noting that his arm might be even better than it was before. Before the injury, Roethlisberger was coming off one of his best seasons yet, throwing for over 5,000 yards. Something only few have accomplished. If Roethlisberger can produce anything close to that stellar season he had in 2018, that would put this offense at a level where few can compete. Good QB play was the missing piece for this football team last year, and with all that, still went 8-8. I think it’s fair to say that Roethlisberger is good for at least 3 or 4 more wins in 2020.
Pair that with a top 5 defense in 2019, with many key defensive starters coming back for this campaign, in my opinion, there is nowhere else we can go then up from last year. It is going to be hard for the rest of the NFL to find guys that can match up with the likes of Cam Heyward, T.J. Watt, Stephen Nelson and Minkah Fitzpatrick and actually be able to say they have the advantage. This defense is a scary unit and one that is mixed with both experienced veterans, and young rising stars. It feels like they have the right units put in place to build yet another winning roster.
Now obviously, all these scenarios are hypothetical for the time being, but if all of these things do prove to be true throughout the season, the sky's the limit for this football team and we could see this team hoisting a Lombardi sooner rather than later.
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