Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 Vital statistics for 2019 season

Mike Tomlin’s team missed the playoffs after a 7-2-1 start in 2018. What numbers do the Pittsburgh Steelers need to improve on this upcoming season?

To say the 2018 season was uneven for the Pittsburgh Steelers would be a mild understatement. It began when the club played to a 21-point tie at Cleveland and seven days later was riddled by quarterback Patrick Mahomes in Week 2 at Heinz Field. After four weeks of play, Mike Tomlin’s club sat with a 1-2-1 record and had already dropped a pair of home games.

Eventually, the Black and Gold appeared to get its act together. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was at the command of a balanced offense with second-year running back James Conner showing his mettle. Wide receivers Antonio Brown and Juju Smith-Schuster proved to be one of the most potent duos is in the league. Meanwhile, the defense was doing its thing in regards to chasing down opposing signal-callers.

But a funny thing happened to this team the second half of the season. A six-game winning streak was followed by a 2-4 finish. It included three consecutive losses to AFC West teams (Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers and Oakland Raiders).

The team rebounded to upend the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots at home in Week 15 but split its final to contest and a 9-6-1 record wasn’t good enough for the Steelers to get back to the playoffs for a fifth consecutive year.

It was an offseason of dramatic change. A disgruntled Brown was dealt to the Raiders for third- and fifth-round draft choices. Running back Le’Veon Bell, who sat out all of 2018 after being franchise tagged for a second straight year, is now a member of the New York Jets.

General manager Kevin Colbert and the club made some solid but modest additions in free agency and the team broke character by trading up in April’s draft to take exciting linebacker Devin Bush.

Dating back to realignment in 2002, only the New England Patriots have won more games than the Steelers. But that has not translated into a Super Bowl championship this current decade. So what are the numbers to look at when it comes to Tomlin and company?