Pittsburgh Steelers Season Recap

AFC North	Finished 1st in Division Beat Miami in Wild Card Round Beat Kansas City in Divisional Round Lost to the Patriots in AFC Championship
Overall Record: 11-5 (5-1 in the division)	Draft Position: 30th
Head Coach: Mike Tomlin	GM: Kevin Colbert

Pro Bowlers

• RB Le'Veon Bell
• WR Antonio Brown
• G David DeCastro
• C Maurkice Pouncey
• QB Ben Roethlisberger
• ILB Ryan Shazier

2016 Rankings

	Yards/Game	Points/Game	Passing Yards/Game	Rushing Yards/Game
Offense	7th	T-10th	T-5th	14th	TDs – T-9th
Defense	12th	10th	16th	13th	Sacks – T-9th	INTs – T-15th

Top Passers

Name	Games Started	CMP. PCT.	Yards	TDs	INTs	Passer Rating	QBR
Ben Roethlisberger	14	64.4	3,819	29	13	95.4	66.6
Landry Jones	2	61.6	558	4	2	86.3	45.8

Top Rushers

Name	Rushing Yards	Y/A	TDs
Le’Veon Bell	1,268	4.0	7
DeAngelo Williams	343	3.5	4

Top Pass Catchers

Name	Receptions	Yards	Y/C	TDs
Antonio Brown	106	1,284	12.1	12
Le’Veon Bell	75	616	8.2	2

Top Defensive Players

• LB Lawrence Timmons - 114 total tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 2 INTs, 1 forced fumble
• LB Ryan Shazier - 87 total tackles, 9 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, 3 INTs, 3 forced fumbles
• LB James Harrison - 53 total tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 5.0 sacks, 1 INT, 2 forced fumbles
• CB Artie Burns - 65 total tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 3 INTs

Impending Free Agents

• ILB Lawrence Timmons
• CB Justin Gilbert
• OLB Jarvis Jones
• RB DeAngelo Williams
• OLB James Harrison
• C Cody Wallace
• RB Le'Veon Bell
• TE David Johnson
• DT Ricardo Matthews
• ILB Steven Johnson
• WR Markus Wheaton
• SS Shamarko Thomas
• QB Landry Jones
• QB Bruce Gradkowski

What I Said About Them Before the Season

• I was really on the Steelers prior to the season and thought that they would go 13-3 and be competitive for the number one seed in the AFC.  The only thing that I thought could hold them back from reaching these goals were injuries since they have been a team that has dealt with them in recent seasons.  I strongly believed in the team's core pieces including Bell and Brown and thought that the moves they made last offseason to improve their defense would be successful.

Success/Failure

• Success - The Steelers did well during the regular season, overcoming suspensions to Bell and Martavius Bryant and an injury to Big Ben.  The problem for this franchise is that regular season success is only so meaningful and they need to prove it in the playoffs to have a meaningful year.  Sadly for them, they continue running into the Patriots in the playoffs and basically cannot beat Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, instead choosing to do the same thing every match up and failing each time.  Regardless of that, Bell and Brown had incredible seasons once again and have continued to prove that they are arguably the best in the league at their positions.  Their defense was pretty good too, but they are still slightly incompetent in the secondary to be able to compete with good passing teams that can rip apart zone defenses.

Offseason Needs

• The Steelers need, above all, to get Bell under contract for the long-term and he should be paid really well.  They also need their players to stay on the field since they have had problems with not being suspended.  At the draft this year, the Steelers need to address their linebacker situation where both Lawrence Timmons and James Harrison are close to the end of their careers and the Steelers need to find replacements.  I think they should also go after another player for their secondary and trying finding a true lockdown corner.  Additionally, finding a young running back to play behind Bell could be an important need for them since DeAngelo Williams is a free agent.  Lastly, I think that they need to try finding the future (or immediate) replacement for Roethlisberger as Landry Jones probably isn't good enough to be a long-term fit at the quarterback position.  Ben mentioned this offseason the possibility that he may retire which would be a huge blow to the franchise.  Regardless of this decision, he has taken a lot of hits over the course of his career and no one knows when his health may start seriously declining.

*All stats and information come from espn.com, nfl.com, pro-football-reference.com, rosterresource.com, spotrac.com, overthecap.com, foxsports.com, and cbssports.com