Mike Tomlin explains why he’s excited about this Steelers team

There’s a lot to like about the Pittsburgh Steelers heading into the 2023 season, coming off a perfect preseason in which the offense in particular showcased their potential.

With a loaded defense to accompany an offense taking strides under second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett, many are bullish on the Steelers this season. Head coach Mike Tomlin, however, is paying no attention to what people are saying on the outside.

As always, Tomlin is focused on what’s taking place within his group, and loves the “fearlessness” they’ve showed to this point, he said on “The Rich Eisen Show” this past week.

“I think we’ll find out on Sept. 10 and beyond,” Tomlin said. “I know before we started playing preseason games, everybody’s tone wasn’t like that. I don’t read too much into it when it’s not supportive… Don’t read too much into it when they’re crowing us. The important thing is we work continually and daily to get better individually and collectively. That’s what I’ve seen from this group and that’s why I’m excited about them.

“I just like the collective fearlessness of the group. They’re not scared. That’s a major ingredient I think of really good teams. Man, you gotta be fearless. What you’re pursuing is rare air, and so you can’t be bashful about the pursuit of it or fearful. I haven’t sensed fear in this group at any step of the process to this point and that’s exciting to me.”

Steelers’ offense looks much improved heading into 2023 season

If the preseason is any indication, the Steelers are to be much improved on offense after struggling to move the ball last season. Following their 27-17 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the preseason opener, Pittsburgh made it 3-for-3, picking up a 27-15 win over the Buffalo Bills and a 24-0 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

After the win over the Bills, Tomlin noted he liked the direction the offense was going in.

“When the first units operate the way they operated, it really provides a platform for others to show their skills. I thought the guys were engaged,” Tomlin said. “I thought they did some fundamental things well. That makes them a tough team to beat. I didn’t think we were highly penalized. I thought we largely maintained possession of the ball. Those types of things. We played the field position game. We kept them on the long field with our midfield punting.

“There’s a lot to be learned and a lot to be taught at this stage of the journey and we have to do it extremely quickly this week because it’s a quick transition. We’ll be wheels up here in a short number of days. And again, we expect to play everybody who is available to us, in particular the starters. That is why we preceded in the manner we did tonight.”