The still-young 2013 season hasn’t treated every team in the NFL to a kind start. While some *cough* Jaguars *cough* were expected to be, well, awful, other teams had high hopes and are suddenly staring 0-3 in the face. Here’s a few teams looking for answers after a rough start.
Pittsburgh Steelers
What happened to the Steelers of old? At 0-2, they’ve lost a potential tie-breaker to the Tennessee Titans, and the Cincinnati Bengals, who the Steelers used to own, just toppled the Steelers in an intra-divisional game.
The Steelers’ number one problem, if we have to pick just one, is their inability to block on the offensive side of the ball. Ben Roethlisberger is getting killed out there, and there are no running lanes for the team’s running backs. It’s showed in the stats too. The Steelers have scored just 19 points this season, only topping the Jacksonville Jaguars.
New York Giants
The Giants are now a turnover machine, which is strange considering they have a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback at the helm, but that’s the current state of the team. Against the Cowboys in the team’s opener, the Giants were in position to potentially pull the game out late despite handing the ball to the Cowboys 6 times.
In week two, the Giants simply played a great football team, and although they kept it close through one half, the Broncos were just too much for the Giants. It’s still early, and there have been moments of promise for the team, but at 0-2, time is running out very quickly.
Washington Redskins
The Redskins have been pretty awful so far this season, and most of that blame is being heaped onto second year quarterback Robert Griffin’s shoulders. Some have even floated the idea of benching Griffin in favor of backup Kirk Cousins, although the idea isn’t likely coming to fruition in the near future.
The difference between 2012 and 2013 is simple for the Redskins. Griffin isn’t playing outstanding football, and he’s not getting extra yards on the ground like he did a season ago. Through two games, Griffin has accounted for just 25 yards on the ground. While he’s not going to rush for a thousand yards, or at least we don’t think he will, any ground yardage he gains loosens up the defense that much more. At this point, he’s not helping his team out in that regard just yet. As his knee gets healthier and he becomes more comfortable with it, we may see those explosive runs increase again.
