It seems like forever since the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Los Angeles Chargers. But the bye week is done and the Steelers are now staring down three straight home games with the season on the line. First up are the winless Miami Dolphins. On paper this might seem like an easy win for the Steelers but this season no one should take anything for granted. If Pittsburgh doesn’t play well they can lose to anyone.
Here are five guys to watch this week if the Steelers hope to win their second straight game.
DT Javon Hargrave
Tyson Alualu might be replacing Stephon Tuitt in the starting lineup but it’ll be Hargrave that replaces his production. This will be especially true as a pass rusher, where Hargrave excels.
WR Diontae Johnson
This won’t matter if the passing offense doesn’t open things up but we are really hoping we get to see the Steelers find ways to get the football into Johnson’s hands this week.
QB Mason Rudolph
Rudolph has been off for two weeks with a concussion and the bye week but his recovery has been nothing short of Wolverine-like. The Steelers won two weeks ago but the offense under Devlin Hodges was so conservative we are anxious to see Rudolph come back and cut loose a little.
RB Benny Snell Jr.
Jaylen Samuels has been doing some work as he comes back from his knee injury but against the Dolphins, Pittsburgh would be prudent to give him another week. And after watching Snell get 75 yards against the Chargers in their last game I’m curious to see if the Steelers expand his role this week.
LB Ola Adeniyi
With Chickillo on the shelf for this week it is to finally see if all the preseason hype of Adeniyi was worth it. Pittsburgh brought back Jayrone Elliott as well but we want to see some splash plays out of Adeniyi this week against a suspect Miami offensive line.
