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Avonworth’s student body had some interesting thoughts on the Steelers week one performance vs. the Patriots, giving thoughts on what they believe it shows about the rest of the season. They also gave insight on what they believe the effects will be concerning the losses of key players, and how the current roster will compare to past seasons.
Junior Gavin Mee (photographed above) gave his thoughts when asked, “Do you think that the Steelers’ poor performance Sunday night will be reflective of the rest of the season?”
He stated, “I don’t think they’re going to do to good this season, to be honest.”
When asked about why he believes this, he said, “It’s possible that there might just be a slow start, but it’s probably going to be bad because they’ve lost a lot of key players, and the team has changed a lot. It’s going to take a while for them to get used to that change.”
Gavin is correct, the Steelers’ lineup has undergone significant change, with the loss of both WR Antonio Brown and RB Le’Veon Bell. Filling those positions are WR JuJu Smith Schuster and RB James Conner.
Freshman Austin Johncour (above) had a slightly different take on the Steelers’ performance: “I think that the Patriots are way better than them, so I think that that they might play better against teams not as good as the Patriots. This might not be reflective of the season because the Patriots are a really hard team to beat.” He believes that the Steelers are still a solid team, and they would have lost to the Patriots regardless of whether Bell and Brown were still on the roster.
Senior Kevin McGibbney (above) had the least optimistic viewpoint: “I think that this game will probably be reflective of the rest of the season.” He sees the game not as a mere fluke, but as a growing period for the Steelers to return to the level of play they were at seasons prior.
When asked if he believes the current talent levels of WR JuJu Smith-Schuster and RB James Conner will eventually match that of Brown and Bell, he stated, “I think they just need more time to get used to the new players they have in place of Bell and Brown.” Additionally, he stated, “I think they will, they just need more time to develop as part of the NFL.” Although the least optimistic, Kevin sees the 2019-2020 Steelers season as a rebuilding season, eventually leading to future successes. He certainly believes in the Steelers future, but with a time for adjustment.
Week two vs. Seattle came, and the expectations for the Steelers performance varied student-to-student. But, the consensus generally seemed to be that the Steelers still needed time to make necessary adjustments on all sides of the ball. Little did they know that Ben Roethlisberger would soon go down with a season-ending injury, handing over the torch of team leadership to Mason Rudolph, and James Conner would go down (not season ending, however), handing over the RB1 spot to Jaelen Samuels. The entire outlook of the Steelers season changed in an instant.
