Slow September The Steelers have started 2-2 or worse 10 times in coach Mike Tomlin's 16 seasons. A look at how they finished each time: 2022: 1-2 vs. Jets, ??? 2021: 1-3, 9-7-1* 2019: 1-3, 8-8 2018: 1-2-1, 9-6-1 2015: 2-2. 10-6* 2014: 2-2, 11-5* 2013: 0-4, 8-8 2012: 2-2, 8-8 2011: 2-2, 12-4* 2009: 2-2, 9-7 * Made postseason
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Experience has taught Cam Heyward not to sweat a two-game losing streak in the first month of an NFL season.
He’s been here before.
So much so that he’s become somewhat of an expert on slow starts by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In nine of Heyward’s 12 seasons, the Steelers have gotten off to a 2-2 or worse start at the quarter pole of the NFL calendar. And that includes this season regardless of what transpires Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.
A win over the New York Jets will put the Steelers back at .500. A loss will leave the Steelers with one win after four games for the second year in a row and fourth time in the past five seasons.
Which is why Heyward isn’t getting worked up about the back-to-back losses to the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns that followed the season-opening upset win at Cincinnati.
“You don’t win a Super Bowl in September,” Heyward said earlier in the week. “But it would be nice to have a winning record now.”
The last time the Steelers had one at this juncture of the season was the covid-altered 2020 season when they set a franchise record by getting off to an 11-0 start. The only other instances in the previous decade were the 2017 and 2018 seasons when the Steelers got off to 3-1 starts.
The situation the Steelers find themselves in as the calendar flips to October is a familiar one to Heyward, and he’s relying on his experience — and his role as defensive captain — to help turn around the team’s fortunes much like the Steelers have done time and again under coach Mike Tomlin.
As has been repeated ad nauseum when reciting Tomlin’s resume, he’s never had a losing season since taking over as head coach in 2007. And it’s a testament to his work that the Steelers have never bottomed out after any of their slow starts.
Even in 2013, when the Steelers started 0-4, they clawed back to .500 and were within a missed field goal of making the playoffs. And, without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in 2019, they overcame 0-3 and 1-4 starts to win seven of eight behind the passing duo of Mason Rudolph and “Duck” Hodges before finishing 8-8.
“We just have to continue to improve,” Heyward said. “We have to get better at our craft, our technique, and sometimes you get an unlucky ball here and there. It’s the details that matter. You have to clean it up.”
It’s that experience of cleaning up the slow starts that the Steelers believe they can use to their advantage. And it starts with the most experienced players in the locker room leading the way, fifth-year strong safety Terrell Edmunds said.
“It really goes back to the guys you can call our so-called leaders in the locker room,” he said. “Those guys make sure everyone is locked in and letting them know what to do. We’ve got a young team right now, so you’ve got older guys telling younger guys it may start off like this, but we’ve got a lot of games left. We’ve got a lot of season left. We have to go out and keep competing.”
The one difference between this slow start and every other once in Tomlin’s tenure — aside from 2019 — is the Steelers can’t rely on Roethlisberger riding to the rescue. Roethlisberger led the Steelers to the postseason after 2-2 starts in 2011, 2014 and 2015 and again in 2021 after a 1-3 start.
With Roethlisberger in retirement, the Steelers are trying to find their way with Mitch Trubisky running an offense that is next to last in total yards, No. 18 in points and last in time of possession. And he’s doing so with a large segment of the fan base clamoring for first-round pick Kenny Pickett to take over the offense.
“You’ve got to keep the blinders on,” Trubisky said. “You’ve got to block out the noise, continue to stay focused on the task at hand and just focus on what we’re doing in here. Focus on the guys and just continue to get better and pull together.”
Running back Najee Harris also has taken on an us-against-the-world mentality, saying the media is at fault for trying to divide the team amid the Trubisky-Pickett debate.
“We need to find a way that we can just stay together and come together as a team and focus on what matters most,” Harris said.
As for the defense, it’s trying to find a way to win without outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who must miss at least two more games with a pectoral injury. The Steelers are 0-6 without Watt since he entered the NFL in 2017.
“It’s the first quarter of the NFL season. You can’t hoist up that trophy just yet,” said inside linebacker Myles Jack, a seventh-year veteran in his first season with the Steelers. “We are confident it is building. It’s a long year. It’s still September. We are just getting started. A lot of mistakes we made can be easily cleaned up, so I’m excited.”
Working against the Steelers is a schedule that is unfavorable after the Jets leave Acrisure Stadium. The next four opponents — Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Miami and Philadelphia — are a combined 10-3 heading into Sunday’s games. That represents three division leaders and a second-place team.
“It’s too early to be frustrated,” wide receiver Chase Claypool said. “Maybe in three or four weeks I might have a different answer. Right now, we’re figuring stuff out.”
Tomlin began the week by telling the media — and his players — to block out the “noise” and focus on getting better on an incremental basis.
That’s good enough for Heyward, who has been through enough slow starts to know what has worked for the Steelers.
“It starts from up top, but everybody has a sense of what we are doing,” he said. “What do we have to do to get better? How do we win these games? Coach lays out a gameplan, and it’s understanding details and understanding there is more football to be played and we just attack it.
“It’s not sugarcoating it or not being accountable for it. Everyone has to own their mistakes and grow from it.”
Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe by email at jrutter@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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Slow September The Steelers have started 2-2 or worse 10 times in coach Mike Tomlin's 16 seasons. A look at how they finished each time: 2022: 1-2 vs. Jets, ??? 2021: 1-3, 9-7-1* 2019: 1-3, 8-8 2018: 1-2-1, 9-6-1 2015: 2-2. 10-6* 2014: 2-2, 11-5* 2013: 0-4, 8-8 2012: 2-2, 8-8 2011: 2-2, 12-4* 2009: 2-2, 9-7 * Made postseason
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