The Pittsburgh Steelers, and more specifically Aaron Rodgers, have had to answer a lot of questions following the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Just when the defense starts playing well, all of a sudden Aaron Rodgers plays the worst game of his Steelers tenure and the offense can’t get out of its own way.
There is hope that changes this week on the run front, as Isaac Seumalo practiced in a limited capacity on Wednesday. He has been the key cog in the Steelers’ ability to generate any push in the run game.
Howard missed the latter portion of camp and all of the preseason after suffering a broken bone in his throwing hand, landing on the injured reserve at the end of August. His activation window had been open for three weeks, and the Steelers had to decide whether to bring Howard back or leave him on the reserved list for the rest of the season.
“It was like all that joy of being a little kid playing football again came back,” said Howard via Steelers.com “My first two plays (when I returned) on the scout team, I handed the ball off. I don’t think I’ve ever smiled more on two handoff plays in my life. I was just happy to be back out there.”
Barring a serious injury or utter collapse from Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers in general, Howard won’t be seeing any playtime this year. That being said, the Steelers now have their emergency third quarterback, and the room looks much better than it has.
Broderick Jones is the headliner here. Say what you want about his play, but going into a game without your starting LT, even if there is no Trey Hendrickson, isn’t where any team wants to be with a 41-year-old QB.
Darius Slay continues to be in concussion protocol and will be on a day-to-day basis, potentially through game time. Asante Samuel Jr. is on the practice squad, but that can change, leading all the way up to Saturday.
As the NFL season enters its second half, the league awards conversation is only going to keep heating up. At the forefront of many fans’ minds is who will be crowned the Most Valuable Player. Typically, that awards has been dominated by quarterbacks. No position player has taken home the trophy since Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson in 2012 but that 13-year streak could come to an end this year.
Indianapolis Colts rusher Jonathan Taylor has vastly impressed over 10 games, racking up 1,139 yards and 15 touchdowns already. The next closest running back (James Cook) is a whopping 219 yards behind. That’s roughly two games of average output.
Taylor is one of only two non-QB players with double-digit scores so far this year (Josh Jacobs, 11 TDs). Not even a wide receiver standout like Jaxson Smith-Njigba has hit that benchmark yet. Now he’s got seven more games to build his already strong case.
When you compare Taylor’s stats to Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley’s 2024 campaign through 10 games, the latter trails by just two yards and seven touchdowns. Barkley finished the year with a near record 2,005 total yards but only 13 scores, finishing third in the MVP voting behind QBs Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.
This year, the competition is nowhere near as stiff. So far the passer threats amount to Baker Mayfield and Drake Maye, who have shown signs of being human in recent weeks. No longer is this award just being passed around by the likes of Allen, Jackson and Patrick Mahomes.
If Taylor maintains his average of 113.9 yards-per-game, he’d finish the year with 1,936 total yards. You figure he has at least one or two more big games left in him and he could potentially push Saquon’s total or even threaten Pro Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105 yards.
Mayfield and Maye are likely to see their impressive numbers continue to come back down to Earth but Taylor’s value is more evident in his team’s success. Sitting as the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the Colts would not be in that position without Taylor in the lineup.
He’s responsible for a third of Indianapolis’ total points scored this season (32.7 percent) and if you subtract the touchdowns he scored in each of the Colts wins in which he reached the end zone, their record drops to 4-5-1.
Taylor is the definition of the most valuable player. Colts QB Daniel Jones may lead all passers in yards at the moment (2,659 yards) but it’s been Indianapolis’ run game that’s truly defined their dominating campaign.
Unless other quarterbacks start absolutely bombarding opposing defenses and run the table in their respective conferences, the choice seems obvious for MVP voters. Now, Taylor just has to stay healthy and maintain some semblance of his average production.