The Pittsburgh Steelers are moving into Week 2 of the NFL regular season, and as the team prepares for the Seattle Seahawks, we continue to provide you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over until the season starts!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at how the Steelers’ offensive and defensive coordinators must do a better job in Week 2 if the team wants to claim their first win of 2019.

Let’s get to the news:

• Randy Fichtner and Keith Butler both got their share of criticism after the Steelers’ 33-3 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 1. Needless to say, they need to be better in Week 2.

Steelers coordinators vent about Patriots loss, improvements needed for Seahawks

By: Tim Benz, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Defensive coordinator Keith Butler speaks first. He remains on edge after the loss in New England. You are going to hear four “dadgum” drops, a “crap,” and a “freakin’.”

Frankly, given that his defense yielded 33 points in Foxborough, I expected more.

He’s still fired up about players getting picked last week by the Patriots, poor communication by his own club and not biting on play-action.

Meanwhile, Randy Fichtner isn’t exactly sunny either following a paltry three-point effort from his unit against the Patriots.

Fichtner addresses some pretty specific woes, all of which I echo.

The team needs to target Vance McDonald more. His players need to win more one-on-one battles at every level of the field. And Fichtner needs to be more committed to the running game while also sending in smarter run plays.

Aside from all that, the Steelers were great on both sides of the ball last time out, weren’t they?

To read the full article click HERE (Free)

• A potential matchup nightmare lurking in the Week 2 Seahawks vs. Steelers game.

Tim Benz: A potential matchup nightmare for Steelers vs. Seahawks

By: Tim Benz, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

During a conference call with Pittsburgh media members this week, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll rattled off Metcalf’s attributes that went well beyond his impressive frame.

“A competitor. Toughness. He’s really bright,” Carroll gushed. “Football makes sense to him.”

It is the mental aspect of the position that seems to impress Carroll the most.

“There’s a lot of receivers who come out of (college) programs, and it’s hard for them to adapt quickly,” he continued. “It takes them a couple of years. But he’s been very adept at picking things up.”

Carroll says Metcalf’s aptitude has allowed the coaches to move him around the offense to exploit defensive matchups earlier than what some other raw rookies may be capable of doing.

Steelers cornerback Joe Haden sees the comparisons to Gordon (6-foot-3, 225 lbs) and expects Seattle to deploy Metcalf in a similar way to what New England did.

“He’s a big dude,” Steelers cornerback Joe Haden said. “A big target. Very fast. They’ll try to put him into good positions for him which are the slant and the fade route.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Fans better get ready to see some James Conner carrying the rock this Sunday, or at least Randy Fichtner hopes so.

Making sure they don’t ‘neglect’ the run

By: Teresa Varley, Steelers.com

Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner admits while he ran the ball early, he did shy away from it after James Conner was stopped twice on third-and-one, once for no gain, and the second time for a four yard loss, which had the bigger impact.

“I think we ran it 10 times in the first half,” said Fichtner. “It probably wasn’t as efficient per run. I probably got a little bit down when we didn’t make the first third-and-one. I think we blocked it. I think we had more in it and we didn’t get it, and it probably drained on me for the next several calls that I made. But there was a point where maybe game circumstance lead to the way the second half played out.

“But we don’t want to neglect the run. We actually went into the game with a pretty extensive pony package where we would have both of our running backs in the game at the same time. It’s a unique balance in trying to keep certain guys fresh in certain packages, especially early in the season. And it just never seemed like it flowed enough that we every really truly got in any of them.”

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• T.J. Watt’s media availability

• Sean Davis and Joe Haden media availability

• 1-on-1 with Ramon Foster

• Social Media Madness