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Just relax, Steelers will be fine

Relax, Steeler fans.

Business will still be boomin' this fall.

There's been a good amount of handwringing in these parts about the fate of Pittsburgh's tackle football team, which opens training camp in just a few days.

And I guess that is reasonable, what with Antonio Brown and his surly and idiotic antics shipped to Oakland to become Jon Gruden's headache and with Le'Veon Bell — who didn't even play last season anyway — looking ugly in the New York Jets' new dreadful threads.

At one time those were two of the best players in the NFL and arguably the best in the league at their positions of wide receiver and running back, respectively.

They made up half of the “Killer Bs” along with Ben Roethlisberger and Chris Boswell.

Roethlisberger is still Big Ben — so that's one pretty good B left.

Boswell is coming off a shaky season — and shaky may be diminishing just how poor it was in 2018.

The Steelers, though, still have plenty of letters left in the alphabet.

One player with a ton of letters — and talent — is JuJu Smith-Schuster.

JuJu (it's just easier to type that than his last name) will slide into Brown's vacant No. 1 receiver spot.

Last year, JuJu actually had better stats than Brown, hauling in 111 passes for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns.

The only statistical category Brown had JuJu beat was in touchdown receptions.

The big question this season is how will JuJu respond to being the No. 1 guy?

It's a valid argument. Teams did roll their coverages to Brown's side of the field, leaving JuJu single covered a majority of the time.

It's a different animal being “the guy.”

But JuJu is more than capable of being “the guy.”

A lot of pundits have said JuJu will be the key to the Steelers' season.

Nope.

JuJu will be fine. The key will be how the rest of the receiving corps plays around JuJu.

There are questions there, for sure.

James Washington had a disappointing rookie season and it will be interesting to see how this year's rookie, Diontae Johnson, adjusts to the NFL.

If those two show they can take the pressure of JuJu, the Steelers won't even miss Brown.

They certainly won't miss the insanity.

There is something to be said about addition by subtraction.

Jettisoning Brown is probably a positive for a team that had more drama than a typical daytime soap opera.

They Steelers didn't even miss Bell last year, either, with the contributions of James Conner and Jaylen Samuels.

Throw in rookie Benny Snell Jr. and there should be no concern there.

Another area of the team that draws considerable panic from the jittery fan base is the defense.

It's, “Awful, terrible, atrocious,” they say.

It's not as bad as one might think.

Statistically the Steelers were right smack in the middle of the pack in the NFL, which actually isn't a bad place to be in today's league.

The weaknesses on that side of the ball are clear: a couple of linebacker spots and at safety.

The Steelers addressed those areas somewhat during the offseason.

Face it. Steelers' fans are spoiled by the long stretch of success the organization has enjoyed.

It'll keep on trucking this season. Don't fret.

And don't worry about the Cleveland Browns. They are powder keg waiting to explode.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.

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