When you are the fourth-worst run defense in the NFL, giving up 148 rushing yards per game, and the Baltimore Ravens are next on the schedule, what could possibly go wrong? For the Steelers, potentially a lot.
It’s quite peculiar.
In a league that has largely relegated rushing the football to the back burner for a more pass-happy philosophy, the Steelers’ defense has still been getting carved up like a Christmas ham. The Ravens come into the renewal of one the NFL’s best rivalries averaging 151 rushing yards a game and 4.4 yards a carry. I’m no mathematician, but that seems like a potential problem for the Black and Gold.
The Ravens lost starting running back J.K. Dobbins in their season opener, and yet they continue to run the ball with success. QB Lamar Jackson leads the team in rushing with 220 yards followed by RBs Gus Edwards (193) and Justice Hill (83). This game could once again highlight a major issue that has plagued the Steelers for almost six years now: a failure to replace Ryan Shazier at inside linebacker.
Shazier suffered his career-ending spinal injury in December 2017. We are approaching the six-year anniversary of that dark day in Steelers history. I don’t think anybody could have imagined that the Steelers would still be struggling to find a replacement for the two-time Pro Bowler who was lost in the prime of his career.
It’s not for a lack of trying. Sean Spence, Jon Bostic, Mark Barron, Avery Williamson, Joe Schobert, Myles Jack. All have cycled through Pittsburgh since Shazier played his last down. And let’s not forget the Steelers trading up in the first round in 2019 to draft the infamous Devin Bush. Yikes.
There was a sense of hope entering this season. The Steelers signing Elandon Roberts and Cole Holcomb and then adding Kwon Alexander during training camp felt like a significant upgrade over recent years. And who knows? The season is still young. But to this point, the inside linebackers’ play hasn’t inspired confidence in the fan base and has left Steeler Nation still yearning for the days of Lambert, Kirkland, Farrior, and, of course, Shazier. It seems unconscionable that the organization has yet to draft or sign anyone who even comes close to strengthening the position.
If you really want to see what inside linebacker play should look like, take a gander at the freaks of nature who patrol the middle on Sunday albeit in the wrong jerseys. The Ravens have two players who never leave the field and rack up tackles faster than Mike Tomlin spouts outdated catchphrases at a press conference. Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen are the gold standard at inside linebacker. They are widely recognized as arguably the best tandem in the league, and for good reason.
If you’d like some proof of the difference between the Steelers’ and Ravens’ linebackers, allow me to enlighten you. Last Sunday, the Steelers gave up 30 points and 139 yards rushing yards to the Houston Texans. Roberts and Holcomb, the starting linebackers, combined for 17 tackles. When the Ravens played the Texans, they gave up a paltry nine points and 72 yards rushing. Smith had 17 tackles himself. Queen had 11. Having those monsters in the middle makes an offense one-dimensional. Suffocating the run puts a team in a much better position to win. The Steelers have been missing that for a long time.
Not that that shutting down the Ravens’ ground game in a traditional sense offers a lot of comfort. The thought of Lamar Jackson running through the Steelers’ defense like a gazelle in an open field or Mark Andrews wide open over the middle all afternoon is enough to give a Pittsburgh fan nightmares. Let’s hope Tomlin and Teryl Austin scheme up a plan and that T.J. Watt disrupts things enough for the defense to mask a glaring weakness — one going on almost six years now — enough to pull off an upset.
Hey, it’s the NFL. Josh Dobbs just beat the supposed mighty Dallas Cowboys. Anything is possible.
