The Pittsburgh Steelers have always been a team known for defense. Whether that is the Steel Curtain days of the 1970s, the Blitzburgh group in the 1990s, or the suffocating units in the 2000s, the Steelers have fielded some of the top defenses in the history of the league. One of the most important parts of the 2000s iteration of the defense was the secondary. Players like Troy Polamalu, Ryan Clark, Ike Taylor, and others would not only limit the opposition but also create game-changing splash plays to fuel the success of the whole team. Polamalu appeared on an episode of Bussin’ With The Boys on Barstool Sports Tuesday morning and discussed how the unit was able to be so successful. It all started with his rapport with Ryan Clark and the rest of the secondary.
“It’s absolutely everything to me and everything to our defense,” Polamalu said of the benefits of playing next to Clark. “The level of trust and exposure that we would consistently put each other in, it takes a lot of cohesiveness to do that. When we’d do some of this manipulation on the back end, you have to understand you’re completely exposing somebody else.”
Polamalu is referring to some of his improvisational skills that he was known for. Whether that was jumping the line of scrimmage or breaking his assignment in the called defense to try to create a splash play, that would put a lot of stress on others around him. Safeties are often the last line of defense, so when Polamalu was playing outside of the structure of his assignment, that would leave others alone on an island.
“Oftentimes that was Ike [Taylor],” Polamalu said. “Hey Ike, we’re doing this over here. Sorry, you’re man to man cover zero with their Chad Ochocinco or Brandon Marshall…that was the only reason why we were allowed to do what we do is because Ryan’s communication, Ike cornerback, Bryant McFadden, they’re cover zero oftentimes where we want to do some cowboy-type stuff. But they held their own. They’re the reason why we were as successful as we were.”
There really wasn’t a weak link in that secondary when all the intended starters were on the field. In the wrong defense, Polamalu’s play style may have been more of a liability than a boon to the unit. It goes to show how important it is to have good communication and great players at each of the four positions in the secondary. The current iteration of the Steelers’ defense has a couple solid pieces, but all it takes is one weak link for the opposition to exploit a matchup.
The Steelers are being linked to several of the top cornerbacks in the draft for a reason, and they met with many of them in a formal setting at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine. Like those early 2000s units, they have the benefits of having a great pass rush in T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. Pass rush and coverage go hand in hand and the Steelers are on the cusp of having another excellent defense in Pittsburgh.
