There have been several key ingredients to every Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl victory. These include things such as a star quarterback, wide receivers who play better in the playoffs, and, of course, a legendary defense. In fact, there’s probably nothing more closely associated with the Steelers than incredible defense. During the past few years, that unit has been very good, but it has struggled in some areas.
Much of that can be blamed on injuries and young players needing time to develop, but no situation will ever be perfect. If they want to compete for a Lombardi Trophy once more, they’ll need to step up and dominate like the Steelers’ championship defenses of the past. It seems one current Steeler believes this is possible.
DeShon Elliot is a safety who was signed by the Steelers this offseason after previously playing for the Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, and Baltimore Ravens. During his youth football camp at the high school he attended, Rockwall-Heath, Elliott did a quick interview posted to Twitter with Rockwall County Gameday. In this interview, Elliott spoke about the talent the Steelers’ defense has and how he believes they can be one of the best units in the NFL.
“Knowing I get to play with Minkah Fitzpatrick, some gold jackets on my d-line, great players in the linebacker room, defensively, overall, we can be a top-three defense in the NFL if we do what we need to do and put it all the things together,” Elliott said. “I think we’re going to with the hard work we’re gonna put in at training camp, all this time leading up to it, and by the grace of God, I think we’ll be great.”
Elliott is correct in his assessment that the Steelers’ defense should be better this year than last. According to Pro Football Reference, the Steelers were 21st in total yards given up, a category they are likely to be much higher in this year if they stay relatively healthy. Fitzpatrick missed a decent chunk of the season with a hamstring injury, and one of those Hall of Fame-level players Elliott was talking about in Cam Heyward also missed significant time due to injury.
The Steelers also had countless other injuries at safety and linebacker, forcing them to call guys off the street to field a full defense.
If they can avoid getting that unlucky again, the Steelers’ 2024 defense should be one of their best in years due to all the additions they made this offseason. They made a huge upgrade at linebacker by signing Patrick Queen. Then they drafted Payton Wilson, a young player with unbelievable size and athleticism, in the third round to finish off the middle of their defense. Along with the development of players like Keeanu Benton and Joey Porter Jr., the Steelers should be primed to have one of the best defenses in the NFL.
Elliott should make for maybe Fitzpatrick’s best running mate at safety since he became a Steeler, especially because he seems so committed to the Steelers’ culture. This offseason was highlighted by the Steelers’ changes on offense, but the work they did to the defense was outstanding, too. Slot corner and defensive tackle might cause some issues, but overall, the Steelers have stars at every position and valuable depth that should carry them during the late portion of the season.
Defense wins championships, and that’s always been true for the Steelers. Hopefully, it will be proven true again soon.
