He’s not a big name, tends to lurk in the shadows and quietly goes about his business scheming up ways to disrupt opposing offenses.
Yet despite his strong resume and the success that the Pittsburgh Steelers have had defensively in recent years, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin doesn’t get much love when it comes to the top coordinators on that side of the football.
Pro Football Focus’s Zoltan Buday tried to put an end to that Monday morning, ranking the Steelers’ third-year defensive coordinator, who signed a two-year extension in January to remain in the Steel City, among the top 10 best defensive coordinators in the NFL.
Austin, who joined the Steelers in 2019 as a secondary coach after a rough tenure in Cincinnati as the defensive coordinator, checked in at No. 10 in the ranking.
“Austin enters his fifth season with the Steelers and his third as Pittsburgh’s defensive coordinator, a title that he held before with the Detroit Lions and the Cincinnati Bengals,” Buday writes of Austin for PFF.com. “Despite going through a rebuild, his unit was back to its old form during the 2023 season. The unit allowed -0.06 EPA per play last season, a best for the Pittsburgh defense since the 2020 campaign.”
Though there are reports out there, along with the belief, that head coach Mike Tomlin is in charge of the defense, negating Austin’s impact, there is no denying that Austin’s defense had its best season yet under him in 2023, all while dealing with some significant injury issues, stretching not only the depth chart thin, but the coaching staff as well.
Austin’s defense was outstanding in 2023, adjusting on the fly to the injuries to still maintain a terrific level of play.
The Steelers finished the year sixth in scoring defense, allowing just over 19 points per game, which just so happened to be their best showings in the numbers and the league ranking since the 2020 season. The Steelers also tied for eighth in takeaways with 27 and fourth with 16 interceptions.
Those numbers were especially impressive in the red zone, where Pittsburgh’s defense was key in keeping the score down throughout games. The Steelers’ defense was fifth-best in the NFL at 46 percent in the red zone.
Not only that, Pittsburgh took the football away in the red zone, rather than just holding teams to fields goals. Austin’s defense had eight turnovers in the red zone, which was the most in the NFL last season, and the most by any defense in the NFL since the 2016 Kansas City Chiefs forced 10 red zone turnovers.
Yes, at times the Steelers struggled to stop the run and gave up far too many big plays in the passing game, but there were the best, most effective type of defense in today’s offense-driven league: bend, don’t break.
The Steelers very rarely broke defensively last season, and with a formidable pass rush they were able to really get after offenses and force them into mistakes. To do that all while dealing with significant injuries to key pieces is rather remarkable.
Now, entering the 2024 season, Austin has the most talent he’s ever had defensively, thanks to the additions of linebacker Patrick Queen and safety DeShon Elliott in free agency, linebacker Payton Wilson in the draft, and cornerback Donte Jackson via trade.
The defense for the Steelers in 2024 has the chance to be very special. They have a really good coordinator calling the shots, putting them in positions to succeed. That should only help them be one of the best defenses in the NFL once again.
