The Pittsburgh Steelers have been downright dominant on defense through Week 3 of the 2024 NFL regular season. Today I wanted to look at some key factors and reasons they have been so successful to date from a stats perspective.
It all starts with stopping the run, right? So, let’s look at rushing attempts and rushing yards allowed to start:
If you’ve tuned in to the games, it’s no surprise that the Steelers’ defense is well above the NFL mean in run defense. They have limited the opposition to 61 rush attempts, the third-fewest this year.
Part of that is their stuffing 214 rush yards allowed, tied for second-best. Despite facing quality running teams and quality backs, that stat is impressive. It’s not like Pittsburgh’s offense is flooding the scoreboard with points either, making the opponent get away from the ground game.
Quick side note: The Colts’ defense is on the extreme lower left on the chart, 32nd and 31st in rush attempts and yardage, which leads to optimism for Pittsburgh’s rushing offense in Week 4.
Pittsburgh’s defense has forced opponents to abandon their ground game due to a lack of success, and they must continue moving forward to continue their dominant start. Indianapolis has a great ground game on paper with RB Jonathan Taylor and QB Anthony Richardson, who is a huge rushing threat at the position.
Another key accomplishment is that the Pittsburgh Steelers defense is the only team in the NFL that has not allowed a rushing touchdown through three games. That stifling fact is fantastic to see.
Injuries have been a big reason it hasn’t come to fruition in recent years, though Pittsburgh did suffer one to a good run defender last week in EDGE Alex Highsmith. It will be interesting to see if that has a noticeable impact, but knock on wood; it is less felt than when stars T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward were lost in the past.
The run defense results point to tougher positions for opponents throughout drives overall. So, let’s see how the end of drives looked with third down and red zone conversions:
Wow. The Steelers’ defense is comfortably number one in both stats, a jaw-dropping and an amazing accomplishment. Yes, it is a small sample size of three games, but this definitely deserves respect and its flowers, nonetheless.
Their 21.9-percent third-down conversion rate bests any other team by over three percentage points (Bears second at 25 percent), and the same is true for their 16.7-percent red zone conversion rate (Chargers second at 20 percent). Pittsburgh’s last victory was against the latter, and seeing where the Chargers land on these visuals reemphasizes that Pittsburgh’s competition wasn’t lacking.
So far, the Steelers’ dominant run defense has had a very impactful effect on the rest of the drive. They stand alone as the best defense in the league at stonewalling offenses on money downs and scoring opportunities.
That surely has an impact on scoring and the passing game, right? Let’s close with a favorite passing stat here on Steelers Depot: Adjusted Net Yards per Pass Attempt (ANY/A), which is (Passing Yards – Sack Yards + (20 * Passing TD) – (45 * Interceptions)) / (Passes Attempted + Times Sacked) and points allowed per game:
Once again, Pittsburgh is a top-three defense in each. Their 3.7 ANY/A on defense ties for third-best with Chicago, a stellar defense that comes up in the discussion yet again. That number indicates Super Bowl aspirations, with a result below six being the historical requirement for that goal. It’s early, but hopefully, Pittsburgh can keep it rolling.
What’s even more impressive is the ultimate goal of the scoreboard. The Steelers’ defense is impressively first in that all-important stat, allowing just 8.7 points per game to date. They are the only unit to allow less than 10 points per game.
Pittsburgh has been a dominant defense, and we can see the trickle effect of all these key stats playing a major part in that bragging right. It’s a primary reason for their 3-0 start and a reason to be ecstatic moving forward. Here’s to hoping that’s the case, starting with the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday.
