The Pittsburgh Steelers exit their bye week with the top-ranked red-zone defense in the NFL. On 24 trips inside their 20-yard line, they have only allowed nine touchdowns. At a 37.5-percent rate, nobody in the NFL is allowing a lesser percentage of touchdowns in such opportunities. To what does DC Teryl Austin attribute that? Not himself, apparently.
“Obviously we got some good players that are able to make plays. They don’t shrink up when it gets tight and crunchy down there,” Austin said on Thursday, via Steelers transcript. “I think our guys are doing a good job of working at it, recognizing some tendencies of other people, seeing what they do, putting themselves in position to make plays and finishing it off.”
Now, the Steelers have not allowed the fewest red-zone touchdowns, although they are tied for the second-fewest. The Los Angeles Chargers have actually only allowed six red-zone touchdowns. But remarkably, they have only faced 15 red-zone opportunities defensively all season so far. They still hold the NFL’s top rank in points allowed per game, allowing 12.6 per game to the Steelers’ 14.9.
More generally, the Chargers are also staggeringly stingy in general. They only allow a score on under 25 percent of their defensive possessions, the only team in the league that can say that. The Steelers rank third, one of three teams to hold teams scoreless 70-plus percent of the time at 28.2.
The Steelers’ next opponent, the Washington Commanders, is closer to the other end. They rank in the bottom third of teams in allowing a score on 41.5 percent of their possessions. They also rank 21st in takeaways per drive while the Steelers rank fourth.
And there, too, the takeaways make a difference because the Steelers have prevented several touchdowns with a turnover inside the 20. From Cory Trice Jr.’s interception back in Week 2 to T.J. Watt’s strip sack in Week 8, the Steelers, like a good cereal in milk, don’t shrink up when it gets crunchy. They get crunchy instead.
As indicated, the Steelers get contributions from all over the field. Whether it’s Elandon Roberts sacrificing himself over the pile or Watt being Watt, somebody usually makes a play. Of course, they have also had a couple of touchdowns negated by penalty.
In all, the Steelers are allowing 2.4 yards per carry and 2.9 yards per pass inside their red zone. They are allowing a 42.4-percent completion rate through the air, even if 6 of their 14 completions have gone for touchdowns. At 19.0 percent, nobody is allowing a lower rate of first downs in the crunchy part of the field. And at 7.9 percent, nobody is taking the ball away more frequently. The numbers are good — damn good. But they have to keep it that way, because everything they’ve already done no longer matters.
