In Week 1, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense fell flat. They have much talent on that side of the ball, but it didn’t show against the New York Jets. The Steelers’ defense got pushed around, especially in the run game. It wasn’t the kind of performance they were hoping to have. However, Ben Roethlisberger thinks they deserve some patience.
“Getting Derrick Harmon back will be huge,” Roethlisberger said Tuesday on his Footbahlin’ podcast. “You drafted him for that reason. Until your whole team’s out there, I wouldn’t rush to judge on it… But at the end of the day, they got a win. I think you have to rest your hat on that a little bit. Now, if we start seeing trends, 30 points, 150-yard rusher every week, let’s see the man in mirror.”
Due to a preseason injury, the Steelers are missing Harmon, their first-round pick who was slated to be a starter, for a few weeks. That could account for some of their issues, especially against the run. The quality of their rotation of defensive linemen in place of Harmon isn’t great.
However, Harmon probably won’t miraculously fix all of the Steelers’ issues on defense. They had other starters who didn’t live up to the standard in Week 1. Additionally, they’re dealing with a few other injuries on that side of the ball. That’s relatively common in the NFL. The Steelers won’t always have their entire starting defense healthy and available.
Things shouldn’t fall apart without Harmon, though. They still have other, more proven defenders, like Cam Heyward, T.J. Watt, and Alex Highsmith. Missing Harmon is no excuse for how poorly the Steelers’ defense played.
Despite the showing Sunday, Roethlisberger is correct that they should be given some time before they’re judged too harshly. They weren’t good enough in Week 1, but they know that. They’ll work to correct those mistakes. Like Roethlisberger says, if they wilt in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks, then it might be time to panic a little more.
Harmon won’t return for a few weeks, so we’ll see how their defense holds up in the meantime. They’ve got a lot of new pieces, so maybe they need a week or two of gameplay to really jell. Getting Harmon back eventually shouldn’t hurt, either. Aaron Rodgers helped the Steelers’ offense start off strong. Now, their defense needs to better support him.
