At the beginning of training camp, Juan Thornhill made a remark that turned some heads. He claimed that the Steelers’ defense could be historically good this year, potentially even the best of all time.
Through two weeks, there’s been no signs of that happening. The Steelers have given up at least 30 points in each week and have been leaky against the run. Despite that, Chris Canty believes the unit did enough to come away with a win Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.
“The defense didn’t give up all 30 points,” Canty said Monday on ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike. “I hear what we’re saying about the Steelers’ defense. They did gift the ball to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense at point blank range after that Nick Herbig interception on Sam Darnold. Which was a great play by the way. The defense did have a couple of takeaways yesterday. Two turnovers, the defense doing it’s job in my opinion. I mean, I have a hard time saying that the defense ain’t doing they job.”
Canty’s biggest argument revolves around the turnovers the Steelers’ defense forced. And each were indeed massive. The first came on Seattle’s second drive, when Jalen Ramsey undercut an out route and gave the offense the ball in Seattle territory. The second came on a 4th and 1, when Darnold tried to make something happen. Cam Heyward tipped Darnold’s pass, Nick Herbig caught it and returned the interception all the way into the red zone.
With those two takeaways, Pittsburgh set up its offense well. The first led to a field goal, and the second led to a touchdown pass to DK Metcalf. To the defense’s credit, it helped spot the offense over half of its points.
That said, the unit certainly wasn’t impressive. The kickoff fiasco wasn’t its fault, but the group is still nowhere near good enough right now. Sam Darnold picked the Steelers apart on several different 3rd-and-long situations, and they were brutal against the run yet again. After rushing for just 20 yards last week, Kenneth Walker III picked up 105 on 13 carries on Sunday. He ran for 8.1 yards per carry and ended his day with a 19-yard touchdown run on third and goal.
For what it’s worth, there have been injuries across the unit. DeShon Elliott is out with a knee injury. Isaiahh Loudermilk and Alex Highsmith left the Seahawks game early with injuries and did not return.
However, these types of performances just cannot happen. The Steelers are not good enough offensively to be even average defensively, which they still haven’t been. It’s the highest paid unit in the league with several new additions, and it can’t stop anything so far. So much for being historically good.
