The Pittsburgh Steelers left MetLife Stadium Sunday afternoon with a Week 1 win. But it wasn’t the expected way. The Steelers beat the New York Jets in a 34-32 shootout despite giving up 182 rushing yards.
That was a major disappointment for a team focused on getting more physical after allowing 299 rushing yards to the Baltimore Ravens in a Wild Card loss to end last season. Yes, 21st-overall pick DL Derrick Harmon missed the game due to a knee injury. But no defensive lineman can play every snap. So why did the Steelers struggle against the Jets?
“I think up front, it was getting off blocks,” Steelers DL Isaiahh Loudermilk said Monday per video from Chris Adamski. “I don’t think, as a d-line, we got off blocks well enough. But we just got to be able to improve, see what it is. But in the moment, it always feels like getting off blocks. When you’ve got a guy attached to you, it’s tough to make tackles. So, if we can shed those, be able to be more clean, I think we’ll be able to have a better performance.”
Steelers DT Isaiahh Loudermilk on the need to improve the run defense after the Jets big rushing game against them Sunday pic.twitter.com/o9W5yvzR2C
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 8, 2025
Loudermilk’s other common refrain was attention to detail. Perhaps that means players fitting into the right gaps or playing the right techniques. But the Steelers struggled to defend the run. As Steelers LB Patrick Queen bluntly put it, “We played like shit today.”
The Steelers certainly did struggle to get off blocks. In all, the Steelers’ defense had six tackles for a loss per Pro Football Reference. They managed to sack QB Justin Fields once, but they weren’t able to get consistent penetration to disrupt either the Jets’ run or pass game. And of those six tackles for a loss, Queen didn’t have any and ILB Payton Wilson only had one. Three of them belonged to the outside linebackers T.J. Watt (2) and Alex Highsmith. And DT Cam Heyward had the final one.
Defensive penetration is one area that Derrick Harmon will hopefully boost when he gets healthy. If he can continue to get into opponents’ backfields like he did in college, that will be a big lift to the Steelers.
As for the rest of the defense, maybe watching film will help the Steelers figure out how to defend the run better in Week 2. They face the Seattle Seahawks, who are coming off a 17-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. The Seahawks only managed 3.2 yards per carry and 84 rushing yards against the 49ers (along with one rushing touchdown).
But the Seahawks could look at the Steelers as a bounce-back opportunity after the Jets gashed them on the ground. Will the Steelers’ run defense be able to rebound? Will the linemen get better at winning their matchups and will linebackers be more disruptive? Or will their “pretty scary” Week 1 performance prove to be the rule rather than the exception?
