The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense is not good right now. It’s hard to believe that a defense that the organization has invested so heavily in is playing this poorly, but it is. Star OLB T.J. Watt has failed to register a sack through the first two games. The run defense has given up nearly 300 yards so far. And the Steelers have given up over 30 points in each game.
The struggles are frustrating the fans and the players. You can also count former NFL head coach (and Steelers offensive coordinator) Bruce Arians among those frustrated folks. The Steelers believe their defense should always be a strong suit. But it’s been a liability.
“That was the hardest watch for me on Sunday,” Arians said Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show. “To watch that defense, knowing that Casey Hampton and Aaron Smith and James Harrison, all the guys that had played in that defense for all the years, going back to Joe [Greene] and all the rest of the guys. They get stoned by a fullback, and both linebackers get knocked down, safety can’t make a tackle. Seattle just ran it down their throat at home.”
Like fans, Arians expects the Steelers to have a great defense. Too many legendary names and Hall of Famers have plied their trade in Pittsburgh for people to not associate elite-level defense and the Steelers.
Heck, even the current Steelers defense has names we associate with high-level play. Watt holds the record for most career sacks by a Steeler, and he’s not finished yet. DT Cam Heyward held that record not too long ago. Then there are the new faces at cornerback in Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey, both Super Bowl winners.
But here we are, the Steelers struggling to defend the run and the same pass concepts two weeks running. Sure, they allowed fewer yards against the Seahawks than they did in Week 1 against the New York Jets. But they sure didn’t shut down Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III, who former NFL C Jeff Saturday said carved through the Steelers like “a hot knife to butter.”
So what is going wrong? Why did the Steelers allow the Jets and Seahawks to run all over them? Why are they giving up big play after big play?
“I think some of it is scheme, some of it is reading press clippings,” Arians said. “They can’t stop the run, then T.J. and [Alex] Highsmith can’t tee off. They’re the finishers. But you gotta stop ’em first to be able to finish. And they’re not stopping anybody in the running game right now.”
Until the Steelers prove they can stop rushing attacks, Arians expects opponents to continue to hammer them in the run game, using fullbacks like the Seahawks did. That negates the ability of players like Watt and the other pass rushers to affect games like they have in previous years.
So where do the Steelers start? Insider Ray Fittipaldo thinks that it starts with coaching. That is both a schematic component and those press clippings, thanks to Tomlin saying he expects “historic” things from the defense.
What is for certain is that the coaches need to coach better and the players need to play better. And until that happens, the Steelers will continue to find opponents trying to punish them on the ground. That’s not something anyone expects from a Steelers defense, especially Bruce Arians.
