The NFL held a fan event in Dublin ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 4 matchup with the Minnesota Vikings, and former Steelers RB Jerome Bettis was part of a panel that took questions. Bettis talked about this year’s Steelers’ team, a 2-1 team that hasn’t been the stifling defense that Steelers’ fans are used to, and Bettis said the team’s lack of physicality is a “concern.”
“The Steelers believe in being physical. That’s an area of concern right now. The Steelers haven’t been the Steelers of old,” Bettis said via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey.
Pittsburgh’s run defense and run blocking have been issues early in the season. The Steelers have always wanted to punch teams in the mouth on both sides of the ball, but instead, they’ve been getting punched in the mouth far too often this season. Bettis isn’t wrong, as the defense carried the Steelers’ teams back in his day and throughout most of the 2010s and early 2020s.
But during Pittsburgh’s five-game losing streak to end last season, the defense faltered, and despite significant additions like Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay, the defense has remained a concern. The team forced five turnovers in Week 3 against the New England Patriots, and the run defense was a little bit better, allowing 119 yards on 29 attempts, but it was another performance where the Steelers allowed over 100 yards on the ground. That’s been the case for every game this season.
Meanwhile, the Steelers’ own rushing attack has been nonexistent. Jaylen Warren ran for 33 yards on the opening drive against New England and then finished with 47. That opening drive showed glimpses, and the Steelers had a good game plan and blocked things up nicely. However, as a whole, the run game has been a mess, and Alex Kozora’s breakdown examines where things have gone wrong for the Steelers this season.
They’re not playing like a typical Steelers team. But they are winning close games, with a two-point win in Week 1 and a seven-point win in Week 3. It’s fair to say they were lucky to escape Week 3 with a win, given that the offense failed to take full advantage of their five takeaways, but they’re 2-1 nonetheless. If they can get back to playing Pittsburgh Steelers Football, running the ball, and stopping the run, the Steelers will be fine.
But that simply hasn’t been the case so far this season, and it’ll remain a concern until they can prove otherwise.
