Patrick Queen was a marquee addition ahead of the 2024 season. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as swimmingly in that first year as he or the Steelers had hoped. Now, on a defense with several new offseason additions, expectations are only getting higher for Queen and the rest of the unit. According to Teryl Austin, those expectations are being met.
“He is really coming along, man,” Austin said Tuesday via a team-provided transcript. “He’s been playing well. I think there is a comfort level now in this defense. I think there is, being the green dot, he and I are always talking, and he feels really comfortable about doing the job and doing the task at hand. So, he’s really playing fast right now, and it really shows. I think you watch last week and the week before, I mean, he just kind of jumps off the film at you in terms of his speed and violence. We need that. That’s why we got him… He’s got it going right now.”
The Steelers’ defense set extremely high expectations for themselves before the season started. As was evident in the first couple of weeks, it took some time to jell. But now, with a handful of games under their belt, the defense has really stepped up to the plate in the last few games.
A good amount of those improvements involve Patrick Queen. As Austin says, he wears the green dot. He’s responsible for a lot of the communication that goes on defensively. Last year, the Steelers struggled in that department. Those issues came into play again at the start of this season, especially when dealing with deeper route concepts in the first two weeks. Since then, it’s been much better. The Steelers have substantially limited big plays through the air over the last three games.
Another area that’s improving is run defense. The progress there also showed in Week 3, when the Steelers didn’t allow a single New England back to reach 30 rushing yards. They held Jordan Mason to 3.6 yards per carry in Week 4. On Sunday, they held Quinshon Judkins to 3.0 per carry. Queen’s 44 tackles and five tackles for a loss have been a big help. He’s only missed two tackles this year and is doing a much better job coming downhill during the last three games.
As the year goes on, the defense seems to be getting better and better. As the quarterback of the unit, a lot of effort starts with Patrick Queen. He’s playing much better as of late, which is an excellent sign for the Steelers.
