The Pittsburgh Steelers have had several dominant defenses in their illustrious history. That began in the 1970s, and they’ve carried that tradition to today. The Steelers still put a lot of pride in their defense. However, that unit has been disappointing this season. It’s got a lot of talent, but it hasn’t lived up to expectations. Ryan Clark called on the Steelers’ defense to step up ahead of their Week 8 game against the Green Bay Packers.
“When you let Chase Brown, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, [Andrei] Iosivas, when you let those people do what they did to you last week, they stole something from you,” Clark said Friday on ESPN’s First Take. “The whole air of what the Steel Curtain used to be or what we were in the 2000s, you don’t get to live off of that.
“The same way when we stepped on the field, Joe Greene wasn’t finna come out there and help us. Mel Blount wasn’t finna come out there and help us. And guess what? They’re not coming to save this Steelers team. If I’m Omar Khan, if I’m Mike Tomlin, all those decisions I made in the offseason, this is the week they show up.”
Clark is correct that reinforcements aren’t on the way to save the Steelers’ defense. It’s fairly healthy, and it shouldn’t need any more star power. The Steelers loaded up on more defensive talent this offseason, adding players like Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay. That’s on top of them already having T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Patrick Queen, and others.
Unfortunately, all that talent hasn’t meshed perfectly. One of the key reasons why the Steelers’ defenses in the 1970s and 2000s were so successful was because of how well they worked together. Those were tight-knit units with plenty of experience together.
This year’s Steelers’ defense doesn’t have that. It’s undergone a lot of changes. The Steelers are struggling with communication defensively. That might be a result of all the turnover their defense has experienced.
However, things haven’t been all bad for that group. At times, it’s played up to its potential, like against the Cleveland Browns a few weeks ago. While the Steelers’ defense got torched by the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 7, it has a chance to prove itself Sunday night the Green Bay Packers.
No legend is going to appear and rescue them, but the Steelers still take pride in their organization’s history. As a result, their defense could play with an edge this week. It has the pieces to be great. They just need to be put together.
