There’s No Quick Fix For the Steelers’ Run Defense
photo creditPatrick Breen/The Republic
Gone are the days of the Dick LeBeau era of the mid-to-late 2000s when the Pittsburgh Steelers never finished worse than third-best in the league in total run defense. From 2011-2022, the Black and Gold were at best inconsistent, as they’ve ranged anywhere from second in the league to dead last in total rushing yards allowed.
But as of late an upward trend seemed to be prevailing. After improving from the worst run defense in the league in 2021 to a more than modest ninth in the league last season, there was reason to believe the improvement may continue.
Prior to the start of the season, the Steelers brought in free-agent linebackers Elandon Roberts, Cole Holcomb, and Kwon Alexander, while drafting Keeanu Benton and Nick Herbig. The hope was the added depth could support mainstays Cameron Heyward, T.J. Watt, and Minkah Fitzpatrick while allowing for a more consistent level of play.
Enter Kyle Shanahan and Christian Mcaffrey.
McCaffrey ran amok on Sunday, compiling 152 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. While McCaffrey is a special talent and the San Francisco 49ers have been one of the better running teams in recent years, the Steelers put up far too little resistance to the Niners’ ground attack. It goes without saying Pittsburgh has to get better.
But with news breaking Monday that Cameron Heyward will be expected to miss several weeks due to surgery for a groin injury he sustained against the 49ers, that task just got a whole lot harder.
“He’s a captain for a reason,” Watt said after Sunday’s loss. “He’s been a guy that’s been able to make plays and be a spark for our defense for a long time. But, like I said, the standard is the standard no matter who is in there. All of us were at training camp together getting repetitions with different groups, so we’re all familiar with each other. So if one guy goes down, no matter who it is, but a guy like him, it might take more than one guy to fill that role. But we need to find a way to stop the bleeding as soon as possible.”
The Steelers drastically fell below expectations last week, and now fans and talking heads alike are calling for drastic solutions. Inevitably that discussion circles around to signing a veteran replacement or calling some hero of yesteryear out of retirement.
It should come as no surprise that J.J. Watt’s name has been tossed into the mix. It would certainly fit the brothers-playing-longside-brothers narrative that’s been so popular in Pittsburgh over the years, and there’s a thrilling kind of “Avengers, assemble!” vibe to T.J. Watt playing alongside J.J. Plus, if anyone is temperamentally suited to grabbing a lot of attention by swooping into a situation to play hero, it’s J.J. Watt. Not to mention, that the guy was a hell of a football player.
But of course this is a dumb idea for reasons too varied to list them all. Football fans suffer under some collective delusion that retired players are forever ready to drop their five-irons, rush back from the golf course, and start playing NFL football again. The echo of Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles popping hadn’t even stopped reverberating around Met Life Stadium people Tom Brady’s name was being whispered as a possible replacement. People were suggesting Brett Favre might make yet another comeback literal years after he’d transitioned to a full-time role as a college volleyball booster.
Nevermind the fact that you’re truly screwed when “J.J. Watt” is the answer to the question, “How do we try to navigate constant injury concerns with our star players?”
The real answer here is that Pittsburgh spent the offseason signing and drafting guys for exactly this reason. They already brought in help. Now Tomlin and his staff must develop and integrate Roberts, Holcomb, Alexander, Benton, and Herbig into a functional defense. It may cause some short-term struggles, but getting younger players and depth pieces more snaps would be better for the defense in the long run, especially when Heyward comes back later this year.
Tomlin seems to think so too.
“Replacing Cam is not a one-man job, it’s a multiple-man job and a coach’s job,” Tomlin said. “Because it changes your schematics when you lose significant players. We acknowledge that and we run to that, not away from that. That’s an opportunity for us to show what ‘team’ is about — things that we hold near and dear like next man up. We have an opportunity to make that real when we’re faced with the adversity that comes with attrition.”
Tomlin said Tuesday that he likes what he’s seen from the depth pieces along the defensive line, including DeMarvin Leal, Benton, and Isaiahh Loudermilk.
“I’ve been impressed with their growth and development and what those guys have shown me throughout team development, not only Leal and Loudermilk, but younger guys like Benton and others,” Tomlin said. “I thought that was one of the strengths of our group coming out of team development — the depth and competition and the tough decisions that we had to make on the defensive line. It won’t be a long period of time before we get a chance to call upon that, so we’ll get a chance to see what that depth looks like in play.”
The Steelers’ season is at an early inflection point following a devastating loss as they head into a matchup with a division rival – specifically, a division rival with a deadly ground attack. Nick Chubb and the Cleveland Browns would present a substantial challenge to Pittsburgh’s defense under the best of circumstances.
Chubb ran for 106 yards on 18 carries in Cleveland’s win over the Bengals on Sunday, averaging almost six yards per carry. As a team, the Browns ran for more than 200 yards.
“What (Chubb) is capable of doing and the way he controls the game is a little bit different, but similar to Christian McCaffrey,” head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly press conference. “He keeps them on schedule, he controls the climate — if we’re going to do anything in this football game, we have to work to minimize that guy’s impact.”
So, yes, this will be an uphill battle and a massive test of Pittsburgh’s resilience. But this isn’t a time to bring in reinforcements, it’s time for MIke Tomlin to rally the troops.
Up Next