What are your expectations this year for the Steelers defense?

I (strongly) agree with you that ever turnover is an extra drive for the offense. But how many drives for the offense did we lose by being among the worst in the league at getting of the field?

If we were average at 3rd down conversions, I'd be strongly in the turnovers a better camp. But last season I think our inability to get off the field really hamstrung our offense. Which was surprising to me after the opposite being the case for so long.

On any given drive, turning the ball over is obviously better.

But there are way more 3rd downs faced than turnovers.

We we could move from 4th to 10th in turnovers generated and go back to last year's 3rd down conversion rate, I think we'd be a much better defense.

At least that's my guess.

Especially since my guess is that turnovers come in bunches more than something like 3rd down conversion is. Although we easily could have lost our two big turnover games (5 against the Pats and 6 against the Colts) without every one of those turnovers. The margin in both games was 7 points. Which is crazy IMO. How we didn't blow teams out with that many turnovers...although the Pats were a much better team than we were (even if we didn't know it at the time).

Re: 4th down. We ranked 31st in 4th down conversions allowed at 73.7% last year. They don't have the raw stats on the site I was looking at, so I don't know how many attempts there were. The sample sizes might not be big enough for the rankings to mean much.

Google AI says that we allowed 26 4th down conversions of 35 attempts in 2025. That's close, but not equal to the percentage above. Not sure if that means one of the numbers is wrong...or maybe a conversion was by penalty or something that doesn't get counted?

If that number is right, then it's not a small number of "drives taken away from the offense".

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-fourth-down-conversion-pct

 

opposing team were 28-38 on fourth down vs steelers last year...Just to look a bit below in team conversation and you will see

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/pit/2025.htm

 

That is the only statistic that matters

 

Steelers D didn't cause enough turnovers and they had trouble stopping teams on 3rd down.... 3rd and long yardage, too. There's no way in hell anybody in their right mind can compare this current defense to the ones we had from 2001-2011. Those D's of yesteryear got sh!tloads of 3 and outs... and they never got ran on like Dalvin Cook and Derrick Henry have done recenty to our current defense.

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but suggesting that they move him around is surely an attempt to mitigate his sharp decline in play. His sacks have dropped off 60+% over the last two seasons. They're probably hoping that being more creative in their deployment of him will buy a few more big plays, which are diminishing quickly.

Those other guys you mentioned were released or allowed to walk without nearly the same decline. But with the absolutely ridiculous contract that they gave Watt, they probably couldn't give him away.

 

I strongly agree on the trouble stopping teams on 3rd downs part.

But I think it's hard to argue that we didn't cause enough turnovers when we had the 4th most of any team in the NFL (27). This was the thing the D was actually good at.

 

The reason we want to move Watt around more,this is for he has more favorable matchups against weaker o-linemen... We see many teams doing this with their best pass rusher, especially in passing down, and it works... What worked 20 years ago doesn't mean it works today... We have to evolve!

 

The run defense has been suspect at best.


Defense did not get off the field on 3rd downs.


I could never find just one reason why the defense would struggle at times. They just did.


I expect them to be better. No further definition. Better.

 

Fans just forget that Watt doesn't like moving around that's why it didn't happen more often.

 

Well... those turnovers didn't get us much ROI, or we would have at least won a playoff game and had a better regular season record.

 

Nobody had them even making the playoffs last season much less winning the division.

 

Nobody?

They were 16th in power ranking on ESPN before last season(middle of the pack and one spot ahead of the seahawks))and this is what they were.And only the NFC south was worst that the afc north last season

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...ngs-offseason-poll-2025-hot-seat-pressure#PIT

 

I can take a couple of transition years with a new staff as long as the D players aren't walking around looking like they have no idea what is going on and please, please ... can we finally figure out how to stop a team on 3rd and long?

 

Most of the talking heads had them finishing third and missing the playoffs .

 

Because it’s no longer 1995 and the game has changed?

Because TJ Watt gas been less effective while being paid much more than those guys?

Because it could help our defense perform better?

 

Because the Ravens were a major disappointment, so much that they fired their head coach of 18 seasons.The bengals were without their star QB for half of the season too.Again, the Steelers were predicted to be a middle of type team, and that's what they were. 16th or 13th best team, not a huge difference I think

 

Part of the reason the Ravens were a major disappointment because they lost twice to the Steelers . Save the excuses for those two teams the Steelers had injuries of their own, that's why those betting sites keep losing money setting the over/under Steelers wins for like the last 5 years.

 

I pick the over since 2022 at least,so this is not hard,just free money for those who bet(I am not one of those).The ravens were 8-7 without the 2 steelers games in 2025,11-4 in 2024 and 13-2 in 2023,so the ravens had a major regression compared to the other 2 years before,so it was not just against the steelers that the ravens were average at best

If it happens again in 2026 and Burrow is out for half of the season again,yes the steelers could win the division in 2026 but if they need 11-12 wins,the chance will be slim to none

 

And yet you listen to them

 

Overpaying Watt rather than trading him was a huge mistake. He simply isn't an elite player any more, but they are paying him like one.

 

Burrow and the Bengals have missed the playoffs for three straight years he's made of glass, I don't have high expectations for the Steelers this season but with Rodgers they should hit the over.

 

I keep seeing this idea that keeping the other team from scoring is the only statistic that matters. That is overly simplistic, lazy thinking. Creating turnovers matters. Limiting time of possession by opposing offenses by getting stops on third and fourth downs matters. Allowing a team to get three first downs and drive to midfield before punting is not the same as a three-and-out, though both ended with the opponent not scoring.

Other statistics, such as yards allowed rushing or passing, and sacks, can help predict the future success or failure of the defense.

So no, points allowed is not the only measure worth considering. It is the most important one, but not the only one.

 

.......and another quick wildcard exit, at best.

 

I do think that the offense and defense were more equal during the season than they have been in a long time. The D was worse than previous years IMO and the O was better (particularly in the red zone).

But to suggest that the D lost the playoff game is a pretty hot take IMO.

The offense scored 14 points for Houston in that game (more than 2x what our offense scored for the Steelers).

 

Steelers defense faced 38 4th downs. Only TEN was worse at 75% conv allowed....but they faced the fewest # of them: