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DAMMIT!!!
Now all I hear is Tina Turner
WOAAH OH!!

 

This is the Raiders D was better than the Steelers D folks hanging on by the tips of their fingers. LoL

 

Ignoring yards entirely is foolish. This has already been clearly explained, but you and the other guy stick your heads in the sand when it comes up.

 

Raiders D played well considering the amount of cap money that was dedicated to it... as opposed to Steelers who pay the most in cap space than any other team in the NFL for defense. Steelers didn't get good ROI.

 

Steelers got poor ROI on their defense. I watched Rams, Broncos, Eagles, Patriots and Seahawks defenses play.... and there was no comparison. All 5 of those D's... were far superior to the overpaid Steelers defense of 2025.

 

You appear to not being able to read like many. Tell me when I said yards don't matter??
I said points matter more.
I don't know about you, but I have seen many, many, many games where the loser had more yards than the winner, but do you know what I have never seen???
Do You know??? Do You??
I have never seen the loser have more points than the winner. Hmmm
Well I'll be dang.
Next.
Break Your neck to explain that

 

Hmm that's awesome if that's what we are talking about. The discussion that was put forth falsely was that the Raiders had a better D than the Steelers.

 

I'm just pointing out how overrated and overpaid the Steelers defense was. Those 5 D's I listed performed much better at a lower cost. I hope Graham and McCarthy can turn things around and make the D worth it's money. Steelers have made some good moves in the offseason. I'm actually more excited about the defense than offense.

 

Agree

And at this point in the season when was the last time we were excited about the Steelers

 

Hell I hope we are better too, but this whole money thing has nothing to do with it. All it shows is we have a few home grown players that take up a lot of cap. Let's not make it what it's not. It's not like we have more D players than other teams. LoL.

 

Have to admit... I was excited in 2023 for Pickett's 2nd season at QB. That excitement dissipated quickly with the opening debacle vs 49ers.

 

Same for me!

 

I gave that a hilarious but in reality at the time it wasn’t that funny

 

At least,Pickett was great in his career to not have turnovers,who is very important for some here!

 

Actually, I was just giving you a hard time, but apparently you misplaced your sense of humor along with your sense of calm. Perhaps you should dedicate some time to relocating both.

You have heavily downplayed the value of yardage while the other guy is the one who foolishly dismissed that statistic entirely. The correct approach would be to use it all, points, yardage, turnovers, sacks, and any other applicable stats you can find.

One problem with relying only on points is most people look at team totals, which can be misleading if there are scores by the opposing defense or special teams in a given game or season. Even if you filter out those scores, what if the offense's failures constantly set up the opponent in scoring position? If the Steelers hand the opponent the ball inside their five three times in a game and the defense gives up nine points, whose fault is that?

I'll start with a more prominent example, the 2001 AFC Championship Game. The Steelers gave up more points in that game than the Patriots, but that is clearly misleading. New England got 14 of its 24 points on a punt return and a kickoff return. The defense shut Tom Brady down, then knocked him out of the game. They gave up one good drive all game, setting up Drew Bledsoe's touchdown pass in relief of Brady. Looking at yardage would help demonstrate the strength of the defense's performance in that game. They held the Patriots under to 192 yards passing and only 67 rushing yards on 25 carries. The yardage tells the story far better than the point total. They didn't force turnovers, but they did their job, holding the Patriots to 10 points and largely stifling their offense.

The Steelers gave up 23 points in an overtime loss to the Jaguars in 2005, but Tommy Maddox threw an interception that was returned to the Steelers seven to set up a touchdown run by the Jags on the next play. He threw an interception in overtime that was returned for the game-winning touchdown. Were those plays the fault of the defense? Yardage told a more accurate story, that the Jaguars had only 153 yards passing and 246 total yards.

Then there was the infamous 24-6 loss to the Houston Texans in 2002. A really bad team scored 24 points against the Steelers, so the defense must have sucked, right? Um, no. The Steelers' defense completely dominated the Texans' offense, holding them to only 47 total yards, but Houston's defense scored three touchdowns, two interception returns and one fumble return. That was a game that showed why you have to look at everything available. Looking at the score alone was misleading for both teams.

 

I’d agree with this if it was true but it is not

With Pittsburgh he threw as many INT 13 as he had TD 13

Toss in the fumbles and that is just bad

And using Kenny The Coward as a good example of anything is just foolish

 

And if we look at the entire season,the 2006 Bears and colts had the same PPG on offense in the entire year.But if we look at the context,the bears had 45 more offensive drive that the colts because the bears were much better to leave the field and they had also 8 non offensive TD(5 special teams and 3 defensive TD) vs only 2 by the colts.And the bears had the 3rd best average field position per drive vs 27th for the colts offense.

So yes context matter in each situation and we can find several other example on both side of the ball!

 

A few things to keep in Mind.
Defensive Efficiency
The Steelers' defense was ranked 17th in points allowed per game (22.8), while the Raiders' ranked 25th (25.4). This means the Steelers allowed nearly 3 fewer points per game—a significant margin that directly impacts winning and losing.

Pass Rush
The Steelers excelled with 48 sacks led by stars like T.J. Watt (7.0), Alex Highsmith (9.5), and Nick Herbig (7.5). The Raiders generated 37.0 sacks, with Maxx Crosby (10.0) as their standout edge rusher. While Crosby was excellent individually, the Steelers had deeper pass rush production.

Turnover Creation
This is where the Steelers dominated. They recorded 15 interceptions and 14 forced fumbles with a strong +12 turnover differential, while the Raiders had only 8 interceptions and 10 forced fumbles with a -7 turnover differential. Turnovers are one of the most predictive factors in NFL success, making this advantage crucial.

Pass Coverage
The Steelers allowed a 92.2 opposing passer rating compared to the Raiders' 86.1. While the Raiders' number looks better, the Steelers faced tougher offenses and still managed their defense effectively in the context of overall matchups.

Overall Verdict
The Steelers' defense was statistically superior in nearly every important category. Their ability to generate turnovers, create consistent pressure, and limit opponent scoring translated to a 10-7 playoff season, while the Raiders' struggling defense was part of their 3-14 record. The Steelers' defense kept them competitive even in losses, whereas the Raiders' defense allowed too many points and couldn't create enough takeaways.


To make matters worse for the raiders, they were dead last in offense. They scored 241 points.. yuk.
Graham has been a Defensive Coordinator for the past 7 years.
In Green Bay he was the DC in that 6-9-1 season - worst performance since 2008. The season included the firing of head coach Mike McCarthy after a 4–7–1 start
The team struggled with a lack of offensive consistency and defensive issues.

There must be something special for Graham, he's keeps getting hired.
His Steelers profile found silver linings from which some positive can ride on.