What are your expectations this year for the Steelers defense?

Something I've never heard you do either of which is why You jumped on this. LoL

 

Are we sure about that? I'm not.

 

Yes, I had noted in recent post that Cowher had his warts.

That said, at least it was a BUNCH of AFCCG. I can't even remember the last one under Tomlin.

If you don't like being disappointed at home in an AFC CG, then you may not want Cowher.

If you prefer getting embarrassed and thumped by a non-bye team in a pre-divisional round, then Tomlin is your guy.

If you like empty slogans, useless cliches, toothless boasts and a bug-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights head coach, then Tomlin is DEFINITELY your guy.

 

That doesn’t surprise anyone

 

Cowher has never lost in the playoffs against a 10-6 or worse team.This has happened 5 times for Tomlin

 

Tomlin retired

Cowher retired

FYI

 

But both was steelers HC for very long!

 

And what does that have to do with the OP

 

Tomlin did win playoff games... so he's got that feather in the cap that Lewis doesn't have. And I'm one of the more intense Tomlin critics on this forum.

 

I expect this defense to be #1 in the AFCN this year. They edged out BAL last season, CIN anchored the division, and CLE had the class of the division on defense. Given the offseason additions there is no reason to think the Steelers cannot return to top 10.

 

I only have 10

1 2 3…

Ok I’ll quit showing off

 

A couple of good youtube videos / podcasts talking about the issues with the defense. I like Scout's Eye. But be prepared for the ads. This is actually why I try to "watch" this podcast on youtube...adding Ublock + UnTrap Youtube are a great combo on Firefox (unfortunately UnTrap only works on PC...maybe Apples too?...not phones).

Apparently in 2025 we were something like 5th worst 4th Q defense in the last 25 years.



We also went into the 4th Q winning 11 games (tied for most in the league). But also had the highest loss% when winning going into the 4th.



If we can get to being average at getting off the field (especially in the 4th Q) without sacrificing too much in the way of turnovers this can be a very good defense.

I think this is especially true if we're more aggressive on D against short passes. This will probably lead to more explosive plays against. But it won't neuter our pass rush.

 

Oh please, he lost at home in the AFCCG as a TD favorite or more don't care about the opponent's record.

 

Amazing

You even had to quote someone else for this

 

The loss to the Chargers in 1994 was Cowher's worst playoff loss of his career; I never said otherwise.

But it happens to many all-time great coaches at least once... I mean, Shula and Belichick lost in the Super Bowl as massive favorite, like Belichick by 12 points favorite in 2007 and Shula by 18 points in Super Bowl III, that doesn't make them bad coaches... I can name several other examples, like Bill Walsh in 1987 and others.

I give Noll a lot of credit; he's never lost as a heavy favorite in the playoffs. The only time he lost as a favorite in the playoffs was in 1982 against the Chargers, and the steelers were only slight favorite.But this is very rare that a head coach don't have massive upset against his team.It can't happen too often too

 

Apparently I only listened to the 1st half of the second video.

I had though that we were good at defending the long passes (since we basically give up short passes).

But for passes of 10+ Air Yards, we gave up a 54% completion rate. This was 3rd worst in the league. This was shocking to me.

Injuries at S didn't help.

And IIRC, we were in the top 3 in the league despite playing more single-high than almost anyone when Minkah was here. While he wasn't making splash plays at the end of our time with us, he was protecting the deep part of the field (by either play or reputation).

 

Steelers defense second to last in total EPA against in the 4th quarter. They were middling in the other 3 quarters. It's very strange how they fell off so bad.

 

I wonder what was the fourth down stats in the fourth quarter for the steelers....For the entire year,they were awful,28-38 for the opposing team but I guess the fourth quarter must be a huge reason why