Run Defense; A Closer Look

Gee....I wonder if the Broncos are mad they forced a couple of turnovers yesterday...kinda kicks the legs out from the argument...

 

Why would anyone think it’s a bad thing to force a turnover. I believe people arguing that counting on them is the issue as they can appear in bunches and then go away. You need a solid D when you are not getting them and the Steelers don’t have that at all.

 

It was still one of their worst game on defense this year.....They gave up 2 TD and 3 FG in their first 5 drives.They were better after but they won their game vs GB because of their offense.Nix had 4 TD pass and 300 passing yards

 

NFL defenses are going to yield yards and points against better QBs. Week in and week out we can watch it happen on our TV screens. For instance, Goff and the Lions just lit up the Rams. Each season there is like one defense that seems to take it to QBs...but that is about it. This year it is the Texans.

This is not a defense of the 2025 Steelers defense. It is not very good. But it is to say that "relying" on turnovers is just about what every NFL defense does against better than average QBs. You hope to hang on just enough to have your guy make one more play then their guy.

Recent Steelers defenses have been burned by NOT having a guy on their side. Having a guy on your side at QB makes things so much easier. You can overcome mistakes. You can force other teams to be one dimensional on offense because they are convinced they have to score on every possession. The list goes on.

Long rambling barely coherent story short....turnovers are what makes the NFL defensive world go round.

 

Turnovers are of course important but my point is if the steelers don't have turnovers,they can't leave the field and the stats prove that.28th on 3rd down,bottom 3 in fourth down(24-32 for the opposing offense!!!!)...One of the big reason why the defense are on the field for 6.8 plays per drive,worst in the NFL and it's not like they play against elite Offense every week!

Turnovers, third-down defense, and fourth-down defense are key stats for a defense (not the only one, but they're important), and the Steelers are only good at turnovers.At least they are not the Jets I guess!

 

The guy shows the ability at any given time to break a play wide open. He also lasted to the fifth round. Have to figure with that much ability there are holes in his game somewhere. 336 pounds may show us one of his issues but assuming there has to be more. Now we need to hope that the coaching staff has the ability to teach him what he doesn't know, and that idea has a pretty poor track record recently in Pittsburgh.

 

This is not a new issue with Steelers D. Even with Ben and Killer Bs, the end result was not much different.

 

All good points. But you are not arguing against turnovers then. You are making a case that the Steelers defense just needs to get fundamentally better. That is a whole other kettle of fish.

 

Maybe. But Ben led offenses could cover up mistakes. Defense gets burned for a couple of TDs? Sure. No problem. We can just score more points.

If you are thinking about playoff setbacks...then sure. That is mostly because the playoffs do not reward defense all that much. Last team with the ball usually wins.

 

Don't forget redzone. The Steelers defense is 9th best in the NFL, while the offense is 8th best (TD%).

 

I never said turnovers weren't important... I still prefer a defense that leaves the field as quickly as possible with a 3-and-out than a turnover after a 10-play drive or something like that.

If you can do both, that's wonderful, but I prefer to be in the middle in turnovers but be great when you have a chance to leave the field than to be at the top in turnovers but in the middle for everything else (like Buffalo in recent years, since their defense has been exposed by every good offense in the playoffs this decade).

 

This is a myth... Just look at this decade, defenses like the Bucs, Rams, Chiefs (2023), Eagles were all very good at the end of the season and playoffs.... Chiefs in 2022 is an exception, especially in the Super Bowl, but they also made some key stops in the AFC Championship Game against the Bengals at the end.

Hard to win when the defense is trash come playoff time... Of course, offense is very important, it takes balance... You can't rely on only one side of the ball and ask a unit to be perfect or almost perfect; it very rarely works.

 

Come playoff time, your defense is going to get scored on when you run into good offenses piloted by a decent QB. Get a few turnovers and don't make any yourself. I would settle for that every time. But you have to have a good enough offense to score a bunch yourself.

Steelers issues the last 4 years or so are from trash offense against decent defenses. Not that the defense wasn't good enough. The Bills defense is not that much better than the Steelers in 2025. And they are winning plenty of games. Why? Their offense is an actual fully functional unit led by an amazing QB.

If you have the QB play...most of the rest of this doesn't matter. The Steelers issues are the fact that their QB stinks. The end. Old Ben, Hodges, Rudolph, old Wilson, old Rodgers. These guys all are/were not good enough to beat other playoff contenders.

 

I agree with your first point: it leads to non-losing seasons without playoff success.

I don't agree with your second point. Steelers have lost their last bunch of playoff games early in the first quarter by getting totally blown out. Nothing came down to the final possession.

SB winning teams continue to have good+ defenses.

 

LoL. Thank You. I was just going to write this, but You beat me to it.

 

You tell me. Funny a few of the people who agreed with you are people who said that the Broncos were the team D they rather have , and they don't rely on turnover. Yet without the turnovers yesterday, they would have lost. For many of us we find it ironic.
Kinda like the people that crowned the Seahawks coaching staff, and said they knew how to get it done, and would blow out the Colts, and the Qb that hadn't played it 5 year. LoL.
Or the people that talked about Vrabel putting on a clinic in coaching yesterday, and then making excuses as to why they blew a 24-7 lead. This could be why.

 

Also I love the people that say turnover don't matter, and point to our playoff demise, but then fail to mention the opposition turning us over. LoL
Again if you think turnovers don't matter. How many games have we lost this year we didn't get turned over?

 

Who was doing all of this?

Tomlin still sucks regardless.

Go Steelers!

 

I mean every head coach loses a game at some point in a season... Don Shula in 1972 is the only exception

 

I guess you only read me and @jeh1856 if You haven't seen it

 

Derrick Harmon is officially out

 

ouch