The Teryl Austin/Defense Complaint Thread (2025)

Many of you have a very different idea of elite teams than I do. Elite teams make the SB. Not just win a playoff game a year. The only elite teams in my eyes are KC, Eagles, and maybe 49ers.

 

1. Posters say we can’t win the next one
2. Posters say fire everyone

 

I felt the same way for you. I really hoped you would understand after watching football for this long that You know the playoff wins don't add up, and if I'm not going to the SB once I make the Playoffs, I'd rather have a higher draft pick.
Again. It's pretty simple.
You win enough regular season games to make the playoffs, and You win enough playoff games to make the SB.
If you could save up playoff wins every year, and cash them in for a SB appearance, I'd totally agree with you, but that's not how it works, and Me just being able to see one more game isn't worth the higher draft pick I may get so I can actually win enough playoff games to make the SB. JMO

 

Bills fans are goofy after a wild card win or loss their fans will go meet the team at the airport in the early hours of the morning.

 

All I can honestly say is.....
I don't feel any better, ever for winning a couple of playoff games if we don't make the SB. This is the truth, and I can't change how I feel.

 

You must think the Steelers are literal dog **** then

 

Well that made no sense

 

Been noticing this all year — one week we look like a top-3 pass-rush team, the next we can’t touch the QB. It’s not effort; it’s how the games unfold.


Teryl Austin’s defense is feast or famine. When the disguises and timing hit, it’s chaos — sacks, hits, turnovers. But when opponents go quick-game or lean on the run, our front barely gets a chance to win. It’s all or nothing.


Really, the pass rush feeds on situation and rhythm — give them a lead and long-yardage downs, and they’ll eat. Force them to defend balance or tempo, and it dries up fast.

So maybe it’s not inconsistency — it’s game flow.


What do you guys think?

• Should Austin blitz more often when the pressure disappears?
• Are Watt and Highsmith being schemed out, or just running into too many quick-game offenses?
• How much of the inconsistency is actually tied to the offense’s rhythm?
• Would you rather have steady pressure all game or explosive pressure in big moments?

It’s wild because this defense still feels like a Steelers defense in moments — big stops, splash plays, pressure bursts — but the numbers tell another story. We’ve given up long, sustained drives all season. Teams aren’t afraid to run 10+-play series anymore because they know they can stay balanced and wear us down.


Part of it’s the philosophy. Austin’s defense is built around pressure and turnover chances, not yardage prevention. That’s fine when it leads to stops or takeaways, but when the rush doesn’t hit home, the defense just bleeds yardage.

Part of it’s execution too — missed tackles, late linebacker fits, and secondary players taking bad angles. It all adds up.


Another factor is that our defensive line group isn’t really built for natural interior pressure. Watt and Highsmith do most of the damage off the edge, but they’re technically OLBs, not hand-in-the-dirt linemen. When we stay in base or nickel and don’t blitz, it’s tough to collapse the pocket with only Heyward and Benton inside. Benton’s still learning how to finish, and Cam can’t carry the interior rush by himself every week.


If the Steelers really want to help the secondary, the focus might need to be on doing whatever it takes to erase the run game early — just like in the Colts game. Once you make a team abandon the ground attack, the whole defense tightens: the rush gets home, the DBs can play more aggressively, and the game flows back toward our strengths.


Maybe the best “coverage adjustment” this defense can make isn’t in the secondary — it’s in the trenches.

 

So, lets say Steelers win the wild card round, you are not going to feel good during that week. Then they win the next round, you still aren't going to feel good. Then they lose the AFCC, and you feel not good for the whole off season.

However, if they win the AFCC and make the SB, then suddenly you retroactively feel good for the weeks after the wild card game?

I personally don't know how to hold my happiness in check when Steelers win any game.

 

Part of it could be personnel. Moving Ramsey to S seems to have made a real difference.

 

?

 

As fans we want our team to win a championship every year. If they don't win a championship in a given year, then we want to have hope that they can win a championship next year or at least in the not too distant future.

The further the Steelers make it into the playoffs, the more I will feel hope that they can win a Super Bowl in the near future. The reason people give the Bills and Ravens credit for being in the playoffs and getting playoff wins despite not winning a super bowl is that that shows that those teams are better than the Steelers, closer to winning a super bowl than the Steelers, and giving their fans hope of winning a super bowl in the near future. I would certainly rather see the Steelers consistently win playoff games than not. It seems strange that anyone wouldn't value that. If all we care about is draft position, then let's just hope they go 0-17 and be done with it. At some point the actual fun of seeing them play and win should play into it. That is why we watch football. Because it's supposed to be fun.

 

Agree for the most part. I do agree that, as of today, outside of Cam Heyward, there isn't a consistent performer in terms of generating pressure up front. Benton is too inconsistent, Loudermilk is what he is, Black is still very much in development and Harmon is ascending but isn't there yet. The only other method would be to use stunts for the OLBs but that makes outside rush containment susceptible as IDLs are usually not going to be agile nor fast enough to stunt outside to get in their rush defense lanes.



The only aspect though I disagree upon regarding the overall aspect of pass rush is coverage; namely the teams lack of speed at Corner. Having reliable secondary help, namely corners who can hold up in coverage long enough, permits the pass rush to either get home or cause disruption for a greater chance of a negative play. Problem is, Pittsburgh only has one such corner... and that is being generous.



Joey Porter Jr and Brandin Echols; that is, more or less, what the team has in terms of players who have the wheels to hold up in coverage. James Pierre has solid technique but can get bear consistently, Darius Slays best days are clearly behind him, Cory Trice is simply unreliable and Jalen Ramsey needs to be at Safety for the duration of the season given how deficient the Safety play has been in terms of ball skills; namely in both Chuck Clark and Juan Thornhill.



Overall, I do agree that relying solely on one IDL for an interior rush simply isn't feasible at all. On the other hand, having literally one Corner in Joey Porter Jr., one who is oddly enough feast or famine as far as his performances go week in and week out like the Defense, is just as bad or even worse depending on the opponent. I personally wanted the team to nab a Corner during the trading period but according to reports, what you described is the direction the team opted for given that would be the more pressing need.



I see that you are new as well?! Excellent post!! Pardon the delayed introductions but I am one of the Draftniks of the site; AskQuestionsLater! Feel free to ask me anything related to the upcoming draft if you have any questions! I will be happy to answer them!