Why does everyone refer to Steelers' D as "great?"

[Northern_Blitz]

it was near the top the 2 previous seasons.

serious question though.... did butler have more input then?

I don't think that was the difference (although I do think Butler played an important role in giving us such great pressure while he was DC).

I think 2 years ago, we just had better players.

And last year we were healthy and had better / more experience in the secondary.

I think the problems this year were (i) injuries on the DL tanked the running game and (ii) inexperience / lesser talent at CB made us less comfortable blitzing.

Could be wrong, but that's pretty much what I think. I don't think we suddenly got significantly worse at coaching.

[Northern_Blitz]

I think in hindsight that game looks like a fluke. It was windy and Allen was missing wide open guys. If we had played them instead of KC in the playoffs we get the same result.

It's possible, especially because it was game 1. I tried to say that at the end of the post.

We can't really know because of the injuries on the DL I think. But we still would have had the issues at CB (although they would have been less if Haden was healthy all year).

I think a big problem with our cap situation was that we really needed to thread the needle with few injuries because we didn't have good depth. And we didn't.

It's really unfortunate that the healthiest we've been on D was the Mason / Duck year. When we just fell apart on offense due to injuries (not just to Ben).

[WindyCitySteel]

The only stereotype that gets parroted more by the media is that the Steelers are a "smashmouth running team".

[feltdizz]

I think in hindsight that game looks like a fluke. It was windy and Allen was missing wide open guys. If we had played them instead of KC in the playoffs we get the same result.

did you really say “it was windy?”

That’s like saying “it was snowing” in Green Bay.

Who the hell cares how windy it was, its Buffalo, its part of their home field advantage.

[T.Ferguson]

I think in hindsight that game looks like a fluke. It was windy and Allen was missing wide open guys. If we had played them instead of KC in the playoffs we get the same result.

Yeah, that Bills team is one of weirder teams in the NFL, can be very inconsistent including Allen, they also lost to the Jags by a score of 9-6 this season.

[SteelerOfDeVille]

This is a SIMPLE answer, really.

There are a number of elite parts on this defense. More elite than most other teams. TJ, Heyward, Minkah are all arguably the best at their respective positions in the entire league. With 32 teams, 11 positions, you're lucky to have ONE guy that you could make that argument with.

I consistently refer to the Bills game (before injuries really set in) as how good this defense really could be. At that time, I honestly believed they were comparable to that Ravens/Dilfer combo (and is likely why the team took one more shot with Ben). It's like having Lewis, Suggs, Reed surrounded by other "solid" players.

[feltdizz]

That's 3 of 11 players. The CB group and ILB group are major problems, and nobody besides Heyward on the DL.

I know how many players Minkah, Heyward and TJ add up to.

The point is these are all top 5 players at their positions. That is why they sometimes refer to us as great. When healthy this D plays great defense. When dialed in this D can play great defense.

The problem is consistency and health.

[SteelerOfDeVille]

That's 3 of 11 players. The CB group and ILB group are major problems, and nobody besides Heyward on the DL.

I had responded before reading the full thread, but apparently someone else had the same exact thoughts.

I don't know how people expect us to have the best player at all 11 positions. There's no way you could pay that team.

[WindyCitySteel]

I know how many players Minkah, Heyward and TJ add up to.

The point is these are all top 5 players at their positions. That is why they sometimes refer to us as great. When healthy this D plays great defense. When dialed in this D can play great defense.

The problem is consistency and health.

Every team has injuries, but those two things are a result of having too many holes. Heck, in 2019 this D was getting shredded until the one remaining hole was plugged by trading for Minkah.

Now you have holes at all three levels.

[WindyCitySteel]

This is a SIMPLE answer, really.
TJ, Heyward, Minkah are all arguably the best at their respective positions in the entire league.

Nobody outside of Pittsburgh thinks Heyward and especially Minkah are the best at their positions.

[feltdizz]

Every team has injuries, but those two things are a result of having too many holes. Heck, in 2019 this D was getting shredded until the one remaining hole was plugged by trading for Minkah.

Now you have holes at all three levels.

Shredded by who? Brady shredded us when we actually had great defenses.

Russell Wilson? He is pretty good too.

Minkah definitely made us better but you have to be honest about who we played when making that observation.

but as far as the rest of your post. The OP asked why we are referred to as great. Those 3 players are why. This doesn’t mean we are great on D its just an opinion on WHY we are labeled as such by some talking heads.

[WindyCitySteel]

I had responded before reading the full thread, but apparently someone else had the same exact thoughts.

I don't know how people expect us to have the best player at all 11 positions. There's no way you could pay that team.

I never said that. But our ILBs were horrible, CBs were average to bad, and after Alualu went down 2/3 of our DL was bad.

3 guys can't cover that many holes.

[WindyCitySteel]

Shredded by who? Brady shredded us when we actually had great defenses.

Russell Wilson? He is pretty good too.

Minkah definitely made us better but you have to be honest about who we played when making that observation.

but as far as the rest of your post. The OP asked why we are referred to as great. Those 3 players are why. This doesn’t mean we are great on D its just an opinion on WHY we are labeled as such by some talking heads.

Those three players played on the 21st ranked D last year. Why didn't their greatness lead to a better ranking?

[Northern_Blitz]

Yeah, that Bills team is one of weirder teams in the NFL, can be very inconsistent including Allen, they also lost to the Jags by a score of 9-6 this season.

I'm pretty sure this can't be true because the Steelers are the only team in the league that ever loses games where they're favored.

[Northern_Blitz]

Every team has injuries, but those two things are a result of having too many holes. Heck, in 2019 this D was getting shredded until the one remaining hole was plugged by trading for Minkah.

Now you have holes at all three levels.

I think when we look at teams that are good at weathering injuries (like the Ravens this year), we usually see that they have QBs with really low cap hits (like the Ravens this year). That means that they have more money to spend on the rest of the team.

We were super tight against the cap from doing the full restructure with Ben. That's just the price we paid for the shot we took when he came back from injury. I think it was a good bet to make. But it didn't pay out.