The last time the Steelers took the field in a meaningful game, they allowed 299 rushing yards to the Ravens in 28-14 loss in the wild card round of the playoffs.
No Steelers team ever allowed more rushing yards in a postseason game, so it hasn’t been that long since the Steelers defense made history. Head coach Mike Tomlin said on WDVE this week that he thinks this year’s group is capable of making more, but he meant it in a positive way.
The Steelers have added veterans Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, and Juan Thornhill to the secondary since the end of the season and Derrick Harmon, Jack Sawyer, and Yahya Black joined the front seven in the draft. Adding them to the likes of T.J. Watt, Joey Porter Jr., and Alex Highsmith led wide receiver DK Metcalf to call it the best defense he’s ever seen. Thornhill made the same comment on WDVE and Tomlin was asked for his response to those claims.
“We feel really good about the prospects of this group. We do,” Tomlin said. “We’ve got to write that story. We’ve got enough talent, we’ve got enough schematics to do big, big things. When I say big things, I’m talking about historic things.”
One big piece of the defensive puzzle in Pittsburgh is defensive lineman Cam Heyward, but he’s been limited this summer as he looks for an adjustment to his contract after being named an All-Pro last season. A drop in production at that spot because Heyward is missing or not fully prepared for the season would limit the defense’s ability to write the story Tomlin hopes to read come the end of the year.
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