Colin Cowherd isn’t the only one who sees a problem with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ model. Relying on defense to keep scores down and win tight games has produced disappointing results, and The Athletic’s Zak Keefer sees a reason for change. Joining Chase Daniel on his Scoop City podcast Thursday, Keefer sees a Steelers team living in a different era.
“This is a team built for 1995, 1998, 2001,” Keefer told Daniel. “Five of their highest salaries on their roster, on the defensive side of the ball.”
Many of Pittsburgh’s largest contracts have been doled out to defensive players. EDGE T.J. Watt was made the NFL’s highest-paid pass rusher in 2021 and could reclaim that title when his extension is finalized later this summer. FS Minkah Fitzpatrick became the highest-paid safety after getting paid in 2022 while ILB Patrick Queen earned the title of highest-paid outside free agent in Steelers’ history, inking a $41 million contract last offseason.
Keefer acknowledged that his commentary comes with caveats. QB Aaron Rodgers took a cheap deal relative to veteran starting quarterbacks with a base salary even less than what Daniel Jones received from the Indianapolis Colts. New WR DK Metcalf also has a low cap hit and Keefer was offering his analysis through that lens instead of the cash that’s being paid out, an arguably faultier lens to look through.
But Keefer made the point that the top teams in football have high-powered offenses. The Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles finished top 10 in scoring, though in fairness, the team placed even better defensively.
“This is an offensive league, and the Steelers are still behind in that category,” he said.
Pittsburgh hasn’t finished top 10 in scoring offense since 2018, something that we noted in a recent study is one of the NFL’s longest droughts. Technically, the Steelers finished in the top half of the league a year ago, but that 16th-place finish felt hollow on the back of five final games under 18 points. That hadn’t happened to the franchise since Chuck Noll’s first year in 1969.
The Steelers’ model of closing out low-scoring games is good enough to keep them in Wild Card contention. But it hasn’t been enough to get them a postseason win. It’s no coincidence Pittsburgh’s postseason drought nearly coincides with a sunken offense. An elite defense might result in postseason success as it did in 2008 when the Steelers had just the 20th-ranked offense but No. 1 defense. But Pittsburgh has a good-not-great defensive unit and have been unable to find enough of a balance to become Super Bowl contenders.
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