Despite giving up 30-plus points and nearly 400 yards, Juan Thornhill still believes the Steelers can have one of the best defenses of all time. In theory, he’s right, but that’s equally true of every other team in the league every year. After one game, it looks like they may have overestimated themselves. But they can certainly—one hopes, at least—play much better than they showed in the opener.
“We were getting gashed in the running game and that was very obvious”, Thornhill admitted, via Teresa Varley for the Steelers’ website. “It will be something that we’ll emphasize this week, but I’m not really panicked at all”. He added that nobody else is either, and that that’s for those on the outside.
“People outside the building might be a little worried because I know we threw some stuff out there early in in camp talking about how this defense can be one of the best” Thornhill said of his own prediction for this Steelers team, “but it still can”.
On Sunday versus the Jets in their 2025 season opener, the Steelers allowed 32 points, 394 yards, and recorded zero defensive takeaways. Had the special teams unit not come up with a turnover, they likely lose. While they held New York to 212 passing yards, that was on few attempts. They allowed the Jets to rush for 182, in contrast, a continuation of worrying late-season trends from 2024.
Since last season, the Steelers made a lot of changes on defense, Juan Thornhill being one. They traded Minkah Fitzpatrick, one of their former All-Pros, but added Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay to the secondary. They also drafted DL Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black, the former their first-round pick. Harmon did not play, however, still recovering from a preseason injury. Other than Payton Wilson graduating to a full-time role, though, it’s otherwise largely the same as a year ago.
According to Thornhill, the defense might not have been prepared to face former Steelers QB Justin Fields.
Although they escaped Week 1 with a win, even with Aaron Rodgers, they can’t count on scoring 34 points regularly. They’ve only scored that many points before three times in the preceding four seasons. If the Steelers defense can’t keep the better teams from putting up points on them, we’re likely in for a rerun of the past many years. A modestly successful regular season, followed by a dismal coda of a first-round postseason exit.
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