The foundation of any good defense is stopping the run. That is something the Pittsburgh Steelers focused on heavily this offseason in free agency and the draft after an embarrassing end to the 2024 season. The early returns aren’t great after another worrisome performance in Week 1 against the New York Jets.
For a former Steelers defender like Brett Keisel, it’s hard to watch.
“It drives me crazy,” Keisel said Thursday via 102.5 WDVE’s Morning Show with Randy Baumann. “I couldn’t believe the gap runs. It’s just different to have those. And we gotta stop ’em if we wanna get to where we wanna go.”
The great Steelers defenses of the 2000s that Keisel was a part of would never have allowed 182 rushing yards in a single game. Teams were lucky to even approach the 100-yard mark. The most the 2008 defense allowed was 122 to the New England Patriots. The Steelers allowed just 80.25 rushing yards per game that season with half of their opponents gaining less than 70 yards on the ground.
Mike Tomlin put lofty expectations on the current defense by saying it is capable of achieving “historic” things. The Steelers aren’t going to be able to realize that potential if teams are able to run all over them.
Mobile quarterbacks like Justin Fields pose a unique threat and certainly add a lot of rushing yards to the total, but that is the direction the NFL is headed. The Steelers will face other mobile quarterbacks like Jordan Love, Daniel Jones, Justin Herbert, Caleb Williams, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson (twice) this season.
In Week 1 the defensive linemen were the main culprits. Cameron Heyward was still shaking off the rust and had a substandard game while Keeanu Benton got blown off the line repeatedly. Yahya Black missed some tackles, but he also beat blocks at times and showed off a nice anchor against the run. The solution might be playing him more, but there needs to be improvement across the board from that unit. First-round rookie Derrick Harmon should help when he returns from injury, too.
Heyward promised a “redemption Sunday” is coming soon. If the Steelers can deliver that then maybe Week 1 was just an unfortunate blip on the radar.
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