Another week, another embarrassing performance by the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense, this time in a 31-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the home opener at Acrisure Stadium.
One week after struggling to stop the run against the New York Jets, the Steelers were punched in the mouth over and over again by the Seahawks, resulting in an ugly loss in front of the home faithful.
The run defense issues aren’t going away anytime soon. Players are already exasperated by the issues just two weeks into the season and frustration is mounting. Are the issues schematic? It doesn’t seem like it’s a talent problem, considering the Steelers have the highest-paid NFL defense, one filled with stars.
For former Steelers defensive lineman Chris Hoke, it’s a mentality problem, one that could be a simple fix.
“You’ve got to get into that mentality where, ‘I’m going to line up, it’s mano a mano, and I’m going to whip you.’ That’s what we did. My 11 years here with the Steelers, we were No. 1 in the NFL against the run many, many times,” Hoke said Sunday, according to video via the KDKA Nightly Sports Call. “It wasn’t because of me. It was because everybody collectively came together and that’s what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to be able to play good technique. You’ve got to be able to be strong and physical at the point of attack.
“Those are axioms of playing good defensive football and so that’s where they’ve got to improve, even if they’re just lining up playing mano a mano, you have to be more physical than the other team.”
Through two weeks it doesn’t appear to be a schematic issue, at least against the run. The Steelers are just getting pushed around up front and can’t get off blocks. They’re not playing physical football, and it’s showing time and time again.
The Steelers have a style of football they want to play, which centers on being a physical football team on both sides of the football. They’ve invested heavily in the trenches in recent years to try and accomplish that. The only problem? They’re not a physical football team.
They’re anything but at this point. And that’s a far cry from what the Steelers once were defensively, something that made them so good for so many years.
“People knew what we were going to do; we still stopped them,” Hoke said. “Look at the Ravens. They still run the same defense. They play physical defense. It can still be done. When I played 10, 15 years ago, it was, ‘Line up, we’re going to run the football and make you like it and we’re going to play defense and we’re going to shut it down.’
“Win. The. Line. Of. Scrimmage.”
The NFL game has shifted back to the importance of the line of scrimmage in recent years. Almost all of the best NFL teams right now are built through the trenches and place a major emphasis on those position groups. The Steelers are attempting to do it, but early returns aren’t encouraging.
Keeanu Benton is really struggling at nose tackle in Year 3 and is playing out of position, despite the Steelers’ insistence that he’s good there. Offensive tackle Broderick Jones is a mess at left tackle through two weeks, and RT Troy Fautanu is off to a slow start.
Even prized center Zach Frazier doesn’t look like himself. The Steelers are just getting bullied up front. Maybe it’ll take some time to get up to speed and they’ll start playing better football in October and November in the trenches. Maybe.
Right now, though, they have no shot at the line of scrimmage on either side of the football. They need to change their mentality and start playing urgent football. With urgency comes some toughness. At least, that’s the hope.
Related Items:Alex Highsmith, Cameron Heyward, Chris Hoke, KDKA Nightly Sports Call, Keeanu Benton, Nick Herbig, Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, T.J. Watt, Trending
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