With a few of the offseason additions, and the protection getting more healthy from an injury-plagued 2024 season, there have been excessive expectations for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ protection in 2024. The secondary has loads of expertise, however the defensive entrance is what makes the engine work.
They didn’t disappoint in Week 1 with an enormous efficiency in opposition to Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons. Professional Soccer Focus launched their line of defense rankings after the primary week of soccer, and the Steelers are atop the league within the No. 1 place. This was in opposition to a Falcons offensive line that PFF had ranked No. 6 getting into the season, by the best way.
The Steelers’ D-line obtained an 89.5 general grade from PFF, which is only a half level shy of an “elite” grade of their system. The following closest staff was the Detroit Lions with an 85.0 general, so it wasn’t significantly shut.
“The Steelers’ go rush dominated Falcons QB Kirk Cousins all through the sport, incomes a 90.7 pass-rush grade whereas holding Cousins to a 27.7 passing grade underneath strain,” wrote PFF’s John Kosko. “Regardless of their standard blitz-heavy method, the Steelers blitzed on simply 14% of performs, successfully producing strain with out counting on frequent blitzes.”
Mike Tomlin mentioned the method to keep away from blitzing a lot after the sport on Sunday.
“Cousins is superb versus blitz, and so we needed to create strain actually in a non-blitz construction,” Tomlin mentioned in a video posted on the Steelers’ web site. “We all know that about him. Final 12 months, he was good versus 5 or extra rushers. Over the course of his profession, he’s nice versus 5 or extra rushers. He’s been good in opposition to us particularly because the Pittsburgh Steelers versus 5 or extra rushers, and in order that wasn’t our agenda. We wanted to do it with a four-man rush.”
The truth that they have been in a position to put Cousins underneath that a lot strain with out blitzing could be very encouraging for the defensive entrance. It’s thrilling to assume what that might imply once they begin blitzing and utilizing extra unique seems to be on protection.
And so they have been equally good in opposition to the run. They held Bijan Robinson, who many assume can be among the many prime working backs in 2024, to only 68 yards on 18 carries. The Falcons had simply 89 dashing yards in complete.
This effort was led by T.J. Watt, who obtained an absurd 95.3 general grade from PFF. His stat line wasn’t as eye-popping as a few of his efforts previously, however that’s as a result of he had two strip sacks negated by penalty.
General, the Steelers’ D-line, together with the skin linebackers, mixed for 23 tackles, two sacks, seven QB hits, and 13 pressures. That may have included two extra sacks and compelled fumbles, if not for penalties.
They’ll now go on the highway to face a struggling Denver Broncos offense that already had two beginning offensive linemen coping with accidents. It could possibly be one other big week for the Steelers’ defensive entrance.
