If there was an area of the Steelers that was more disappointing than any other last season, it was the team's defense.
A dominant unit in 2019 and 2020, the Steelers slipped in 2021, finishing last in the NFL stopping the run and 20th in scoring defense.
That said, there were still some things the defense did well. The Steelers led the NFL in sacks for a record fifth-consecutive season. They ranked eighth in third down defense, allowing a conversation percentage of 37.1 percent. They had 94 tackles for a loss, which ranked second in the NFL.
But injuries to Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu robbed the defensive line of two veteran game wreckers and affected everything the Steelers did last season. And a popgun offense that spent too much time spinning its wheels before turning things on in the fourth quarter meant the defense spent too much time on the field.
How much more time? Realize that the Steelers had 1,116 plays run against them last season, the sixth-most in the NFL. That was up from 996 in 2020. Now, there was one more game thrown into the 2021 season, but that doesn't account for an additional 120 plays run against a defense that was down some key players up front.
Early in training camp, Mike Tomlin said he wants the Steelers get back to playing "dominant" defense in 2022. If they can do that, it would go a long way toward this being a good team.
And the Steelers will get a good opponent against which to prove they have turned the corner in the Bengals on Sunday. Cincinnati outscored the Steelers, 65-20, while beating them twice last season.
Included in that was a 41-10 beatdown in Cincinnati, a game in which first-year defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who was defensive backs coach last season, admitted the Bengals "just kicked our ass."
What do the Steelers need to do to make sure that doesn't happen again and become dominant on defense? Well, that kind of depends on who you ask.
But there do seem to be some common themes.
"To me, a dominant defense is one that stops the run, stops the team from scoring points and gives our offense the ball in good field position by turning it over," said Austin.
That sounds an awful lot like how safety Minkah Fitzpatrick describes it.
"I think it’s a defense that does its job," Fitzpatrick told me. "It stops the run. It takes the ball away. It scores points. It all starts with us just doing our jobs."
And everyone doing their job was a problem at times last season.
With Tuitt and Alualu out, the Steelers ran a myriad of players out there on the defensive line. And the results weren't good.
"I think because we had some missing pieces, different pieces, we didn’t have the chemistry necessarily that we would have," Fitzpatrick said. "So, we didn’t have the (attention to) details that we normally would have. We didn’t have those in-depth conversations, and there was a lack of understanding on some people’s parts. This year, we’re in a lot better place in understanding the defense."
OK. But does that add up to a "dominant" defense?
They've got a dominant player in reigning Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt. They've got an All-Pro at defensive tackle in Cam Heyward. They've got Fitzpatrick, himself a former All-Pro, though he didn't win that honor last season after getting it in his first two seasons with the Steelers.
Football Outsiders seems to think the defense can be dominant. That analytics-driven web site released its popular DVOA rankings going into the regular season this week. The Steelers sit atop their rankings on defense, quite the climb for a unit that finished the 2021 season 14th in defensive DVOA rankings.
To do that, they will have to stop the run better than they did a year ago, when they allowed 5.0 yards per carry, the worst of any Steelers defense in the modern era of the NFL.
"I think when people were able to run the ball on you, it demoralizes you as a defense," Austin said. "They’re able to impose their will on you. There’s a lot of things that go on when people run the ball on you. And so, to me, I think it’s important that we stand up to that, we knock that run down, we get them into second-and-longs, third-and-longs and get some negative plays and let our pass rush work. I think that stopping that run is a big component of a successful defense."
So, what makes Austin and company think that part of the defense is fixed?
Well, Alualu is back. And though Tuitt retired, veteran Larry Ogunjobi was added to take his place.
"He’s a big, powerful man, he moves the pocket, he’s active, he does a lot of good things, and he gives you some veteran presence inside," Austin said of Ogunjobi. "He’s really good in that regard. I think that’s what he gives us, he gives us another stout body inside."
OK. But can that help make the Steelers "dominant." That's a big word, after all.
Tomlin used it and the Steelers defenders aren't backing away from it. They believe it, as well.
"Damn right! I wouldn’t have it any other way," Heyward told me. "Every time you play us, you’ve got to feel like, ‘Man, they wrecked havoc that game.’ To be dominant, you can’t do it in just one facet. You’ve got to do it in all facets. You’ve got to do it week in and week out. It can’t just be a blip on the radar."
• If I were a betting man, I'd bet on the side of Diontae Johnson playing Sunday.
If they were leaning the other way, they likely wouldn't have him practicing at all Thursday for a cramp to be an issue.
• If Johnson were to not play, I'd go with an alignment in three-receiver sets that uses George Pickens and Miles Boykin on the outside with Chase Claypool in the slot.
The Steelers used Caypool in the slot throughout the preseason. And he can be a real weapon in there, especially against Bengals slot corner Mike Hilton.
I love Hilton's toughness and grit, but him down the field working against Claypool, against whom he is giving up seven inches and 50 pounds. That, to me, is more attractive than simply putting Gunner Olszewski in the slot.
• I can't reiterate this point enough. Pat Freiermuth averaged 8.3 yards per catch last season. He averaged 16.0 yards per catch in the preseason.
Claypool's one catch in the preseason was a 29-yard reception down the seam.
Using that duo in the middle of the field is what's going to drive the Steelers offense in 2022.
The Steelers rarely challenged linebackers and safeties last season. It's not that they didn't run those routes. But Ben Roethlisberger wasn't interested in allowing those kind of plays to develop -- or throwing the ball in the deep middle.
Hit some of those passes early and watch and see how the running game opens up.
• Not only does Football Outsiders DVOA rankings have the Steelers with the league's No. 1 defense, but it also has them with the No. 1-most difficult schedule.
We'll see how that starts to change after the site gets more games with which to fill it's data-driven analytics, but that's where it's at now.
The site also has the Steelers with 8.1 mean wins, which given that they have the most difficult schedule shows that Football Outsiders is higher on the team than many of the national pundits.
