Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is fond of talking about “complementary football.”

Usually, that’s meant to outline how the defense helps set up the offense in good field position. Or how the offense allows the defense to stay fresh by possessing the ball. Or how the pass rush and pass coverage mesh to get sacks and force interceptions.

But where it has perhaps been most on display this season is within one specific aspect of the game, on one side of the ball.

That’s pass protection.

The offensive line is aiding quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to do his job by keeping him upright. The quarterback is helping his blockers by making the right reads and getting rid of the ball quickly. The pass catchers are chipping in by getting open quickly. And the running backs are doing enough in terms of the ground game to keep opposing defenses off balance.

Through five games, the Steelers have allowed only eight sacks. That’s tied for the third-lowest total in the league.

“Ben always says if each guy does his job, we’ll be all right,” wide receiver James Washington said Monday. “If we just go out there and do our 1/11th, and let No. 7 do what he does in the pocket, that has been showing up these past few weeks.”

Roethlisberger’s uniform has, for the most part, been kept clean despite facing some talented pass rushers and good pass rush units.

Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett came into Sunday’s game with an AFC-leading six sacks. He had just one at Heinz Field and was largely silent besides that.

“Our coaches had supreme confidence in our tackles (Alejandro Villanueva and Chuks Okorafor),” guard Kevin Dotson said of any schemes to chip and double-team Garrett. “But they knew that this guy is a special breed of person. We weren’t just crazy about all the stuff we did to help on the tackles, but we knew that he was there. We always made sure that we had it if we needed to call something like that.”

The Philadelphia Eagles had just one sack. They had 17 coming into Week 5, tied for the league lead at the time.

Future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt was limited to one solo tackle. Denver’s Bradley Chubb had 12 sacks as a rookie in 2018. He had none against the Steelers in Week 2. In 2019, Markus Golden was the first New York Giants linebacker with at least 10 sacks in a season since Lawrence Taylor in 1990. He didn’t have any in the season opener.

Each week, there has been a “look out for this guy” headliner across the ball on the defensive front. And, each week, the Steelers have kept him contained.

And that’s happened in a year when we have seen lots of offensive line shuffling. David DeCastro has been in and out of the lineup all year because of injuries. Matt Feiler is playing at left guard as a full-time starter for the first time. Okorafor didn’t win the right tackle job out of training camp. Center Maurkice Pouncey played hurt against Cleveland thanks to an injured foot. Veteran swingman Stefen Wisniewski suffered a pectoral injury in Game 1, and Dotson has seen a lot more playing time at right guard as a rookie than originally anticipated.

So rose petals need to be thrown at the feet of those players for answering the bell as well as offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett for coaching them.

But Roethlisberger and offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner deserve a lot of credit, too. They’ve orchestrated an offense that gets the ball out quickly. This after Roethlisberger thrived for so long in a system that revolved around him holding onto the ball and extending plays by moving behind the line of scrimmage in hopes of hitting for big yardage downfield.

Entering Monday night, Roethlisberger had 116 pass attempts in 2.5 seconds or less. That’s the sixth most in football, and the only quarterbacks with more have six games under their belts. Roethlisberger has only five. Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow leads the NFL with 145 attempts.

At 31.8 rushing attempts per game (fifth-best in the league), the Steelers offense has kept the opposing defense guessing as well, thus slowing down their pass rush. Rarely trailing in the second half of most games has contributed in that regard as well.

So give a hat tip to the defense while you’re at it.

This week the Steelers face a Tennessee Titans team that has only seven sacks through five games. That’s the third-lowest total in the league. And at 272.8 passing yards per game allowed, only four teams are yielding more on average.

But the Titans are 5-0 anyway because they are averaging 32.8 points and 422 yards per game, second-best in the NFL in both categories.

So the Steelers might have to hold onto the ball a little longer in the pocket and try to hit some big plays downfield to keep pace, as they are only 22nd in the league at 6.7 yards per pass attempt.

“When it’s there, and you have an opportunity to take it, you take it,” Fichtner said last week when it comes to picking spots for deep shots. “I think (Roethlisberger) has done a nice job of protecting the ball. We’ve attempted a few shots, and some don’t always materialize. When you attempt to throw the ball deep in this league, you have to be able to hold up and build the kind of time.”

To date, a big question for the Steelers is how much they have been tested en route to a 5-0 start. No doubt that the Titans provide their stiffest competition yet. Making sure Roethlisberger continues to be tested as little as possible will go a long way toward passing this exam in Tennessee.

By virtue of his own play — and the other 10/11ths.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)