Tim Benz: Steelers' defense must live up to its reputation against gauntlet of opponents after the bye

At the halfway point of the NFL season, there’s a lot to like about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense.

As of Monday morning, coach Mike Tomlin’s team ranked second in points allowed per game (14.6). With 15 takeaways, only the Packers (19), Vikings (17) and Lions (16) had more. The team also leads the NFL in red-zone defense at 37.5%.

Furthermore, the Steelers ranked third against the run at 90.5 yards allowed per game and ninth in total yards allowed per game at 310.3.

“Our red zone defense and our scoring defense (are) really good,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “Our goal is to be No. 1 in those areas, because if people don’t score, they don’t win.”

Indeed.

However, the defense still needs to be better than what it was going into the team’s recently concluded bye weekend.

Over the past five games, the Steelers have yielded 359 yards per game. That tracks at a pace that would put them 24th in the NFL. Their net passing yards allowed is 257 yards per game over that stretch. That would be 29th in the NFL. They’ve had 10 sacks over the past five games after getting nine in the first three.

In three of their past five games — against the Colts, Cowboys and Giants — those three teams amassed 109, 133 and 157 yards on the ground, respectively. All of those rush attacks are 16th or lower in the NFL.

“Yards after catch, yards after carry, we are giving up too many of those,” Austin said. “There are different areas that we will identify. And the things that we are good at, we want to stay good at those.”

Some missed tackles early in games have led to the yards after the catch/after first-contact that Austin referenced. That’s an area where the Steelers could definitely improve after the break.

Nine games remain on Pittsburgh’s schedule. Six of them are divisional matchups. Seven of them are against teams currently in the playoff bracket.

Also, seven of the nine games left are against Baltimore (31.4), Washington (29.2), Cincinnati (26.2), Kansas City (25.4) and Philadelphia (24.9). They are all in the top 12 in scoring per game. They all average more points per game than the Steelers do (23.4).

Not to mention that the quarterbacks of those teams are Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes. Daniels is the likely Rookie of the Year. The other four QBs on that list have 12 Pro Bowls between them.

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Like Austin, the Steelers’ defensive players know improvements have to be made.

“We’ve analyzed some of it. We weren’t being detailed enough,” linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “We weren’t being physical enough (against the run). We’ve got to get back to the football that we play, stuffing up the run game. We know that we can be way better than we were.”

Getting Nick Herbig back from injury and Cameron Sutton eligible from a suspension after the bye will certainly help. And keep in mind that Highsmith missed Weeks 4-6 with a hamstring injury.

But that doesn’t change the fact that there has been a gap between the Steelers’ defensive reputation and the reality of the numbers for the past five weeks. The narrative of this year’s Steelers defense is that it is somehow the next iteration of the great groups we saw in the 1970s, ’90s and early 2000s.

The reality, though, is that it is actually a lot more like quite a few of the ones we’ve seen since the team last made a Super Bowl in 2010. That means splashy. Exciting. Big play-oriented and superstar dominated with Pro Bowlers such as T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Patrick Queen and Minkah Fitzpatrick.

But over the past eight years, it’s also one that’s not been good enough to overcome its own offense’s shortcomings often enough to win a playoff game and one that is susceptible to being exposed by veteran quarterback play complemented by a capable running game.

The Steelers will face that combination frequently over the last two months. While Pittsburgh’s own offense may be more proficient now that Russell Wilson is at quarterback, it’s not exactly “The Greatest Show on Turf.”

The Steelers have a good defense. It needs to be great if this team is truly going to be the AFC North contender we have all talked ourselves into thinking it is so far this year.