Time For Steelers Rush Defense To Get Back To Record-Setting Ways In 2023

Even for a team with a storied history like the Pittsburgh Steelers can claim, time simply moves differently in the NFL. I'm not only referring to the way the final :30 seconds of a game can easily stretch into the 45-minute mark without enough timeouts or penalties, but this is also about the way years and decades take on a different meanings and weight as they pass.

They really were that good

When the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII in 2009 against the Arizona Cardinals, the team had just come off of a brilliant defensive run that hadn't allowed an opposing 100-yard rusher for 32 consecutive games. As impressive as that was, it was a bookend to a duo of excellent streaks that spanned from 2004 to 2009. During those streaks, the Steelers' defense only allowed a total of three running backs to pass that 100-yard mark in a game.

It wasn't just the way that the defense shut down individual running backs, because, during that five-year streak that took over NFL running games, the Steelers allowed barely over 70 yards a game on the ground per team they played. Even if that number was only referring to how they closed down starting running backs, it would have been impressive, but to go into every game with that kind of assurance may have meant more for the offense than the defense.

It isn't a coincidence that the two Steelers' Super Bowl victories not belonging to Chuck Knoll occurred within that span of dominance from a defensive standpoint. Having a defense that regularly shuts down opponents means the offense feels less pressure to score all the points, and rather focuses on the game plan and doing the fundamentals correctly. Having pride in the foundational, small things within football is a powerful link between the last two men to coach the Steelers. Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin both recognize that when you have a team doing the little things right, it makes correcting large-scale issues a much easier task; it is also something that Tomlin knows the team has gotten away from in recent years.

Steelers history versus modern challenges

To put it into some perspective, because simply looking at a number might not always get the point across, if the 2022 Steelers rush defense was held to the same standard as those from 2004 to 2009, the results would be woefully insufficient on many levels. The "No 100-Yard Rusher" streak would have been ended twice (Nick Chubb of the Cleveland Browns had 113 yards in Week 3, and J.K. Dobbins of the Baltimore Ravens had 120 yards in Week 14).

That isn't necessarily awful, but context is always an important factor, and the performance against Baltimore in Week 14 defined the issue. In a year when the pass defense was also a liability when games were trying to be closed out, the matchup against the Ravens in Week 14 was one of the best performances by the secondary (holding the Ravens to 104 yards through the air by Tyler Huntley and Anthony Brown), but when the door needed to be slammed on the now one-dimensional Baltimore offense, instead they allowed nearly 200 yards rushing, with Dobbins and Gus Edwards leading the way (120 yards and 88 yards, respectively). If the defense had been able to handle the Ravens' ground game, even to the tune of 100+ yards, the consistent ability to move the chains was a painful, dragging experience to witness and most likely one hundred times worse to be involved in.

It was not just one game, nor was it one running back, that caused the Steelers to watch offenses figure them out and determine the pace and intensity of the game as it went. When you are comparing any team to a stretch that is considered historic, some leeway must be given. However, even by stretching the 70.4 YPG (Yards Per Game) bar to its limit and saying that 100.4 YPG would be acceptable as well, the 2022 defense still fell short.

Over the course of the season, with the swells and valleys hitting hard whenever they did, the Steelers allowed an average of 121.9 YPG on the ground to opponents. Expectations within Pittsburgh are always different from the rest of the league, so when the per-game average rises above that 100-yard mark, it begins to feel like a personal affront. You begin to feel in your gut as though past members of those championship squads are gritting their teeth as they watch missed tackles and fundamental errors being made. Maybe they are, but more than that is the desperate hope that the current level of production will be fleeting, and soon the streaks and dominance will return back to Pittsburgh - where it belongs.

Can the Steelers change enough in 2023?

Taking the average across a season for the offense and defense might not be the most accurate way to form certain opinions, but this one is the right conclusion to come to. It doesn't hit on the one factor about all of this that isn't on the defense.

The popular saying is that "defenses win championships," but another important wisdom often lost on people is that an ineffective offense can be an end-all to even the most talented, highly-paid defenses. Steelers fans know that the resurgence that was seen in the second half of the season was not because the play-calling drastically improved, or that the offensive gameplan was figuring out defenses with more efficiency. Those heart-pounding wins and come-from-behind moments were orchestrated by the willpower of a young, hungry, proud offense led by Kenny Pickett.

However, all the youth and verve in the world can't make up for the kind of bland, uninspired offense that Matt Canada trotted out each week to gut-wrenching results. The offense strung together three-and-outs as they would somehow score points, and when momentum did seem to be swinging in the Steelers' direction, it was a surefire bet that Canada would find the one play to kill whatever was being built. Granted, the offense improved their 3rd down conversion rate from a miserable 39.2% in 2021 to a more respectable 44.92%, but again, context kills when stats glorify. The offense improved on the conversions as the season wound down, but the big moments that defined the early 2022 season were marred with 3rd and long attempts woefully mishandled, or just falling flat.

The run defense for Pittsburgh must be better in 2023, that is not up for debate, but as the season plays itself out and we all watch to see what happens, remember that all the changes, improvements, and aggressive actions are worth nothing if the hapless OC, Canada, places himself in the driver's seat, ties the blindfold, and hits the gas - because it seems that was his strategy last year.