The Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of problems to deal with on defense. As more stats and game tape come out, more concerns get raised. It feels like nothing is going right, and everyone is scrambling to find some quick fixes to survive the season. Everyone knows that their play in the first two weeks is completely unacceptable. The unit got overhauled in the 2025 offseason, and it will go through an even bigger one in 2026 if they don't collectively do a 180-degree flip and get back on track soon.
Alysa Rubin / Pittsburgh Steelers
Cameron Heyward and Payton Wilson during a home game for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2, 2025.
During a post-practice interview reported by Ray Fittipaldo, safety Juan Thornhill brought up another issue happening internally with the defense: communication at home.
"When you play at Acrisure, you can’t hear anything," Thornhill said. "The fans are crazy loud. We have to get to the point where there is more nonverbal communication. We have to make sure we’re on the same page so we’re not making the same mistakes over and over again. Payton [Wilson] looking back was me making sure he knew what I said because if you’re speaking or trying to yell, you can’t hear anything. When he looked back, he saw what I was trying to signal. We have to get to the point where we don’t have to verbally communicate and start signaling a little more. Once we do that, get the call quick, we have a lot of guys who can play a lot better."
Steelers fans have heard all about the communication issues from the end of the 2024 season, so any mention of problems in that regard will not be taken well, especially after the coaching staff supposedly spent much of the offseason trying to implement new schemes and systems to make sure that didn't happen again. So far, it seems like their plan have either failed, or it was just smoke and mirrors.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Juan Thornhill during Day 2 of mandatory minicamp in 2025.
Head Coach Mike Tomlin previously blamed Steeler Nation for a loss back in Week 5 of the 2024 season, although Minkah Fitzpatrick quickly said otherwise. The electric crowd at Acrisure Stadium would be seen as home-field advantage in every other stadium, but for some reason, the Steelers see it as an issue that they are still figuring out how to work around.
If anyone on this Steelers defense should know how to handle crowd noise as a defensive player, it's Thornhill. He spent the first four years of his career in the loudest stadium in the NFL. Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City is even louder than Lumen Field in Seattle, which has become famous for its crowd noise. Both stadiums are built in similar ways, with the sounds of cheering bouncing all over the place to make everything even louder.
Jason Behnken / AP Photo
Pittsburgh Steelers fans travel better than any other NFL team, packing the stadiums in other cities, like they did here in Arizona against the Cardinals.
This is also a massive indictment on Tomlin. He is in his 19th year as the Steelers' head coach, and they have had the same home-field for all of those years. If teams like the Kansas City Chiefs and the Seattle Seahawks can deal with much louder crowds, he should be able to teach his players how to handle it properly as well. Instead, it's been used as an excuse after a loss twice in the span of 365 days.
Steelers Have One Other Big Key To Communication Problems
As mentioned before, the Steelers had a massive defensive overhaul in 2025. They also had a minor one in 2024. With the complex schemes that Tomlin wants to run, it takes a lot to get everyone on the same page. It's very hard to do that when it feels like each position room has a big revolving door in it. The team needs to do a better job of retaining talent and/or simplifying the schemes until everyone gets on track together.
What do you think about Thornhill's comments on the crowd noise? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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