Steelers Great James Harrison Issues Challenge To Pittsburgh Defense: "Stand Up, Drop Your Nuts"

The Pittsburgh Steelers are desperately looking for answers after losing 26-7 against the Buffalo Bills in Week 13. Their performance started off admirably, with the defense managing to keep the Bills' high-powered offense in check for an entire half, good enough to lead 7-3 at the halftime break. After that, the wheels came off and the entire team collapsed in a performance that has left many scratching their heads and wondering what's going to happen when other teams with strong run games come to town. The Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens in the coming week, and this is yet another team with a strong rushing attack.

The Steelers face a daunting task ahead of them, as Ravens running back Derrick Henry has put up incredible performances against the Steelers in recent years, with his best performance being a 186-yard game in the Wild Card Round of the 2024 NFL playoffs. Naturally, when a single player has a dominating history against a team, this will make people wonder exactly how the Steelers plan to stop him moving forward.

Former Steelers linebacker James Harrison is just one of many who are asking how the Steelers plan to stop Henry. He's already made some scathing comments earlier in the week about the state of the team and coaching, and on the latest episode of Deebo & Joe, he's issuing a challenge to the Steelers' defense before the game against the Ravens.

"I got Derrick Henry for more," Harrison said. "82 [rushing yards], I got him for more. [Defense], I got him for more. I'm saying he's gonna run for a buck and some change. What you gonna do? Stand up, drop your nuts. I feel like it's going to happen. How many times he's got 100 against us that he played? I think it's only once."

Harrison's prediction that Henry will run all over the Steelers' defense is a widely accepted prediction, especially after the Bills ran all over the unit at home in Week 13. Harrison's challenge, at the same time, should be something that gets into the locker room and serves as a source of motivation for the defense. Stopping Henry will be the hardest task the Steelers have against the Ravens, and they'll need to do it again when Week 18 rolls around as well.

The Ravens possess a potent offense aside from Henry, as well, so stopping the entirety of the team will be much more of a daunting challenge. Both teams currently sit at 6-6, with the winner of this game taking a full game lead in the AFC North. Harrison's comment about his prediction for another big game from Henry could be an unfortunate preview of things to come if the defense can't figure it out this time around. Thankfully, the Steelers usually play the Ravens at a much higher level due to the stakes in the rivalry, so both teams will likely come out swinging in their attempts to have a dominant day on defense.

However, Harrison's remark about Henry won't be the only tough matchup that the Steelers will be up against throughout the rest of the season. It will be imperative that the Steelers take Harrison's advice and find a game plan that works for this game and into the last stretch of the regular season, with a hopeful playoff push in the cards.

Steelers' Defense Needs To Stop Other Dominant Running Backs Before Seeing Henry Again

After seeing Henry this upcoming week, the Steelers have to go through other extremely dominant running backs on stout offenses. After the latest failure of the Steelers' defense to stop the run against the Bills, they'd do well to find a way to stop Henry this week and carry that momentum forward into future weeks as the regular season nears its conclusion.

What did you think about Harrison's comments and prediction for Henry's performance against the Steelers? Let us know in the comments below.

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